Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Jan 23, 2010 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: vampire, the-vampire-chronicles

A reread that was much needed. Writing Interview helped Anne in her grief and reading this again is helping me in mine.

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Jan 15, 2008 Tom rated it it was ok

I wrote this review for an English course at BYU.

Questioning Humanity
Review by Tom Johnson

Anne Rice redefines the vampire lore in Interview with the Vampire, the first installment of The Vampire Chronicles. In her sensuous, poetic, and disturbing novel Rice explores the value of humanity by juxtaposing it with vampirism. This same blend of vivid imagery and psychological tinkering that attracted mature readers to The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned, and that inspired a full-length I wrote this review for an English course at BYU.

Questioning Humanity
Review by Tom Johnson

Anne Rice redefines the vampire lore in Interview with the Vampire, the first installment of The Vampire Chronicles. In her sensuous, poetic, and disturbing novel Rice explores the value of humanity by juxtaposing it with vampirism. This same blend of vivid imagery and psychological tinkering that attracted mature readers to The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned, and that inspired a full-length motion picture starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Antonio Banderas forces the reader to question his own humanity. Delving into the nightmarish existence of the vampire, Louis (which spans from nineteenth century French Louisiana to the present), the reader is confronted with this question: If given the opportunity, would you forsake humanity for the seductive immortality of a vampire? By following the psyche of Louis, it is gleaned that this is not an easy question to answer because the boundary between humanity and monstrosity is hidden in a misty fog common to both states: depravity.
“I was a twenty-five year-old man when I became a vampire and the year was seventeen ninety-one (p. 5),” states Louis as he begins to tell his story to a young male interviewer recording every word on a modern tape recorder. Louis tells the account of his deep depression after the death of his beloved brother. He despises his unfair life and the race of humanity that makes it thus. He is without hope and desires death. Then, the vampire, Lestat, visits him. Lestat convincingly and “seductively” offers Louis his desire to die and at the same time live forever. Seduced by the proposition, Louis agrees to become a vampire. Lestat drains his blood and then offers the young plantation owner a drink of his own vampiric life force. Louis never witnesses another sunrise.
The main conflict is Louis’s struggle to maintain his humanity. At first he kills only rats, dogs, and other animals for sustenance, and when he finally gives into his instinct to take human life, he does it with reverence. This defies the nature of vampirism and Louis becomes a symbol of man’s struggle between feral and human nature.
Later, out of compassion, he “grants immortality” to a five year old girl, Claudia. Claudia is a symbol of innocence lost. She forever lives in a five-year-old tabernacle, but her killer instincts are vicious and her intellect keen. A bizarre romance unfolds between Claudia and Louis.
The adventures of Louis and his companions take him to Transylvania, Paris, and back to America as he tries to find meaning to his existence, all the while, grasping desperately at shreds of humanity.
Interview with the Vampire provides a new angle to vampire lore. Most vampire tales are from the perspective of horrified humans slaying obtuse monsters. Rice uses the setting of an interview to make the reader feel like a psychiatrist listening to his patient, the vampire, spill his feelings. Every act that Louis undertakes is filtered through human logic and emotion. Rice contrasts this by introducing vampires into the story that lack all human emotion and act solely on feral instinct. This makes Louis a round identifiable character. The reader has a relationship with Louis that does not exist with Dracula or other literary monsters.
Another strength of the novel is that Rice deftly weaves the supernatural with reality successfully inserting fantasy into the real world as opposed to having realistic elements inserted into a fantasy world. This gives the text a non-fiction feel that makes the existence of vampires seem credible.
A perceived weakness of the novel is that it contains content that is too disturbing for many readers. Rice uses great detail and imagery to describe vampiric homicides. Mature themes of sadism and sexuality (the undead don’t share the living’s sense of sexuality) are not suitable for all audiences. Like its cinematic offspring, the novel is rated R.
Another weakness is that parts of the novel feel like a psychological thriller full of horror and adventure, while other parts feel like an ordinary soap opera. The excitement, tension and horror are not constant.
Overall, Interview with the Vampire offers a worthy addition to vampire lore. A good horror story from the perspective of the “monster” puts the reader in an interesting position. Does the reader condemn Louis, or does he sympathize with him? The novel makes the reader understand what it really means to be human, to answer to reason, compassion and emotion instead of being a slave to predatory instinct. The novel is psychologically intriguing; however, it is not suitable for all audiences.
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May 09, 2009 Celeste rated it it was ok

I must admit I'm not an Ann Rice fan. ...more

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Sep 19, 2010 Glenn added it

So far I'm not real impressed. It's less about vampires and more about some whiney dude who stares at shit all the time. It's obvious Rice is trying to develop some emotional sympathy for Louis in the reader, but I'm just not biting.

All done. Not a huge fan of Southern Gothic, but I do like vampires. I don't know what Rice intended, but I never really did indentify or sympathize with Louis. He was definitely a buzz-kill. ...more

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Mar 13, 2008 Amy rated it really liked it

i read this book when i had a mind to mold. i really enjoyed the novel, it was different from anything i had read at that time. it opened my mind to different themes in writing, from suspense, isolation and sexuality. i should re-read it, seeing as it has been over 10 years since i first picked it up. anne rice is obvisouly a talented, established author, so reading her work is very satisfying.

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Feb 01, 2008 William rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, e, series, vampires, read-in-2013

Finally got around to marking this off my vampire to do list. While it depicted traditional vamps (not sparkly teeny-bopper vamps), it still was not a very horrific read. Louis is a frigging wimp for a vamp. There was too much emphasis on feelings and not near enough ghoulish vampirism. I doubt I will read more of the series.

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