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A review by arnrockwell
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This is actually my second time reading this book. I first read it almost two decades ago, and wanted to read it again to get caught up for reading the newer additions to the series from the 2010s.
Interview with the Vampire is exactly what it says it is. You are a fly on the wall, listening as a man, know only as "the boy," interviews the titular vampire Louis. It's written in third-person, but it feels more like first-person because the vast majority of the book is dialogue. Louis is telling the story of his life from just before becoming a vampire to the present in the 1970s. This includes his interactions with a few other well-known characters, particularly Lestat and Claudia.
Compared to what is considered the norm for vampire fiction, Anne Rice's vampires are not undead in the traditional sense. They don't die and then come back to life. Rather, their bodies experience a "death" of sorts in which all bodily waste and fluids are expelled, which they no longer need. Their eyes don't change colour, though their skin does pale considerably. When they feed, their skin become a more normal hue, which allows them to walk among mortals for a time without being easily noticed. They still breaths, they still sweat, they still have a beating heart. They often fall in love with detail, due to seeing more detail than our human eyes can. Same goes for sound. They don't have weakness for silver, wooden stakes or crosses, and they can enter holy places just fine. The do however have a strong weakness to fire and sunlight, enough that they can burn to ash rather quickly.
Now, there are a lot of things that I like. I will mention the following two items not because I like them (I do), but because they are highly subjective based on taste and could make or break the book for some people:
1) The Detail
2) The Protagonist
1) It is clear that some people don't like Rice's attention to detail. And yet I find how she writes it much easier to enjoy than, say, George R.R. Martin. She's able to paint a clear picture without causing boredom, even if it does get a bit slow at times. Many of her character are from at least a few centuries ago. Their more detailed and extravagant speech is a product of the time they came from, but is never difficult to read or understand. I never found myself with the desire to skip any part of this book for any reason.
2) Now let's talk about the protagonist, Louis. Throughout his immortal life, he struggles to hold onto the little humanity he still has, and becomes depressed when he has to forsake that humanity for any reason. He will even go so far to try to convince a human who wants to become a vampire to change their mind, and become upset or even angry when he doesn't get his way. At one point he goes to seek out other vampires to learn more, and when he doesn't get the answers he wants he falls into a depression, he gets angry, and rarely even violent. To be fair, he goes through a lot of shit but he acts like a child. In his mind, it's all about him. It’s the whole, “Oh it don’t like what going on or what’s happening to me, but I’m not gonna change. It’s someone else job to do that!”
Personally, I love Louis as a character. He is very flawed and not as likable as some readers may prefer, but he is realistic. Everyone knows at least one person who is like him, a narcissist who would rather make others change for him than change himself. As we know, that doesn't work and it's entertaining to watch his world come down around him.
When I first finished this book, I gave it 5 stars. However, I dropped it to 4 after I started reading the next book in the series, The Vampire Lestat. I don't like the book any less than when I finished reading it. I just can't justify putting it on the same level as the sequel. All in all, Interview with the Vampire is a great read and a more than worthy entry into the realm of vampire fiction.
Interview with the Vampire is exactly what it says it is. You are a fly on the wall, listening as a man, know only as "the boy," interviews the titular vampire Louis. It's written in third-person, but it feels more like first-person because the vast majority of the book is dialogue. Louis is telling the story of his life from just before becoming a vampire to the present in the 1970s. This includes his interactions with a few other well-known characters, particularly Lestat and Claudia.
Compared to what is considered the norm for vampire fiction, Anne Rice's vampires are not undead in the traditional sense. They don't die and then come back to life. Rather, their bodies experience a "death" of sorts in which all bodily waste and fluids are expelled, which they no longer need. Their eyes don't change colour, though their skin does pale considerably. When they feed, their skin become a more normal hue, which allows them to walk among mortals for a time without being easily noticed. They still breaths, they still sweat, they still have a beating heart. They often fall in love with detail, due to seeing more detail than our human eyes can. Same goes for sound. They don't have weakness for silver, wooden stakes or crosses, and they can enter holy places just fine. The do however have a strong weakness to fire and sunlight, enough that they can burn to ash rather quickly.
Now, there are a lot of things that I like. I will mention the following two items not because I like them (I do), but because they are highly subjective based on taste and could make or break the book for some people:
1) The Detail
2) The Protagonist
1) It is clear that some people don't like Rice's attention to detail. And yet I find how she writes it much easier to enjoy than, say, George R.R. Martin. She's able to paint a clear picture without causing boredom, even if it does get a bit slow at times. Many of her character are from at least a few centuries ago. Their more detailed and extravagant speech is a product of the time they came from, but is never difficult to read or understand. I never found myself with the desire to skip any part of this book for any reason.
2) Now let's talk about the protagonist, Louis. Throughout his immortal life, he struggles to hold onto the little humanity he still has, and becomes depressed when he has to forsake that humanity for any reason. He will even go so far to try to convince a human who wants to become a vampire to change their mind, and become upset or even angry when he doesn't get his way. At one point he goes to seek out other vampires to learn more, and when he doesn't get the answers he wants he falls into a depression, he gets angry, and rarely even violent. To be fair, he goes through a lot of shit but he acts like a child. In his mind, it's all about him. It’s the whole, “Oh it don’t like what going on or what’s happening to me, but I’m not gonna change. It’s someone else job to do that!”
Personally, I love Louis as a character. He is very flawed and not as likable as some readers may prefer, but he is realistic. Everyone knows at least one person who is like him, a narcissist who would rather make others change for him than change himself. As we know, that doesn't work and it's entertaining to watch his world come down around him.
When I first finished this book, I gave it 5 stars. However, I dropped it to 4 after I started reading the next book in the series, The Vampire Lestat. I don't like the book any less than when I finished reading it. I just can't justify putting it on the same level as the sequel. All in all, Interview with the Vampire is a great read and a more than worthy entry into the realm of vampire fiction.