Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

73 reviews

emlibe's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Death

Moderate: Slavery, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, and Pedophilia

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

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

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

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.

1undercover's review

dark emotional 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

2.0

Maybe I’m dumb or lacking contextual analysis or something but I straight up did not have a good time with this book. 

Louis’ point of view is rambling and emotional and fevered. So many of the story’s events are drawn out into this surreal nightmarish haze. Louis’ story is like being stuck in a dream where you are trying to run or scream but can’t no matter how hard you try. 

Some parts of this book were dense, plodding, and miserable with rare brilliant gleaming moments of action, passion, and revelation. This writing style just isn’t for me. And I have less than no interest in hearing from Lestat. 

Other Thoughts

• I want to like Louis’ sensitivity but the end being a godfather story about him losing his humanity as a result of ? grief? A lack of something to believe in? It’s just not the type of story I’m interested in. And I don’t think that craving hope and meaning in fiction is any less intelligent or valuable than seeking suffering.
• What the FUCK was that thing in the theater. You’re telling me that human audiences watched a woman get murdered on stage after begging for her life and no one noticed? That was horrific!
• Lots of stuff in this book was horrific and I never really got validation for it. 
• Claudia’s plain existence is horrific. 
• Why was Armond’s “boy” hard? Is it to convey that killing is sensual? Because in that case why is he a child. Honestly there is a lot of sensual beauty in children in this book that creates a feeling of revulsion in me. 
• If that response is intentional, does that mean the book is good?? I don’t know how to reckon with that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Murder, and Blood

Moderate: Racism, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, and Violence

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. 

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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

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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

mysamcatfan's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

Needed more homoeroticism 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child death, and Murder

izypup's review

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.75

The last twenty pages were I honestly the best out of the whole book. The obsession with childlike innocence and it being ‘sensual’ to the vampires reads off more pedophilic than symbolic. The vague homoeroticism didn’t make me care about the characters and the majority of the book was a drag. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Blood, Murder, Slavery, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, Toxic friendship, Sexual violence, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Stalking, and Animal death

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, and Excrement