Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Mar 07, 2011 Kimberly rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, 2013-bookshelf, books-darren-bought-me

I've been wanting to read this book since I was 11 years old so exactly half of my life has been spent wanting to delve into the pages of Anne Rice's work but something kept holding me back. Often it was the fact that other books got in the way but a lot of the time I was afraid that I would be that one person who didn't enjoy her writing.

After finishing Interview with the Vampire I can honestly say that it is one of the best books I've ever read and I can totally see why Anne Rice is the queen I've been wanting to read this book since I was 11 years old so exactly half of my life has been spent wanting to delve into the pages of Anne Rice's work but something kept holding me back. Often it was the fact that other books got in the way but a lot of the time I was afraid that I would be that one person who didn't enjoy her writing.

After finishing Interview with the Vampire I can honestly say that it is one of the best books I've ever read and I can totally see why Anne Rice is the queen of this genre. From the first page I was gripped by her writing style which was fantastic.

Interview with the Vampire is a complex novel dealing with darkness and light, life and death, passion and cruelty. The characters were so detailed and I loved getting to know Louis, Lestat, Claudia and Armand but Louis was definitely my favourite character. Despite all he had done in the novel there was still such a lightness and innocence to him and though he could be whiny and pretensions I thought he was the most well developed character in the story and he still remains an enigma to me.

Lestat, Claudia and Armand were all brilliant in their own unique ways. I loved how all the characters in the book had a lot of similarities but had some very prevalent differences as well. I loved how harsh and cruel they could all be but enjoyed they're very few tender moments when the last semblances of their humanity shined through.

I thought the whole plot of the book was intriguing and I thoroughly enjoyed being whisked off to New Orleans in the later bit of the 1700's into the 1800's as well as the sweeping city streets of Paris where Louis and Claudia journeyed to in the second half of the novel. Anne Rice has an amazing gift for transporting her audience to the locations she sets her writing in.

This was definitely a provocative read what with the relationships between Louis and Lestat, Louis Lestat and Claudia, Claudia and Lestat, Louis and Claudia and Armand and Louis especially with the fact that Claudia was turned at such a young age not being much more than a toddler but she handled their unconventional relationship with grace as she did the other relationships the characters had in the book. I was pleased that she didn't reduce her writing to vulgarity and thought the sensuality of the novel spoke volumes.

Overall, I thought this was a stunning novel and one that while I'm sad I didn't read sooner am glad that I gave it a chance now that I'm at an age where I can grasp the intricacy of the many story lines and undercurrents of the plot. The writing was absolutely superb and really swept me up in this story that I can best describe as one of love, lust, loss and longing. If you haven't read Interview with the Vampire yet I strongly urge you to do so especially if you've been waiting to read it for some time. Hopefully you love it as much as I did and it leaves you reeling, questioning and wanting to read more of Anne Rice's books immediately. ...more

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