Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession

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Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession

3.54 of 5 stars 3.54 · rating details · 1,161 ratings · 280 reviews

In 2005, Anne Rice startled her readers with her novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and by revealing that, after years as an atheist, she had returned to her Catholic faith.

Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana followed.

And now, in her powerful and haunting memoir, Rice tells the story of the spiritual transformation that produced a complete change in her literary goals.

She...more

Hardcover, 256 pages

Published October 7th 2008 by Knopf (first published January 1st 2008)

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Dec 29, 2008 Skylar Burris rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: christianity, spiritual-autobiography

I've never read a book by Anne Rice, and nor do I have any particular interest in her, but I picked this book up because I always enjoy a good spiritual autobiography, and I hoped this would be one. Only about 100 of the 245 pages held much interest or made much of an impact on me, but they held such interest and made such an impact that I give the book a 4 star rating (3.5 if I could).

The first third (or perhaps half) of the story recounts her Catholic childhood in excessive sensory detail and...more I've never read a book by Anne Rice, and nor do I have any particular interest in her, but I picked this book up because I always enjoy a good spiritual autobiography, and I hoped this would be one. Only about 100 of the 245 pages held much interest or made much of an impact on me, but they held such interest and made such an impact that I give the book a 4 star rating (3.5 if I could).

The first third (or perhaps half) of the story recounts her Catholic childhood in excessive sensory detail and with too little focus, although there were moments of interest. However, I found the next two thirds of the book, particularly as she recounts herself being drawn back to Christ and the Church, much more interesting, and there were even portions that moved me deeply. If the reader can slug through the parts that drag for her (and these will likely vary by reader), I think she will find a pay off in reading Called Out of Darkness.

What particularly struck me was Rice's experience of realizing that she did not have to have her questions answered in order to come to Christ, that no "theological or social question…no social paradox, no historic disaster, no hideous record of injustice or misery…no torment over the fate of this or that atheist or gay friend, no worry for those…ostracized…by…any…church should stand between" her and God. "I didn't have to know how He was going to save the unlettered and the unbaptized, or how He would redeem the conscientious heathen who had never spoken His name. I didn't have to know how my gay friends would find their way to Redemption; or how my hardworking secular humanist friends could or would receive the power of His Saving Grace. I didn't have to know why good people suffered agony or died in pain. He knew. And it was His _knowing_ that overwhelmed me." I think this stood out to me because I believe these are difficulties that keep a great many moderns from surrendering to God, and because the way she wrote this entire passage (which goes on for 2-3 pages) brought home to me that, ultimately, being a Christian begins and ends with allowing oneself to be loved by God. Once we allow ourselves, really allow ourselves, to stop running from the Hound of Heaven, once we refuse to allow any impediment or confusion or question of doctrine to stop us from falling into His open arms, everything else will eventually—not easily, but eventually—fall into place. Refusing to come before we can understand or accept all, refusing to embrace Him before we can embrace some particular doctrine, as Rice says, missing the point: "In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the…questions which had kept me from Him for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I'd been, all of my life, missing the entire point."

After insisting repeatedly that she wants to avoid all religious politics and religious controversies, Anne Rice concludes by asking, in effect, why can't we just look at traditional Christian teachings on sex as being as outmoded and irrelevant to Christianity as the old belief that the sun revolved around the earth? So much for avoiding religious controversies. This suggestion she builds up to slowly, with some timidity, and much insistence that it is not something she wants to focus on. Yet it seems all of her talk of gender (much of which was interesting to me as someone who had a similar "genderless" experience of childhood), has actually been building up to this "suggestion." I wish, rather, that she had avoided religious political controversies as she had claimed she desired to do, and stuck to the spiritual journey until the very end. This small objection aside (and her theology itself is decidedly pro-creedal and pro-canonical), and after ploughing through the duller parts, all in all, it was a successful spiritual autobiography, achieving its purpose of moving me, as a reader, with the desire to grow closer to God myself. It has also led me to desire to read her novels on Christ.
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Apr 19, 2009 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Anne Rice recalls the sights and sounds of the Catholicism of her youth with such vivid images that I was singing "Tan tum ergo, sacramentum..." along with her. Warning: If you aren't a 50 something Catholic, (or recovering Catholic) you might not "get it".

I completed the book in a weekend and was fascinated by how Anne Rice describes her inner landscape and how her conversion experience has changed everything for her. She makes a strong case for the power of art and music and truth. She surrend...more

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Dec 28, 2008 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

I finished this wonderful memoir by Anne Rice on our trip home from Christmas in Virginia with our son and his new wife. This book touched me so deeply ... Anne Rice grew up in New Orleans in a family with deep roots in orthodox Christian Catholic traditions. I loved how she tells how her first understanding of God came from the auditory liturgies and the richly visual iconic rituals of the Roman Catholic Church ... not from the written pages of Scripture. In fact she struggled for years to mast...more

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Nov 12, 2008 Jimmy rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm proudly 52-- indeed, almost 53-- and am happy to realize that my life experience amounts to something: after all these long years, I know to give things a chance. My favorite earlier works by Ms. Rice were "Cry to Heaven" and the books about the Mayfair witches; I found the latter series evocative and spooky and just very engrossing! I could disappear into the atmosphere that swirled around those books, and hated to see them end.
Being a practicing Catholic (which means that, hopefully, I'l...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Dee added it

Although I enjoyed this book, I'm not really sure of its wide range appeal. I enjoyed the reminiscing on the Catholic church pre-Vatican II and her vivid details of the New Orleans of her youth. She does describe in great detail the Garden District and the Irish Channel, both of which she lived on the edge of. Although I'm not quite as old as Anne is, I remember a time when walking places as a child was ok. And I remember the church as she remembers it, though my experiences were not quite as gr...more

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Feb 15, 2009 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Memoir of the author's growing up in a devout Catholic family in New Orleans, then drifting away from the church as a young adult in the 60's over her social views at odds with the church's teachings, then dramatically returning ("converting" as she says) to Catholicism after a 38-year hiatus.

The U-shaped trajectory of engagement with organized religion over the lifespan is not at all uncommon, but the length of time she was away and the intensity of her involvement now are. Also, she didn't re...more Memoir of the author's growing up in a devout Catholic family in New Orleans, then drifting away from the church as a young adult in the 60's over her social views at odds with the church's teachings, then dramatically returning ("converting" as she says) to Catholicism after a 38-year hiatus.

The U-shaped trajectory of engagement with organized religion over the lifespan is not at all uncommon, but the length of time she was away and the intensity of her involvement now are. Also, she didn't return just after having kids or getting married or experiencing any of the tragedies of her life (daughter died in childhood, for instance) -- just dawned on her that she loved God and loved Jesus and wanted to devote her life to him, by this account.

Many people of liberal social views struggle to reconcile their politics and their Catholicism -- the author's resolution was interesting in that she says she more or less ignored anything unsavory about the church. I have a gay son and gay friends and they teach that it's a sinful lifestyle? No problem, ignore it. I think women should be fully equal in the church and they're not? Ignore it. Maybe someday it will change. Pedophilia scandal among priests -- just don't read that stuff. She satisfied herself that all was well at the top anyhow by reading bios of recent popes and becoming convinced that they were good pious men.

Anyway, interesting for me [having gone to Catholic schools through high school:] to read about a pre-Vatican II Catholic coming to terms with all the changes ("hey, these prayers are in English; what's up with that?").

She's candid about how the conversion affected her fiction writing (i.e., sounds like it stopped the vampire novels in their tracks, supporting the fears expressed by George Orwell in reviewing Graham Greene, that once a novelist becomes adamantly Catholic they won't write about anything else).

My low rating for the book had mainly to do with the writing itself, in particular:

(a) the singular focus on her religious involvement -- I understand that's the theme, but there are many passing references to aspects of her life (her own late-life diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes, her daughter's death, her having 49 employees [what does a novelist do with 49 employees?:], her gay son, living near Haight-Ashbury in the late 60's) that could profitably have been elaborated in lieu of such a tremendously detailed account of what nun said what when in her grade school.

(b) unedited repetition. Even she seems to realize she's repeating herself way too much -- I can't recall any book I've read with so many "As I mentioned before..." "I already said this, but it's important, so let me stress that....." and the like.

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Feb 04, 2009 Jamieson rated it 5 of 5 stars

In 2005, I witnessed one of the greatest changes in literary history.

Anne Rice, the woman known for writing about vampires, witches, mummies and spirits announced she was going to write books about the life of Jesus Christ.

I remember thinking that this was someone’s really great idea of a joke. But the joke was on me. The first book, Christ the Lord - Out of Egypt, was released shortly after the incredible announcement.

At the time, I worked in a bookstore. I had seen the book on the shelf and ig...more

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Jan 27, 2009 Jason added it

"Called out of Darkness: A spiritual confession" chronicles the well-known author's return to the Catholic Church after a decades long absence.

The once self-professed atheist received attention a few years back when she first made her conversion public and began writing her "Christ The Lord" series, a retelling of the life of Christ. While gaining new fans and I'm sure she lost others, so I'd be willing to be that there are plenty of people out there curious to read this book and find out how i...more "Called out of Darkness: A spiritual confession" chronicles the well-known author's return to the Catholic Church after a decades long absence.

The once self-professed atheist received attention a few years back when she first made her conversion public and began writing her "Christ The Lord" series, a retelling of the life of Christ. While gaining new fans and I'm sure she lost others, so I'd be willing to be that there are plenty of people out there curious to read this book and find out how it all came to be.

The book takes a while to get to the conversion, which may irk some. Rice uses the first half to paint the picture of her youth. Much detail is given to the New Orleans of that era, right down to the little details of the churches and neighborhoods. It may seem redundant after a while, perhaps even rambling, but this all serves to illustrate the universe the author came from, and the steadfast Catholic faith she once held.

She goes into her college years, her transition to atheism, and even a little bit into her publishing career, but fans who are hoping to learn more about her books and characters and how they were developed be warned: this is not a biography so she only glosses over those details briefly.

Finally, she comes to her conversion, a long process that lasted numerous years, born out of a yearning for God that never really went away in her life.

The conversion story is powerful but also very personal, and some readers, especially some of the critics of her newfound Christianity and life path may be befuddled and find it lacking of the concrete explantions they may be looking for. This is an interior story of a woman's spiritual journey, so if you're hoping from rays of light shining down from heaven, visits from angels or anything of the life, you won't find them here.

Believers should appreciate some of her struggles and her bold dedication of her life and her work for Christ.

It's a worthy read for long time fans of the author, her new devotees to her religious books, and anyone curious to read a heartfelt spiritual conversion story. (less)

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Dec 30, 2008 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Thoes who are learning about their own conection to God, and anyone else.

Recommended to Jennifer by: Found it in the library

This is the story of Ann Rice’s spiritual journey, from being raised strict Catholic to atheism and back to the Catholic church. It isn’t an autobiography of her life, she only touches briefly on what was happening outside her spiritual quest. I found that as she described her childhood her line of thought was a little scattered, but her about her adulthood observations about the church, God, and her relationship with it all was incredible insightful. There were many quotes that I love, but this...more

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Feb 23, 2013 Lucy Wightman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

I bought this book after learning that Anne Rice lost her daughter to leukemia before the age of 6. If someone with such an imagination could weather this, perhaps her book could give me a roadmap.

Instead, the book is a memoir of Rice’s ‘conversion’ to Catholicism written in a style I would not recognize particular to Anne Rice. What a delightfully odd bird she is, this Anne Rice person we learn of in this book.

Rice dives into her sense of absentee gender multiple times, reporting on the profou...more I bought this book after learning that Anne Rice lost her daughter to leukemia before the age of 6. If someone with such an imagination could weather this, perhaps her book could give me a roadmap.

Instead, the book is a memoir of Rice’s ‘conversion’ to Catholicism written in a style I would not recognize particular to Anne Rice. What a delightfully odd bird she is, this Anne Rice person we learn of in this book.

Rice dives into her sense of absentee gender multiple times, reporting on the profound events of her life in a sort of Ambien state of numb. Her intellectualized, somewhat distant prose was fitting. However, this reader is in the same unspeakable club, so getting next to coping styles that live and breathe through a story is no mystery.

In the publication, First Things, Patricia Snow says, “Twenty-five years and twenty-one books after the death of her daughter, Rice entrusts both herself and the people she loves to God. Freed from a lonely circle of hell, she comes back to the Church...”

Snow defends the memoir in a realistic way, giving credit to the narrow focus on “the church” and at least pointing out what I noticed – the absent mention of her daughter.

Rice does not even state her daughter’s name. Two years following her nameless daughter’s death, Rice published perhaps her most well known book, Interview With a Vampire, where a vampire named Lestat bites a six-year-old girl.

There is much guesswork in a memoir like this. Designed to be compelling? Maybe. There is the unstated and the described.

The church, I was reminded, can be very large when one is a child, especially growing up Catholic. There are a disproportionate number of capitalized words, nauseating regurgitation of Catholic rites, rituals and structures, and mind-glazing explanations. These dry departures are like Vulcan text, void of any affect. The conclusions border on psychotic in the euphoric haze of finding of “Him.”

My discomfort and desire for more answers, among other visceral reactions, could have put me right next to Anne Rice and her complex experiences, even if I could not really understand.

I think a book succeeds when I feel something that I remember, even if those feelings are negative.
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Mar 22, 2012 Crystal rated it 5 of 5 stars

Wow!!! I really didn't know what to expect in reading this book. I was very curious as to what her story may be given that she was a successful writer of "vampire fiction." I only recently learned of Anne Rice's faith through the YouTube segments 'I Am Second' and stumbled across this book when looking her up at my library. I kept an open mind and was rewarded. The way she describes all the imagery of her past surroundings and experiences places this book apart from others that may be a bit drie...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Susan Beer rated it 4 of 5 stars

A friend at church absolutely insisted that I read this book, so I did so quickly, wanting to return to a couple I was reading on my own. I had never been a fan of Ms. Rice because I knew she was a vocal, ex-Catholic atheist, and I'm not a fan of horror-based genres. My friend insisted that this book was very different, and went further into her childhood faith and return to it. She was so impressed that I decided I'd read it.

This was an excellent and quick read. Between an alcoholic father and...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Pam rated it 3 of 5 stars

An interesting read, although Rice rambles and repeats herself at times. Rice, maybe best known for her Interview With a Vampire books, recounts her devoutly religious Catholic youth in New Orleans, her subsequent break with God, and then the resumption of her faith. I think it could have been written in half the words, but it is an interesting glimpse into 1950's Catholicism (I'll admit, I've always been fascinated with the pageantry of the Catholic mass). The last few chapters were the most th...more

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Apr 16, 2011 Amy VanGundy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Like most of the Christian world, the "conversion" of Anne Rice to Christianity was news of interest. We always like it when someone "famous" makes a public declaration of faith. One for our side. Yeah! (Intended to be semi-sarcastic, in case anyone was wondering.)

Reading this was interesting because it was not so much a "conversion" as a return. Anne Rice was a serious Catholic for her childhood years and left the Church when she was in college. This alone was interesting to know.

As for the bo...more

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Feb 02, 2011 Paul Pessolano rated it 3 of 5 stars

Anne Rice is best known for her vampire books. "Interview with a Vampire", "The Feast of All Saints", "The Vampire Lestat", to name but a few. She did 20 books in this genre.

"Called Out of Darkness" is her personal spiritual journey.

Anne was born in New Orleans and was brought up in the Cathlic religion. She came from a very devout family and followed the dictates of Catholicism faithfully. She attended Catholic Grade School and High School.

She began to question Catholicism and religion in gener...more Anne Rice is best known for her vampire books. "Interview with a Vampire", "The Feast of All Saints", "The Vampire Lestat", to name but a few. She did 20 books in this genre.

"Called Out of Darkness" is her personal spiritual journey.

Anne was born in New Orleans and was brought up in the Cathlic religion. She came from a very devout family and followed the dictates of Catholicism faithfully. She attended Catholic Grade School and High School.

She began to question Catholicism and religion in general her first year of college. This was in the 60's and although she did not become a part of the "hippie" culture, the sexual revolution, or the drug scene, she found herself to being an avowed atheist.

Anne became a very prolific and famous writer. Her books explored good and evil, love and hatred, all told through the eyes of oltherworldly beings. Many of her books reflect her living in New Orleans and are filled with the lore and pageantry of that city.

Anne tells of her trials in life, her mother's death from drinking, her daughter from cancer, and her husband. All through her life Anne kept reflecting back on her Catholicism, and the truth be told, it probably did not stray to far from her mind. She started seriously to question atheism and found an urging to return to her Catholic faith.

Once she returned to Catholicism, she found that she wanted to know more about her faith, and religion in general. This has led her to write her two latest novels on Christianity, "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" and "Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana".

The most telling part of "Called Out of Darkness" is in the last several chapters where Anne finds the foundation of her religion, and all religions, to be based in love.

This book is very readable and wil of great interest to those who live or have lived in New Orleans, Catholics, and those who want to read about an individual who went on a long spiritual journey that took her fromkk a rigid and strutural religion to atheism, and back. (less)

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Jul 16, 2009 Terra rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a wonderful book that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. Anne Rice's spiritual journey is incredible. She describes growing up as a devout Catholic as a joyful and exquisitely beautiful time in her life. As a Protestant, I appreciate her love of the solemnity of the Latin mass and the ways the architecture and statues in the churches draw her toward faith and worship. While I know that there are ways I cannot align theologically with Catholicism, the church gets something about...more

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Aug 22, 2012 Kristi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Called out of Darkness, a spiritual confession reads like a beautiful talk with a girlfriend about spirituality. Anne Rice is a gifted writer; she brings you with her on this journey of love.

First, she explores her church and religion as a child. Her images are pure and vivid and familiar. She later moves away from Catholicism and becomes an atheist and then, returns. It’s a life path I’m familiar with; I, left the Catholic church in my 20’s and for many of the same reasons she did. Her describ...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Wendy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

It wasn't exactly what I expected but still an interesting journey in to Ann's spiritual journey. Good stuff.

FAVORITE PASSAGE, also in Andy Stanley Christian series:
"In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from Him for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I'd been, all of my life, missing th...more

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Jun 26, 2010 Auntie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Even though Anne Rice details her Catholic upbringing, I could identify closely with her experiences as a child born into a committed and faithful church family. That was my first surprise!

She abandoned her childhood belief as she hit the college years. That was me!

She went back to Jesus, and was married in the Church in obedience.
I understand that!

Interestingly enough, I have just finished another autobiography of a woman who finds her way back to her Lord after doing life "without him" (that's...more Even though Anne Rice details her Catholic upbringing, I could identify closely with her experiences as a child born into a committed and faithful church family. That was my first surprise!

She abandoned her childhood belief as she hit the college years. That was me!

She went back to Jesus, and was married in the Church in obedience.
I understand that!

Interestingly enough, I have just finished another autobiography of a woman who finds her way back to her Lord after doing life "without him" (that's in quotes because we all know that our Lord is always present whether or not we acknowledge Him or not.) So comparisons and contrasts are inevitable.

Anne Rice writes with a descriptive power that cannot help but move one into her world and experience, even when she was a child under school age. For a writer to whom books were behind a barrier, she focused in on being fully in the moment, and her processing comes across as a conversation with a good friend (you, the reader.) I really like that intimate style of writing.

I worried that the first half of the book wasn't going to get to her
life change given all that she wants us to understand about her foundational beliefs that color her world from early on. That world includes her prolific writing about Vampires in the 1980's. I haven't read any of those books, and was never interested enough to even peruse one. But, as Anne began to be aware of the crying need in her life for a strength greater than herself, a love greater than her own, a purpose greater than her imagination...she describes how the characters and plots of her stories indicate those longings and needs.

She has found her purpose (we are to LOVE...), her biggest challenge (we are to LOVE our neighbors which include our enemies), and her biggest satisfaction...(we are to LOVE our Lord, as He loves us.)
She is far more articulate and convincing than I in communicating this.

I have found an exhilaration about God and his working in our lives with the concluding chapters in Anne Rice's book. This exhilaration simply was not present at the end of the other autobiography which immediately preceeded this read for me.

I am so thankful for the redeeming work of a Lord who is committed to us with all of our warts, self interests and unfortunate detours in our life. His way is the only way for true happiness and joy in every circumstance. (less)

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Feb 01, 2009 Jennifer rated it 1 of 5 stars

I couldn't bare to finish this book...it was a total lack of organized thoughts...

UGH!!!! WHAT A BORE!!!!! I am only finishing this book out of principle. I've never read Anne Rice's novels because they are my style but I have heard from so many she's fantastic. I was really interested in getting into her head but once I started reading this overbearing book it turned me sour to her writing style! You are so inundates with details you loose site of what she's trying to have her readers see. I ca...more

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Nov 20, 2008 Bill rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can imagine many fans of the novels of Anne Rice were surprised that her first memoir, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, is not about her life as a writer; rather, it is about her life as a Catholic and the role of faith in her life.

Rice beautifully describes her life as a child being enveloped in Catholicism---the masses, the sacraments, her experiences as a student in Catholic school, the religious holidays (Nativity scenes set up at churches in New Orleans at the beginning of...more I can imagine many fans of the novels of Anne Rice were surprised that her first memoir, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, is not about her life as a writer; rather, it is about her life as a Catholic and the role of faith in her life.

Rice beautifully describes her life as a child being enveloped in Catholicism---the masses, the sacraments, her experiences as a student in Catholic school, the religious holidays (Nativity scenes set up at churches in New Orleans at the beginning of November, and the Stations of the Cross during Lent)--which, being a Catholic my own darn self, I strongly related to. She was also a child with a strong sense of family and what family meant to her. One revelation that was quite surprising to me was that she was not a big reader as a child; she was more of a listener--to stories and poem told to her by the mother she loved, and the celebrations of Mass in Latin.

Upon entering college in 1960, at the age of 19, several factors in Rice's life (including her gender and the turbulent era in which she lived at the time) led her to renounce the Catholicism of her childhood and proclaim herself an atheist. The reasons she chooses this radical shift from devout faith in a supreme being to no faith in a supreme being had many complicated factors. But Anne finished college, married poet Stan Rice, had two children (one tragically died at the age of five), and became a bestselling novelist specializing in vampires and erotica.

Rice remained an atheist for 38 years until she felt she was called back to Catholicism. After slipping into a diabetic coma in 1998, Rice slowly but surely regained her faith. She now devotes her writing to God and has since published a series of religious books based on the early life of Jesus Christ.

I admit I am not a huge fan of overtly religious literature, fiction or nonfiction, but Rice's memoir really pulled me in. Her journey full circle from Catholic to atheist to Catholic was very intriguing. However, being a fan of Rice's fiction, particularly The Vampire Chronicles, I was a little disappointed that her memoir gave little insight into her life as a writer, the inspiration of her characters, and her success as a novelist.

But remember this was not her intentions with this book. It is not the autobiography of an author; it's the autobiography of a devout Catholic who happens to be an author. Also, her passion for her new found religion is quite admirable.

However, some may view her devotion as overzealous, and even the hugest Anne Rice devotees will be turned off by the book simply for this aspect, which is a shame because it is well-written and fascinating to read, regardless of one's religious persuasion (if any). Her prose in her memoir is just as vivid and beautiful as her gothic fiction (which she does not renounce, by the way, regardless of her rediscovered faith).

Anne Rice makes it know that she stands by her life, her choices, and her work--and this is admirable in itself.

But to be frank, the main idea I took away from Called Out Of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession is that it is essential for every person to define their own religious beliefs for himself/herself and equally essential not to be coerced into a particular dogma. Faith is a personal thing, it's a private thing and, as with Anne Rice's life, it can change your outlook on everything for the better...or for the worse.

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Apr 24, 2012 Arlene rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: spiritual

I generally love anything written by Anne Rice. I find her imagination fascinating. Not so much on this one, though.

Memoirs are my least favorite genre. For some reason, it seems that perfectly articulate authors become repetitive, and think everyone else should be interested in the minutia of their everyday lives.

I was particularly interested in her early experiences, raised as a devout Catholic in New Orleans, her later atheism, and her return to her childhood faith, and how that shaped her w...more

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Sep 17, 2009 Mark rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've never read an Anne Rice novel. (I did collect the Interview w/a Vampire comics for a while, but that was a long time ago.) So I don't come to this spiritual memoiras a fan.

I'm not a Roman Catholic, either... though the book is about a person's journey from Catholic faith to atheism & back to Catholicism.

So my review/response to this book is colored by these things.

Here's the bullet points:
- the structure of the book is rambling... and that's being charitable. While individidual passag...more

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May 28, 2009 Katie rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Despite this book's slow start, it ended up being very interesting. She goes into incredibly intricate detail about her Catholic childhood, something I can't relate to, but may interest someone with the same background. She goes on for chapters about it and because of that, I almost gave up.

Something that she left out that I am so curious about is how her husband, Stan, reacted to her rediscovered faith. It seemed that the timing of her leaving the faith and meeting Stan (an atheist) have a lot...more Despite this book's slow start, it ended up being very interesting. She goes into incredibly intricate detail about her Catholic childhood, something I can't relate to, but may interest someone with the same background. She goes on for chapters about it and because of that, I almost gave up.

Something that she left out that I am so curious about is how her husband, Stan, reacted to her rediscovered faith. It seemed that the timing of her leaving the faith and meeting Stan (an atheist) have a lot in common, so I couldn't help but wonder what he thought about her interest in relics, travelling to Israel, and ramping up interest in Christianity. At one point, a note from her diary says that Stan was "happy" for her, but is that all he said? Curious.

I felt sorrow for her because it seemed as though she fought harder to maintain her DISbelief when she actually was starting to believe. That must have been so difficult. She had surrounded herself with what she calls "urban atheist friends" and mentions feeling that she had gone too far, seen too much, etc., to believe.

"In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from Him for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything, I did not need to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I'd been, all my life, missing the entire point."

I liked what she had to say about loving one another and agree with her that this is one of Christ's most important message.

"It is life changing and endlessly difficult, and the steadfast determination to love is threatened at every moment. We walk a tightrope over a pit of demons when we insist upon love. And sometimes we walk alone.

The truth is, we are never alone, but we are tempted to think we are alone."

I wasn't so happy with the way the book ended. She goes places I wish she hadn't and seems to end with criticism against what she had been trying to explain her support for. It didn't make a lot of sense to me, in fact, there's a lot of rambling throughout the book that made it difficult to read. There's a storyline to follow, but it's clearly distracting.(less)

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Aug 06, 2011 Breanne rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book hit me hard on so many levels. It follows Anne Rice through her personal life journey of spirituality and religion. It starts with her growing up in a predominately Catholic city where everything around you reflects the beliefs of the major religion. It goes through her fall from grace, her anger and hopelessness, her confusion, and her eventual return to her church. Throughout the book, I could feel the parallels to my own life. Having grown up in a predominately Mormon area where eve...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Carlene Havel rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this book a few years back - before Ann Rice (somewhat) repudiated it. Wish I had written a review then, because now it's difficult to separate my initial reaction from subsequent thoughts. The book is well written, not surprisingly--though not as engrossing a read as other books by Ms. Rice. I believe one thought upon completing the last page was that the darkness she felt was as much a longing for the ritual of the church of her childhood as for the real Jesus. If that recollection is a...more

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Feb 14, 2010 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

By coindidence, I picked this book up at the library after having just read C.S. Lewis journey from atheism to faith, "Surprised by Joy." I thought this book might give me some insight into a mind that could create such literature as "Interview With a Vampire." This book is also a journey from atheism to faith, but these two authors took two completely different roads. Whereas Lewis reasoned his way to faith, Rice's was an emotional experience culminating in a love experience with Jesus. A big p...more

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Dec 06, 2008 Jo rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography-memoir, inspirational, religious-spiritual

Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession, is not about Anne Rice's life as a writer; rather, it is about her life as a Catholic and the role of faith in her life. She was raised Catholic, then fell away and became an Atheist for 38 years before finding God and dedicating her life to Him again, through the Catholic church. It is an amazingly honest book, and her descriptions of New Orleans, of the Catholic Church, of her searching for God while insisting He doesn't exist, and the joy and intelledc...more

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May 10, 2013 Emily rated it 1 of 5 stars

What happened to the Anne Rice who wrote this?: “In spite of all the refinements of civilization that conspired to make art--the dizzying perfection of the string quartet or the sprawling grandeur of Fragonard's canvases--beauty was savage. It was as dangerous and lawless as the earth had been eons before man had one single coherent thought in his head or wrote codes of conduct on tablets of clay. Beauty was a Savage Garden.” --The Vampire Lestat

She's gone. That's what her last works have taught...more

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Sep 08, 2009 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: memoir

I was curious about this book when I heard that Anne Rice, an atheist for 40 years, had returned to the Catholic faith of her childhood.

You Catholics or former Catholics out there might really enjoy her descriptions of growing up Catholic in New Orleans (or maybe your mothers would enjoy it even more!). Her writing is lush and evocative. By chance, I came across the audio version of this book just as we were setting off on a long road trip, so I listened to it instead of reading it. And I think...more

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About Anne Rice

Anne Rice (born Howard Allen Frances O'Brien) is a best-selling American author of gothic, supernatural, historical, erotica, and later religious themed books. Best known for The Vampire Chronicles, her prevailing thematical focus is on love, death, immortality, existentialism, and the human condition. She was married to poet Stan Rice for 41 years until his death in 2002. Her books have sold near...more

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Books by Anne Rice

Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1)

The Vampire Lestat (The Vampire Chronicles, #2)

The Queen of the Damned (The Vampire Chronicles, #3)

The Witching Hour (Lives of the Mayfair Witches, #1)

The Tale of the Body Thief (The Vampire Chronicles, #4)

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“In the moment of surrender, I let go of all the theological or social questions which had kept me from Him for countless years. I simply let them go. There was the sense, profound and wordless, that if He knew everything I did not have to know everything, and that, in seeking to know everything, I'd been, all of my life, missing the entire point. No social paradox, no historic disaster, no hideous record of injustice or misery should keep me from Him. No question of Scriptural integrity, no torment over the fate of this or that atheist or gay friend, no worry for those condemned and ostracized by my church or any other church should stand between me and Him….I didn't have to know how He was going to save the unlettered and the unbaptized, or how He would redeem the conscientious heathen who had never spoken His name. I didn't have to know how my gay friends would find their way to Redemption or how my hardworking secular humanist friends could or would receive the power of His Saving Grace. I didn't have to know why good people suffered agony or died in pain. He knew. And it was his knowing that overwhelmed me…” — 17 people liked it

“…being an atheist required discipline very like that of being Catholic. One could never yield to the idea of a supernatural authority, no matter how often one might be tempted. To think that a personal God had made the world was to yield to a demonic and superstitious and destructive belief. ” — 9 people liked it

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