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Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice

101 reviews

dark mysterious tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Mortal beauty often makes me ache, and mortal grandeur can fill me with that longing I felt so hopelessly in the Mediterranean Sea. But Paris drew me closer to her hear, so I forgot myself entirely. Forgot the damned and questing preternatural thing that doted on mortal skin and mortal clothing. Paris overwhelmed, and lightened and rewarded more richly than any promise.

Wasn't expecting liking it so much, it was beautifully written with complex characters that you can't really tell who's the villain and who's not.
Anne definitely made the vampires more human, they aren't only these mindless creatures that are out for blood, but also creatures with feelings like the common people and with their own internal crisis about their existence.
I'm really excited to read the second book, to see the perspective of Lestat because from what I've heard Louis is a unreliable narrator.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Review of Interview with a Vampire
By: Anne Rice
            I had read this years ago for a friend and at the time I liked it, but it was not for me at the time.  This time I enjoyed it much more.  Louis is a vampire telling his story to a journalist.  He is made by the vampire Lestat, who is a vicious creature, but he is lonely.  The pair are complete opposite viewing being a vampire in a different, and when Louis decides to leave Lestat makes Claudia.  Claudia was a five-year-old girl at the time, and she becomes a daughter to them.  She and Louis both become obsessed with how they were made and if there are others like them.
            Even though I had already read this it felt like reading it for the first time, because I barely remember from when I read it before.  It takes a look at the monstrous nature of vampires, but the romanticism of them as well.  Don’t worry the vampires don’t sparkle.  It examines the themes of the nature of evil and appreciating your humanity.  Lestat had a terrible life, resenting his human existence, and Claudia never got to experience a life.  Louis had a loving family, was wealthy, and had privileged existence, he has a human life to miss.  He is philosophical throughout and constantly ponders his new existence.  He cannot bring himself to feed off human, but prefers animal blood, frustrating Lestat, because he values human life. He wants to know if there are others like him and he questions if he is evil or not. Ironically, his enhanced vampiric senses allow Louis to see the beauty in the world around him. Throughout, there are discussions on what is the nature of evil, particularly when Louis and Claudia meet Armand, a vampire they meet later.  His character is ambiguous, and we don’t know if we can trust him.  He doesn’t see himself as evil, but Claudia believes him a threat to her relationship with Louis.  At times Claudia is a brat and can be just as vicious as Lestat but with a more calculative mind.  She is also sympathetic, because she was only five when sired and, in her mind, she ages.  She is forever stuck in the body of child.  She loves and hates Louis for his role in this.  She needs him as Lestat did, but for different reasons.  She is also the only one who will admit this.  Rice also explores a different kind of love with her vampires that is dark and beautiful at the same time. Louis’ love for Claudia and later for Armand is complicated and pure in its own way.  Getting bitten and turned into a vampire is erotic and Rice describes in artful and descriptive way.   We see vampires as monsters but despite the implications they feel nothing and have no soul, they seem to feel everything, at Louis does.  

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

AUGHUH I LOVE VAMPIRES SO MUCH FIRST DND, REAPER MAN, AND NOW THIS!?! 
This is a book with VERY complex characters, so much so that I am very exited to read this book once again when I am older (and wiser) the plot is pretty simple, but it shines with how well written these characters are. The exploration of immortality and how a vampire would struggle with it was very intersting, I also could not put this down and read it I two days. It’s also interning reading this book and know what Anne was going through writing this makes it feel even more human.Very angsty and philosophical, but would pay money to have middle school me read these books, the writing style is also just so good, straightforward yet still beautiful. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional reflective slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

It had been about 20 years since I last read this book and the last time I read it, I did not at all pick up on how truly bizarre the relationship between Louis and Claudia is? Not sure how since that’s like 80% of the book but wow. It’s not great! Louis remained the whiniest vampire to ever grace the Earth and Lestat is somehow less likeable this time around too?

I also didn’t notice on first read that Louis owned human beings??? And he is so torn up about being a vampire aka “evil killer of humans” but never once does he ponder the extreme harm and evil of human trafficking he engaged in as a plantation owner in the 1760s. 

I will say I love Rice’s writing style. Her prose is incredibly evocative and often very beautiful. This story sticks with you for a reason.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings