Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.76 AVERAGE
3.76 AVERAGE
The central point I pulled out was that apathy is the true evil, far more destructive than all other motivations. This theme is so well communicated through the plot and prose that’s sometimes clumsy but occasionally absolutely beautiful.
If I’d read this as a teen, I’d have become an absolute goth menace, fully obsessed with Louis.
Why did the movie change the ending though?? That’s so crazy to me, it was such a good adaptation up to that point and I can’t google it cuz I want to avoid spoilers about the series or the show.
If I’d read this as a teen, I’d have become an absolute goth menace, fully obsessed with Louis.
Why did the movie change the ending though?? That’s so crazy to me, it was such a good adaptation up to that point and I can’t google it cuz I want to avoid spoilers about the series or the show.
Oh man, this book. Every time I read it, I find something new.
So, first off, I love Louis and his struggles with morality. I read this book before I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time, and it really shaped my idea of vampires as metaphor for struggling with the meaning of life. I also love Lestat, because he's such an idiot in this book, and he and Louis just do not get each other but are so clearly dependent on each other for a fulfilling life as vampires, and it's beautiful and weird and angry and sweet. I also have SO MANY THOUGHTS about Claudia. Not sure if Rice intended this, but I got a lot of disability subtext (for lack of a better term, we'll go with that) with her this time around. She's stuck in a body that she'll never be able to use like a "normal" person, fights so hard to be able to live independently, and is looked on as an abomination by the other vampires she and Louis encounter toward the end of the book. Louis also muses about how he's probably treated her like a mindless child more times than he realizes and regrets not acknowledging her agency (he doesn't frame it in those words, because written in the seventies, but it's the general idea).
If you're a fan of pulp fiction and vampires, I can't recommend this book (the first in a series) enough. It's like trashy, campy horror mixed with high art. It's great.
So, first off, I love Louis and his struggles with morality. I read this book before I watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the first time, and it really shaped my idea of vampires as metaphor for struggling with the meaning of life. I also love Lestat, because he's such an idiot in this book, and he and Louis just do not get each other but are so clearly dependent on each other for a fulfilling life as vampires, and it's beautiful and weird and angry and sweet. I also have SO MANY THOUGHTS about Claudia. Not sure if Rice intended this, but I got a lot of disability subtext (for lack of a better term, we'll go with that) with her this time around. She's stuck in a body that she'll never be able to use like a "normal" person, fights so hard to be able to live independently, and is looked on as an abomination by the other vampires she and Louis encounter toward the end of the book. Louis also muses about how he's probably treated her like a mindless child more times than he realizes and regrets not acknowledging her agency (he doesn't frame it in those words, because written in the seventies, but it's the general idea).
If you're a fan of pulp fiction and vampires, I can't recommend this book (the first in a series) enough. It's like trashy, campy horror mixed with high art. It's great.
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-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
2,5 stars. this was just kind of... meh? nothing too terrible, but also definitely NOT good. like, at all.
to be honest, i only read this as a complement to the series in hopes it would add to my rewatching experience, but i doubt it will. anne rice tries to do SO. MANY. THINGS. which just ends up being sloppy
to be honest, i only read this as a complement to the series in hopes it would add to my rewatching experience, but i doubt it will. anne rice tries to do SO. MANY. THINGS. which just ends up being sloppy
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Time period, Louis' past, time at Rue Royale, theater, Madeline, Claudia's death, living with Armand, the interview form & end were all different.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Grief, Stalking, Colonisation, Classism
I'm not looking forward to reading about any amount of slavery when written by a White author. I'll stick to the new TV adaptation and move on to other books on my TBR.
When I got this book I was so excited.
I mean after all I saw like 4 girls with a copy of this book in my AP class.
Like I don't even know what's wrong with them.
But then I realized they might have been thinking "OMG so Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and Kristin Dunst were in the movie."
Or they realized its almost Halloween.
Either way I hope its worth it.
Because so far it's just been boring and creepy and... weird.
And I realize that Anne Rice wrote Sleeping Beauty Trilogy...
And that this is the wrong version of Sleeping Beauty.
But its not like that at ALL. Neither of them.
Which is good.
More to come after I finish reading.
....
Okay after reading this I felt like this:
Yeah I am never doing this again.
I mean after all I saw like 4 girls with a copy of this book in my AP class.
Like I don't even know what's wrong with them.
But then I realized they might have been thinking "OMG so Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and Kristin Dunst were in the movie."
Or they realized its almost Halloween.
Either way I hope its worth it.
Because so far it's just been boring and creepy and... weird.
And I realize that Anne Rice wrote Sleeping Beauty Trilogy...
And that this is the wrong version of Sleeping Beauty.
But its not like that at ALL. Neither of them.
Which is good.
More to come after I finish reading.
....
Okay after reading this I felt like this:
Yeah I am never doing this again.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I think I would have liked this more, if I had the chance to to read this without having experienced not only the movie, but all sorts of vampire fiction that builds on this.
However, I felt the biggest flaw came from the way the 'interview' is used. Especially towards the beginning, having this set as a conversation tended to distract, and stop me from getting in the story, and the payoff of having the boy listening to this story wasn't big enough. It also seemed to encourage telling over showing. The format itself, halving everything Louis explained in double quotes and then single quotes for narrative dialogue (hence there was dialogue within dialogue) came out distracting.
There was, however, an underlying narrative force that save this book, at least to some degree.
However, I felt the biggest flaw came from the way the 'interview' is used. Especially towards the beginning, having this set as a conversation tended to distract, and stop me from getting in the story, and the payoff of having the boy listening to this story wasn't big enough. It also seemed to encourage telling over showing. The format itself, halving everything Louis explained in double quotes and then single quotes for narrative dialogue (hence there was dialogue within dialogue) came out distracting.
There was, however, an underlying narrative force that save this book, at least to some degree.