Customer Reviews

Interview with the Vampire (Vampire Chronicles, Book 1)

5 star:		(319)
4 star:		(78)
3 star:		(27)
2 star:		(22)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

Anne Rice took the publishing world by storm in "Interview With the Vampire," a haunting book that turned the evil-bloodsucker cliche on its ear. Her lush prose and vivid characters turn the dramatic plot and strange scenarios into a chilling look at good and evil, thankfully without melodrama.

In modern times, a young man is interviewing a vampire on tape recorder. The vampire is Louis Pointe du Lac. In 1791, his ultra-religious brother died tragically after an argument, and Louis sank into remorse and despair. Enter Lestat de Lioncourt, a charming vampire who offers Louis a way out of his grief.

The two vampires wander the cities of the world, with Lestat teaching his reluctant pupil the ways of vampirism. In time Louis makes a "daughter": Claudia, a vampire child with the mind of a woman. Now, depressed and unhappy, Louis explains how he and Claudia fled Lestat, only to encounter new tragedies that still haunt him to this day...

Moral struggles are rarely present in vampire novels. Certainly not from the vampire's point of view. But that is exactly what Anne Rice attempts in this book. She wraps her dark story in lush prose and beautiful descriptions of Paris and her hometown of New Orleans, making this one of the best-written vampire stories since "Dracula."

No gore and grit here. Rice's writing is exceptionally beautiful, full of lush descriptions and intricate detail. Best of all, it has that rare quality of atmosphere -- no matter how enchanting the vampire, or beautiful the setting, a feeling of darkness and sorrow runs through it.

Rice also dips into one of the best examples of literary vampirism ever: Louis becomes a vampire out of his grief, but once the grief fades, he is left with the soul of a human, and the bloodthirst of a vampire -- things that can't be reconciled. They just can't fit together. His longing to remain as human as possible, in defiance of his curse, is a tragic twist in a dark storyline.

Louis is a bit of a whiner, but a deeper look reveals why. He struggles with morality and beliefs that -- unlike Lestat -- he never really let go of. Because he is a vampire, he is by his very nature a killer, yet the idea of murder is repulsive to him. Lestat is utterly charming and incredibly engaging, despite his amoral behavior. It's not hard to see why Louis would be drawn in by such an enchanting person, no matter how bad he is.

One of the greatest shaping influences on elegant vampire lore has been Anne Rice's "Interview with the Vampire." A beautiful and lush novel of darkness and beauty.

I thought my 13 year old son would like this book (and evetually more in the series) since he was complaining about the "sissy" vampire stuff out these days. It's a great way to get him to read (he actually likes it, and is reading it, WOW). I of course read it years ago & loved it.

Anne Rice is such an amazing writer!!! This book will take you into this wonderful world she has created and make you feel like it was created JUST for you.... well that's how I felt anyways. I have read this book three times in the last 15 years or so and I can't wait to pick it up again in a couple years. Rice has a way of making you believe her. The main character in this book is Louis and you can not help but feel for him and love him. And on the other side you can't help but love to hate Lestat, the 'villain'. If you haven't already read this book, read it now. But please keep in mind this isn't like the fluff Vampire reads out there now, you probably won't be able to read this in one sitting. Her writing is very descriptive but not in a drawn out way, I felt it was needed to create this world, to make you believe it. Enjoy!

Interview with the vampire by Anne Rice tells the story of the life of a vampire from the point of him becoming a vampire until the present time of the telling of the story itself. The entire book is in the form of an interview between the vampire Louis and a young man whoes name is not given.

I found this book verry enjoyable, the descriptians and languge this author uses are fantastic and make you want to read more and more. I was worried that the story being told in first person would grow old but I found myself forgetting all about the style in wich the novel was written in and rather becoming completley drawn into the story itself. Definatley worth the read, oh and yes it is much better than the movie, which I also enjoyed greatly.

I think this book is amazing.

While vampires have been written about before, I don't think anyone ever did it quite as well as Anne rice did in her very first novel "Interview with the Vampire". She planned out all of their powers and limitations and put her star character, Louis, in loads of interesting situations.

This book is very romanticized, and the style of writing makes you feel like you are actually living in the time period that Louis talks about.

This type of book is great for people who fall in love with characters. However, if you don't care for long winded books, Anne Rice really isn't the writer for you.

But I think she's brilliant.

This is the best vampire story of our time. Rice has an amazing gift for conveying emotion and writing dialogue. What makes this book so special is that it's about vampires, but also it's the story of the U.S. told from a unique point of view. This is true literature, and most definitely worth a read.

I found the book to be a great piece of work, almost poetic writing and pilosophy/psychology inlaid within the pages.

But if you are looking for a very fast paced, horrifying, Salem's Lot type novel, then slowly back away from the computer. The book is very slow in pace, very emotional and dramatic about EVERYTHING ( which I personally love, but which others could find terribly boring). If you are looking for a Vampire novel with a more...tangible (for lack of better word) plot, then I suggest checking out Laurell K Hamilton or Christopher Pike, and some of the YA authors like Amelia Atwater-rhodes or Vivian Vande Velde. And if your looking for a vampire novel to just scare the hell outta ya, then it's always nice to go with Stephen Kings "Salem's Lot."

This was a great novel. I wish I would have read this first, before I saw the film, that didn't even come close to doing the novel justice. Although I think Brad Pitt does make a great Louis. Interview is told from the perspective of Louis, a lone vampire who tells the story of his life to Daniel, a reporter (though you don't know the name of the 'boy' until the next book). He speaks of his relationship with Lestat, his maker, and Claudia, their 'daughter.' The tale is a great one, and much more complicated than shown in the film. Also, the ending of this book is very good, again, different from the film. The book held my interest from start to finish, which I hoped it would. I'm not a fast reader and I finished the first three Vampire Chronicles novels in 4 months. They're that good. This one is an excellent start. The only bad thing about this book is that sometimes it can get confusing because it's told in third person, but Louis is telling the story to someone else in first person. Other than that it is wonderful!

This has been a truly MARVELOUS book to read. I just finished it yesterday and was engrossed with it. Spellbound. I saw the movie first and was intrigued by it, as well as intrigued by my recent interest in New Orleans and Concrete Blonde's song "Bloodletting". I wasn't sure how much I'd like the book due to the fact that I'm not a typical vampire-obsessed Anne Rice fan.. I've never read her before now. But this story was so compelling that its magnitude surprised me. It saddened me how the interviewing boy treated Louis' confessions at the end.. the movie ended very differently. The entire story is tragic yet eloquently beautiful. Read it, read it, read it!!

This of course is the first book in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. In this dark tale of treachery, Lestat makes immortal vampires of Louis and a little girl who will never grow up, only to be destroyed by them when they decide he's a bad dude who's gotta die... but is he really killed? Not a chance. You can't keep Lestat down for long. He and a bunch of other vamps eventually find Louis and Claudia, and Lestat has the chance to take out his revenge. But that is hardly the end of the story :)

David Rehak
author of "A Young Girl's Crimes"