Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

106 reviews

louwheezer's review

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

The descriptive and poetic prose can’t distract me from the horrific preoccupation with children’s necks and mouths. The repeated use of the words “sensual” and “womanly” and “alluring” to describe a child vampire is honestly too much. The melodrama, the lush atmosphere, the homoerotic subtext(and at times just text) are all lovely. But armed with the knowledge that Claudia was inspired by Anne Rice’s recently deceased daughter, I finished this book baffled and uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Blood, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Death

Moderate: Slavery and Toxic relationship

petepilgrim's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Child death and Emotional abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

macliffe's review

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Started out so good! But as I got further in, I realized that the pace and storytelling had some problems. It could have been so much shorter. There were a lot of mini-plots without much of an overarching plot. I was confused as to why a lot of things happened. Including the pedophelia, what’s with that? Also, SPOILER WARNING: that dang vampire Lestat just wouldn't die! It was so frustrating. On a more positive note, the vibes were the best part of the book. It was so immaculately gothic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Gore

Moderate: Murder, Death, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Death of parent, Stalking, Sexual content, Torture, and Suicide

laurenbowman323's review

medium-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

2.5

Anyone who says this book isn’t pedophilic is lying to themselves and others. Louis and Lestat were interesting characters, but there was no actual reason for Claudia to be a kindergartner outside of shock value and taboo. This book made me genuinely uncomfortable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Child death, and Child abuse

gh0st_f1sh's review

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Child death, Cannibalism, Classism, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Gore, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Slavery, and Violence

mcfauljade's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Racism, Colonisation, and Adult/minor relationship

snerp_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found this book to be very entertaining, and though they have their literary weaknesses, I quite liked the characters. The tension between the main cast was palpable, if a bit rushed. (However, this may be because of the 'recalling memories' style of telling a story) The use of an interviewer-intervewie narrative added to the atmosphere, the interviewer's naivety of the story working as a classic stand-in for the reader, making it a good introduction to a series. 

However, I had a few issues with the word and portrayal choices within the story.

The biggest issue for me was the characterization of Claudia, who seemed to be treated as an adult while being described as a child. This could have been a good way to explore the effect of vampirism on a growing mind stuck in an eternally small body, which I suspect is what Rice was going for, but her portrayal of Claudia came across as more uncomfortable than anything. Louis and Claudia are specifically described as father and daughter throughout the book, and Louis met her when she was just five years old, but Rice soon begins trying to implement a strange psuedo-romantic relationship between them, which comes off as gross in every way possible.

I don't think it was executed well at all, and I have to remove a star for this reason. 

My more brief issue was the description of a mass killing of vampires as "the Holocaust", which is a very distasteful choice, for multiple reasons.

Other than that, I enjoyed the story, and will continue reading the series. If you can get past the portrayal of Claudia, you may also really like this book as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Child death, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Blood, Animal death, and Death

Moderate: Colonisation, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Antisemitism, Suicidal thoughts, Pedophilia, Incest, and Genocide

bolivianrash's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book hits a lot more differently now than when I read it seventeen years ago. Just because I can see the cracks does not mean that the spell has been broken. It lives in my heart, forever and always.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide attempt, Cursing, Grief, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Slavery, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Stalking, Abandonment, Death, Gore, Murder, Toxic friendship, Blood, Child death, Pedophilia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Body horror, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Torture, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug use, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Claudia as a five year old adds a disturbing layer to her scenes involving intimacy and violence, there is biting galore, property damage is imminent, and the complexity of destructive relationships (both with ourselves and others) is at the heart of the novel.

kiira_56's review

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Child death