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Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession

Anne Rice

3.62 · Rating details · 2,081 ratings · 373 reviews

Autobiographical spiritual memoir providing an account of how the author rediscovered and fully embraced her Catholic faith after decadesas a self-proclaimed atheist. Begins with her childhood in NewOrleans, when she seriously considered entering a convent. As she grewinto a young adult she delved into concerns about faith, God, and theCatholic Church that led her away fro ...more

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Hardcover, 245 pages

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

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Feb 04, 2009 Jamieson rated it it was amazing

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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Nov 11, 2008 Skylar Burris rated it really liked it

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 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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Jun 30, 2019 Faye rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, library-or-borrowed, reviewed, autobiography-memoir-diary, best-of-2019, anne-rice

Read: June 2019
I hesitated between a four and five star rating for this book. Anne Rice was one of the biggest influences in my teenage years and Pandora, Blackwood Farm and the Mayfair Witch trilogy remain some of my favourite novels. I even managed to include Merrick in my university dissertation when I wrote about the role of women in gothic fiction in my early twenties.
I haven’t read any of her recent novels because I felt as though her more recent offerings wouldn’t be able to compare to he ...more

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Feb 15, 2009 David rated it it was ok

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 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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Nov 12, 2008 Jimmy rated it it was amazing

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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May 31, 2009 Alexis rated it really liked it

So, how do I review this book? Knowing that in the past few years, Anne Rice has stepped away from any kind of organized religion, even to say she has "quit" being a Christian?

Well, it is a great book, a great calling back to a faith that is the pillar of who we are (whether or not we want to admit it).

By Rice's very own admissions, this call back to Christ was clearly going to be incredibly difficult - a road not easy to follow - a path wrought with strife. I guess the strife got her in the end ...more

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Dec 22, 2017 Cristine Braddy rated it really liked it

I love hearing others stories and journeys. I found her voice is to be incredibly powerful.

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Feb 18, 2013 Sherrey rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, faith

Our library has the most charming annex, The Pond House, where used books and an assortment of other used library materials are sold at ridiculously low prices. After visiting the annual book sale, I suggested we drop in to see what was on hand at The Pond House.

That day there was a plethora of memoirs for $1-$2, and I picked up several. Among them was Anne Rice's memoir, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.

Rice's story chronicles her life in and out of the Catholic church from her c Our library has the most charming annex, The Pond House, where used books and an assortment of other used library materials are sold at ridiculously low prices. After visiting the annual book sale, I suggested we drop in to see what was on hand at The Pond House.

That day there was a plethora of memoirs for $1-$2, and I picked up several. Among them was Anne Rice's memoir, Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.

Rice's story chronicles her life in and out of the Catholic church from her childhood in New Orleans to the writing of her memoir in 2008.

The beauty of the church building where her family attended Mass and the words she heard in the liturgy fascinated Rice as a young girl.

So fascinated she, Anne Rice at age 12, announced to her parish priest her wish to be a priest. Not only did Fr. Steffen attempt to make short work of his explanation to her by stating only boys could become priests, he told Anne that there had been a time when theologians were not sure if women had souls. Anne never forgot his words, even though she thought later he may have mumbled to himself.

Fleeting thoughts toyed with becoming a nun, but this too quickly dissipated as something Rice felt unsuited to explore.

Fast forward to the 1960s and college and yes, the Vietnam War and the hippie generation. Anne finds herself confronted by many mindsets: some opposed to religion, some starting up new belief systems in or out of the church, drug use, diametrically opposed political views on everything, and the war in Vietnam rages. All in all, a confusing time.

During this time, Anne meets, falls in love with and marries her husband, Stan. And together, they begin a home and later a family.

As a result of the antithesis of her childhood faith and life as a young adult, Anne moves away from the church and God. She declares herself an atheist. Her descriptions of her feelings during this time are highly emotional, fraught with darkness, a strong belief in the rightness of it, and yet an unidentified longing that persists.

Through several years of writing her graphic Gothic novels, she is highly successful but not completely happy. It is during one of her darkest times that she comes to the realization that she might not have agreed with the church, but she never stopped loving God and wanting Him in her life.

Here begins her call out of the darkness and on a new and reviving journey. Rice has told the story that many of us living through the 1960s and 1970s could probably share. However, hers is rich in Catholic tradition and steeped in the history of New Orleans, a city strongly populated with Catholics. A tale of growing disenchanted seems not so unexpected.

The turning and transformation in her life is unexpected as she commits to giving up the genre of writing that has made her so successful.

I will leave my review here for if you have not read Anne Rice's memoir, I do not want to spoil its richness by giving away too much. It is a book I shall read again and perhaps again with as much interest and joy as my first read brought. ...more

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Apr 19, 2009 Patty rated it really liked it

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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Feb 09, 2020 Annie rated it liked it

Putting aside the rather creepy cover, this was a moderately interesting book about Anne Rice, the queen of vampires, and her spiritual journey.

Although I'm very happy that Anne Rice has found her peace and is significantly happier having returned to the Catholic faith of her youth, I can't say it has improved her fiction. The few recent books I've read of hers have just been lifeless compared to the emotional extremes of her vampire heyday.

Nonetheless, Anne Rice is still what I shall call a "g Putting aside the rather creepy cover, this was a moderately interesting book about Anne Rice, the queen of vampires, and her spiritual journey.

Although I'm very happy that Anne Rice has found her peace and is significantly happier having returned to the Catholic faith of her youth, I can't say it has improved her fiction. The few recent books I've read of hers have just been lifeless compared to the emotional extremes of her vampire heyday.

Nonetheless, Anne Rice is still what I shall call a "good Catholic"--not dogmatic, not holier-than-thou, quite earnest and flexible.

Some interesting quotes:

I came out of childhood with no sense of gender, no sense of being handicapped by being a woman, because I had no sense of myself as a woman. I soon caught on in adolescence that there were tremendous liabilities to being a girl. -- I can't really explain how, but this statement colours her fiction in a new way for me. I can definitely see echoes of this sentiment in her writing.

On whether she is a "prodigal daughter" in returning to Catholicism: I feel no guilt for anything I ever wrote. The sincerity of my writing removes them completely from what I hold to be sin. I also feel no real contrition for my years as an atheist, because my departure from the church was not only painful, but also completely sincere.

Sin, for me, resides in those acts of cruelty, both spectacular and small, both deliberate and careless, but always involving the hurt, the real hurt, of another human being.

I myself am haunted by destructive things that were said to me when I was a child and over the course of my adult life. I can think of some things said to me when I was ten years old and feel exquisite pain remembering how humiliated or hurt I felt. What that means to me, however, is not only that I must forgive each and every instance, but that I must admit that my own words and actions may still be hurting people who can remember them from numberless instances over sixty-six years. All that failure to love.
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Dec 21, 2008 Ann rated it it was amazing

Shelves: christian-books

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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Sep 24, 2008 Karen L. rated it really liked it

Shelves: biographies-autobio, christianity

I would have given this a 5 star, had it a better ending. She had to include her personal agenda at the end, which was a bit more progressive than I expected from a Roman Catholic. Anyhow, the beginning and middle of the book were fabulous. She told it in a wonderful writers voice full of vivid description. I loved hearing about her childhood and her adult conversion experience of her return to Christ and her Catholic faith. I thought it good that she has read Roman Catholic writers, as well as ...more

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Jan 30, 2009 Jennifer rated it did not like it

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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Apr 23, 2013 Holly rated it did not like it

Couldn't even finish this book. Seemed very scattered. ...more

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Feb 11, 2016 Jim B rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, christian

In the first part of this book, I found a kindred spirit. I've known about Anne Rice's return to the Christian faith (orthodox Catholicism), and really found her two novels about Christ to be compelling (see my reviews). I have rarely encountered someone whose childhood faith was so like mine (except that I attended a Lutheran church). Like her, I always felt as a child that Jesus was more real than just a real person who lived in history -- I knew Jesus was really with me, that He loves me with In the first part of this book, I found a kindred spirit. I've known about Anne Rice's return to the Christian faith (orthodox Catholicism), and really found her two novels about Christ to be compelling (see my reviews). I have rarely encountered someone whose childhood faith was so like mine (except that I attended a Lutheran church). Like her, I always felt as a child that Jesus was more real than just a real person who lived in history -- I knew Jesus was really with me, that He loves me with a love that is grace and colors my life with beauty. Church (worship and the church building) intrigued and enriched me. All of this, Anne Rice describes in vivid detail, and recaptured for me in her memoir (even her contrast with the flatness of "Dick and Jane" compared to the richness of the words I heard and learned at church).

Her childhood was pre-Vatican II, so Roman Catholics of a certain generation will relate to the way she experienced and loved the Latin mass, and many of the other aspects of U.S. Catholicism of that era. One thing you encounter in Anne Rice's description of the time that she admits is unusual for recollections of the era is that she has only positive memories of the nuns in her life. The commonly complained about strict, harsh nuns that fill books, plays and conversations were not her experience. She says maybe she was fortunate in that her church and school did not produce what other people report as their experience. She also had several nuns in her family and they were positive role models for her. (Not as women -- Anne Rice's discussion of her feelings about men and women is interesting and I won't disclose her reflections here. They are, however, a good reminder that our childhoods are not cookie-cutter uniform versions of human experience.

An unexpected part of her childhood and young adult years was how difficult it was for her to read. She says that she basically learned by listening. (Obviously she listened carefully to everything said in her church as a preschooler!) She points out her faith preceded reading. She loves Latin and poetry, but she says that she learned to love them by hearing them spoken. The book has many small bits of poetry that she's learned, cited at appropriate moments. As someone who from the first was as inspired by books as by my church, it was fascinating to read about someone who even in college could not read much and yet loved learning, poetry and good discussion of ideas.

Her atheist years have shaped many of her social views. Many Christians, especially orthodox Catholics, may be appalled at her pronouncements (particularly since she clearly identifies herself as an orthodox Catholic). But she discusses this, and comes away with a particularly humble conclusion: she is a relative infant in the faith, and she is not a doctrinal person -- her passion is writing novels. So, she concludes, maybe she has it wrong, but she shares what she believes. And at the bottom of it all, no matter what people think of her or say about her, she believes that it is Christ's will for her to respond in love. Following Jesus means loving neighbors and enemies, and she -- quite rightly -- observes, it is often harder to love family and friends than enemies!

The section of the memoir documenting her return to faith testifies to the relentless love of God which would not let her go. The book is

The narrator of this book, Kirsten Potter, was a perfect choice. Her voice was unobtrusive, yet fresh, clear, and expressive. If you read the hardcover or ebook and didn't enjoy it, give the audiobook (Books on Tape) a try.

This edition includes an interview with Anne Rice that was also enjoyable and illuminating. In the interview she impulsively says that in a way she was a fake atheist. I imagine that statement could be taken out of context and misused. Her memoir makes clear the extent of her atheism for nearly 40 years. But what sets her apart from the more commonly encountered form of atheism was that she grieved the loss of her faith. Her vampire books were intentionally bleak because they were her exploration of a world without God (not a godless world, but a world where something was missing and tragic). Like Augustine (my allusion, not hers) would say, her heart was restless until it found its rest in God. By saying she was a "fake" atheist, she was admitting that her atheism never really was reconciled to the loss of her faith.

Two years after she wrote this book, she announced that she is no longer a Christian. From what I've read, however, she maintains that she hasn't given up on Christ, just the church. Since people evolve, I'm not sure where she is spiritually today as I write this review. For me personally, she had put her finger on something not only with focus on Christ, but also with what she wrote about love. My own family can't meet my expectations, yet I love them and strive to love them. The same for me is true of my church family. I think of how Jesus must think not only of their quirks and evils, but also of mine. I hold to the thought that just as Jesus worshiped with believers of His day, and loves people in every age, calling the church His bride despite its deep flaws, so I too have my quirks and my evil and humbly must strive to love and fellowship with the bride of Christ. Just this morning I said to a friend, "When Luther was young, he pictured God as an angry judge. I think of the Lord as rolling his eyes in frustration at me!" No doubt my faults would be classified as reasons for someone to leave "church" but not "Christ." Still, I believe that loving Christ calls me to hear His voice at church and be His voice -- as much as I am able -- to His people as well as to the world. Anne Rice wrote in this book about the horrible things a minority of people have said and written to her, and she was remarkably mature in recognizing that wicked little group of people seems to crop up in every setting (even, to her grief, among people who enjoy her books). That wicked little group of people (Internet trolls, for example) cannot prevent me from believing in our form of government, or freedom of speech or the simple pleasure of a comedy. Why should I let them stand for Christianity, and turn my back on what has always been for me a spiritual family, with all the obligations, rewards and pains that the word family can be?

I think this would be an excellent book for a book club to discuss!

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Oct 20, 2020 Babe of Darkness rated it did not like it

Oh My Goth! This book should be called Bored of Darkness. Not at all what I expected. I tired to listen to the
audiobook but after one hour of my life, that I will never get back, I gave up.

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Nov 15, 2008 Bill rated it really liked it

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 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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Mar 12, 2010 Leah rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction, spirituality

Wow, Anne Rice, who would have thought. This book is a spiritual memoir of Anne's journey. She is a devout Catholic who is so intensely focused on the traditions in the Catholic church. I found the book quite illuminating because it gives insight into how Catholics view other Christians and why they believe so fervently in Mary and focus on all the icons so heavily. The story was interesting and honest. I can't wait to read her vampire books since she describes how all the characters represent h Wow, Anne Rice, who would have thought. This book is a spiritual memoir of Anne's journey. She is a devout Catholic who is so intensely focused on the traditions in the Catholic church. I found the book quite illuminating because it gives insight into how Catholics view other Christians and why they believe so fervently in Mary and focus on all the icons so heavily. The story was interesting and honest. I can't wait to read her vampire books since she describes how all the characters represent her struggle with faith, her descent into personal darkness, and the way she was able to work herself out of it and come back to the beliefs she had when she was young.

Just recently last year, Rice came out with the statement: For those who care, and I understand if you don't: Today I quit being a Christian. I'm out. I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being "Christian" or to being part of Christianity. It's simply impossible for me to "belong" to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group. For ten years, I've tried. I've failed. I'm an outsider. My conscience will allow nothing else.

I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen."

Which is a shame, because I personally am a Bible-believing Christian democrat, pro-gay, pro-choice, pro-birth control, pro-science believer. Many people in my generation, including myself, have trouble with the church because as an entity, it does not represent the love that Christ showed to those around him. However, with all the problems and issues I have with the church, I still believe in Jesus with all my heart and want to live my life in a way that would honor him.

I understand her frustration with Christians, I get it, but aren't we also supposed to be known "by our love for one another?" Anyway, I loved the book, I loved reading her insights, and I can't wait to read her novels now that I have a more in depth view of who she is as a person. Most interesting... ...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Lisa rated it it was amazing

I was given this book in 2010, and read it then, as well as in 2011. I enjoyed this book, and in true Anne Rice style, it is evocative and splendidly rich in imagery. I was struck by Anne's description of growing up in New Orleans and its distinct, multifaceted culture, as well as her illustrative, powerfully tangible recollections of Catholic mass and Catholic school. She naturally writes in such detail that I could easily imagine Anne's mother Katherine reading poetry to and telling stories to I was given this book in 2010, and read it then, as well as in 2011. I enjoyed this book, and in true Anne Rice style, it is evocative and splendidly rich in imagery. I was struck by Anne's description of growing up in New Orleans and its distinct, multifaceted culture, as well as her illustrative, powerfully tangible recollections of Catholic mass and Catholic school. She naturally writes in such detail that I could easily imagine Anne's mother Katherine reading poetry to and telling stories to Anne and her 3 sisters, Anne's walks with her family to the chapel as she notes the kinds of trees and how they dance in the breeze, and the different types of sidewalks, with flowers and tree roots growing through the cracks, etc., etc. Years ago I read "Prism of the Night" 2 or 3 times, the biography collaborated on with author Katherine Ramsland, which I loved. "Prism" was published in '94 and the paperback is app. 416 pages, compared to this book's 245 pages, so of course Prism is more extensive and a joint work. I read some Amazon reviews of "Called", and was disappointed and sad over the harsh criticism and judgment in the few one-star reviews I saw. I am not Catholic, nor have I ever been, and I read this book because I was interested in Anne's experiences and thoughts. Therefore, it's not my place to judge or critique her, her journey, her internal compass, her opinions, or her conclusions. My review is about the book's contents and literary style, which I found to be compelling, interesting, and beautifully written, just like many of her other works. Whether or not you agree with her beliefs, or her arrival at those beliefs, it takes courage and vulnerability to put them on display, and be at the mercy of assumptions, speculations, and distortions. I respect that she is true to her personal integrity and follows what is important to her. Anne is a *writer*, and therefore she is driven to write, and I respect that, as well as her, especially her public admission in 2010 that she left organized religion. ...more

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Jan 04, 2015 Eva rated it did not like it

Shelves: i-give-up

I am not counting this book towards my reading challenge for the year because it was simply too unbearable to finish. I gave up about 1/3 of the way in, and skimmed the rest. Lest anyone think I am judging the content of this book because I dislike people believing in Christianity, let me point out that I took a class in college called Spiritual Autobiography, and it was really interesting. I enjoyed reading the stories of early Christian martyrs being so devoted to their new faith they allowed ...more

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Mar 02, 2016 Neil Gilbert rated it really liked it

A quick read but an inspiring one. Having been bathed in the language of Christianity through an upbringing rich with faithful church attendance, it was refreshing to hear familiar concepts reiterated by an outsider. Repeated back to me, this vernacular was sweet and melodic. A breath of fresh air. There is such a richness to the ideal of loving your enemies and it's a beautiful thing to see it lived out and be on the receiving end of such treatment. The history of Christianity is rocky but rich ...more

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Nov 18, 2013 Vonetta rated it liked it

I would have given this book at least 4 stars, but Rice is so scattered and leaves out so many details, I got kind of lost in some places. BUT she captures with the most magnitude the emotion that results from receiving the love given by the Creator of the universe. I'm super Protestant, so I wasn't familiar with a lot of the Catholic references (I learned a lot) and I had a lot of opposing views, but just as in life and in this book, it didn't matter. Only Jesus matters. I like that she include ...more

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Sep 09, 2014 Elysha rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Meh. Sure this lady can write, but sheesh, she can also drone. I had to take a break from this book because I was so dulled by it. She evaded a lot, and talked mostly about her childhood, and not anything that I was particularly interested. I learned a great deal about her love of architecture and her inability to read, but I didn't learn much else. It all felt very surface level and nothing was deep or probing. She'd plunge into something interesting--like her mother--and then she'd back off be ...more

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Aug 18, 2011 Julie Reed rated it liked it

Shelves: spiritual, biography, apologetics

I give this book three stars for the spiritual bits which only come after about 1/2 way through the book. The 1st half was pretty boring to me and I found myself skimming. It was all about New Orleans, Catholicism, and sort of boring scenery that Anne goes to great length to describe. So, the first 1/2 of the book only would get 2 stars but I'll give it 3 for the spiritual insight which I really enjoyed. ...more

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Nov 14, 2012 Dawn rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mental-health-books

A wonderful book to read for anyone who has ever struggled with their faith. Anne Rice talks about her childhood and growing up a devout Catholic. She struggles with her faith in later years but finds her way back. She explains the reasons for coming back to her faith amid disappointments in the church and in life. Anyone who has ever struggled with their relationship with God or their religion will relate and she gives good points to think about.

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Jul 13, 2013 Ashley Todd rated it did not like it

Shelves: didn-t-finish

I was curious about Anne Rice's faith, or lack thereof. I forced myself to read four chapters before I finally gave up. I hope her usual writing style is better than what was in this book. Her attention to such minute detail (like the sidewalks in New Orleans) made for painfully slow reading and added nothing to the story she was trying to tell. This was when I set my new 50-page rule: if I'm not hooked by then, I give it up. There are too many great books out there waiting to be read. ...more

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Oct 08, 2009 Sigrid Jacobsen rated it it was amazing

I loved, loved this book. Not for everyone but Anne Rice surprised me. Her beautiful descriptions of her faith life "pre-reading age" were fascinating. She shares her own story of conversion back to Catholicism in an honest, complete and adult way. To a catholic like me who never experienced pre-vatican II life (in new orleans no less) Rice shares a world that was rich, full and faith-filled. ...more

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Apr 21, 2018 Valerie Horner rated it really liked it

Called Out of Darkness - a Spiritual Confession by Anne Rice

I don’t usually review books that were published more than a decade ago, but I, for the most part, rather liked Anne Rice’s spiritual confession. I’m hardly familiar with Rice fiction. I saw the movie Interview with a Vampire put out almost 30 years ago with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. It was gothic, beautiful, a little creepy, and unfortunately started the re-romanticization of vampires. Vampires are basically the AntiChrist version of
Called Out of Darkness - a Spiritual Confession by Anne Rice

I don’t usually review books that were published more than a decade ago, but I, for the most part, rather liked Anne Rice’s spiritual confession. I’m hardly familiar with Rice fiction. I saw the movie Interview with a Vampire put out almost 30 years ago with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. It was gothic, beautiful, a little creepy, and unfortunately started the re-romanticization of vampires. Vampires are basically the AntiChrist version of eternal life. Resurrection of the dead through death and blood with no judgement and no heaven. The girl child vampire (Claudia) seemed to me to be too much of a suggestion/invitation to child sexual abuse to make me comfortable.

The only book of hers I have read is The Witching Hour - one of those books that I knew I shouldn’t be reading, but read anyways. It was deeply occultic and the goal of the story, if I remember correctly, was to allow a demonic spirit to inhabit a fetus. In this day of test tube babies, one can only wonder if some group of Satanists somewhere would not try to attempt such a feat.

I then hear that Rice had become a Christian which is always a cause for celebration when anyone converts from following the devil to following Christ. (Which is the case for every new believers in Christ whether they know it or not.) I picked up her book on the life of Jesus, Christ the Lord, but I’m just not comfortable with fictionalized accounts of Jesus’ years between Egypt and adulthood, so I didn’t read more than a few pages. I’m a Sola Scriptura type of girl.

Rice spends the almost the whole first half of her story describing the sensual beauties of her devout Catholic upbringing in New Orleans. (Devout as in daily mass and 2 aunts who were nuns.) New Orleans and deep Catholicity are both novel and exotic for me, so I enjoyed her descriptions to an extent although she should have cut at least a third. It got a little repetitive. I did wonder if it wasn’t a bit of an apologia to her pagan friends that she must of left behind when she became a Christian.
I will state what I didn’t like about her confession first. Throughout the story both pre and post conversion, she makes frequent mention of how she was above or had transcended gender in both real life and in fiction. Her fictional characters, she points out, are usually men with very feminine characteristics. There is often a homoerotic quality to them which she seems to be proud of. I consider this to be deeply misfortunate.

The first and most obvious quality that God created in our humanity is our sexuality. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them, (Genesis 1:27). I consider the whole transsexual impulse of our times to deeply anti-female. One of the major points of the “sexual revolution” and feminism is to make women more like men all in the name of “equality.” Women, they say, should be able to fight in the frontlines of war like men; women should be able to put their careers first and their children in daycare (implying that the raising of children is not of great value). Women should be able to have casual sex (supposedly like men) and not worry about having children from this union. It is all deeply anti female, anti motherhood, and anti children. This philosophy has left children by the millions dead from abortion or in fatherless homes hungry for a father. The separation of sexual pleasure from fruitfulness has lead to no fault divorce and homosexual marriage. It’s hurt women, and it’s hurt men.

Moreover, I don’t understand this flatlining of gender. To me being a completely feminine woman is a great joy. And I love and cherish masculine men who master their sexual desires by getting married, having children, becoming the head of their families, and taking ultimate responsibility for the families financial and spiritual well being. I say this having had two children out of wedlock and having 100% of all these responsibilities on my shoulders. It’s exhausting and not the best way to raise children.

Despite Rice and mine’s difference of opinions on this subject, I have no doubt that she had a genuine conversion experience. She returned to the Catholic faith in which she was raised but developed a new love for the person of Jesus and a deep hunger for reading the Bible which I notice usually marks a true Christian conversion. If a person says they have become a Christian but does not want to understand everything about Jesus which can be found in both the Old and New Testament, I notice that they have no staying power in the faith.

Rice also writes of her insights from N T Wright, whom I also admire. She does an admirable defense of the Nicene Creed and confesses herself as a fully Orthodox believer. She humbly shares what she considers her most grievous sins of her past, and makes a plea for understanding across Christian denominationalism that I found admirable. She is still a “gay rights” proponent, but I have noticed that people often have deeply personal or familial concerns to support such positions. This is the first book of Rice that I can recommend. God bless her and her walk with Christ.
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Sep 26, 2018 Stefka rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Reading this book gave me an invaluable insight into the later works of the author. A much deeper meaning to different patterns in character building. I loved it and wished it to be longer. Hope a bigger more thorough edition will be following this one one day.

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Mar 20, 2010 Kathleen rated it liked it

Rice should have waited a few more years before writing this--and then perhaps she wouldn't have written it. ...more

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How important is the influence/acceptance of spouse?	1	2	May 10, 2016 09:24AM
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What allows growth of the gift of Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ --- because He first Loved us.	1	2	May 10, 2016 09:17AM
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About Anne Rice

Anne Rice

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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

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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Interview with Anne Rice

The supernatural world has always been more real to me than the real world. I feel a great surge of energy when I acknowledge that there is a world...

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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…” — 26 likes

“…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. ” — 12 likes

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