A review by erika_winters
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense 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

2.25

This book took me a very long time to read because of how densely packed it is. Anne Rice created a very unique concept of what a vampire is in this book, and for that I will commend her. However, the idea of Louis questioning his existence and the meaning of being a vampire (am I an entity of evil created in Satan’s image?) grows old for the reader trying to navigate a point in the text. There were times when Rice’s ability to write beautiful passages was on full display, especially when detailing Paris and the Théâtre des Vampires. Another aspect I enjoyed was the implicit gay love affairs that Louis has throughout the book; the one with Lestat being extremely toxic and doomed, whereas the second with Armand being one of curiosity about one’s vampiric life that is also unfortunately doomed. Parts that could’ve been left out was the overt racism at the beginning of the book (Louis is a slave owner on a plantation in New Orleans), and the unsettling adjectives used to describe Claudia who is a young child turned vampire (“sensual” being one I remember here, which is cringy). Some parts read very pedophilic at times because of the interactions between Louis and Claudia, as well as just words to describe actions between the two. Overall, I expected more from this, and was disappointed to find that the end of the book leads into a second book so I just sat frustrated for a minute after closing it since I spent 15 weeks reading it. Sigh.
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