Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

48 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. 

---

Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Slavery and Toxic 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. 

---

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

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.”

---

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.

gloriabyrd's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I was disappointed by how slow this book was. I enjoy the spinoffs/adaptations, but I did not enjoy this. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Slavery, Pedophilia, and Racism

ninubean's review

4.0

At first, I was kind of put off by the structural choice of the book, but it is called Interview with the Vampire, so not sure what I expected lol once I got over that though, I came to enjoy this novel a lot! Honestly, it was very camp and I think people would enjoy this more if they thought of it like that. Louis is a gay little vampire with a tortured existence - his philosophical need to understand why he's alive is trivial, but his musings were intriguing and thought-provoking for me. Louis' narration is limited by design, so readers are bound to his opinions and interpretations of the events, but this only made me excited to read the book's sequels to know the other characters more.

Yes, there are uncomfortable concepts in this book and sometimes they are jarring to read. And yes, this book isn't really character-driven and is only slightly plot-driven, which makes the pacing feel strange. Since this is a dialogue though, I feel like the pacing can be forgiven since it is meant to be someone speaking and recollecting centuries of their life. Overall, I enjoyed this sad, gay vampire's TedTalk about why he hates himself LOL

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Violence, Murder, Pedophilia, Gore, Incest, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

wrensandroses's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Blood, Child death, Kidnapping, Violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Animal death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Racism, Slavery, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

sally___'s review

reflective sad 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

2.25

There was a strange feeling of dissonance to the book and to the writing style. The narrator would say that he felt one way and then do something that didn’t reflect that feeling at all. It made the emotions and the actions both feel pointless, because the plot was driven by characters and yet the plot still felt as if it was happening to the characters. I got very tired of the story by part 3.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Violence

penguuu's review

Way too long, way too slow, none of the characters are likeable, I couldn't do it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Pedophilia, Violence, Racism, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Slavery, Blood, Death, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Just, bad.

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

3.5

Interview With the Vampire was not what I expected. For whatever reason I thought it's be suave and golden, when really it was cold and sorrowful. I found the middle very much dragged for me, even up until the final 40 pages. A relationship between the protagonist and their closest friend is a strange one and I know it's supposed to be, but it toes a strange line. Don't get me wrong - Anne Rice can write some incredibly poetic lines. Every once in a while I caught glimpses of the heart of the matter and Rice's ruminations on eternity and love, but they were seen through the haze of conversations that circled around and lengthy traveling. 7/10.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Murder, Blood, Child death, Slavery, Stalking, and Violence

Minor: Gore

citrusandwords's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Eating disorder, Murder, Toxic relationship, Classism, Death, Slavery, Blood, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence