...
I enjoyed the film, Interview with the Vampire, and my sister was raving how good the books by the author were. Anne Rice has written quite a few books, which she calls The Vampire Chronicles, and Interview with the Vampire is the first volume in the series. It took just under a week ... Read review
Advantages: Great reading, a must read for anyone that has seen the film. Disadvantages: None
.../>
I enjoyed the film, Interview with the Vampire, and my sister was raving how good the books by the author were. Anne Rice has written quite a few books, which she calls The Vampire Chronicles, and Interview with the Vampire is the first volume in the series. It took just under a week to read. I spent a couple of hours each night on it, until I had finally finished it. I had forgotten how much description from an author goes into a book, and this ... ...book is based on an interview with a vampire and a reporter in modern day. They are referred to as ‘the vampire’ and ‘the boy’. The vampire begins to tell his story to the boy, who at first is very nervous of the vampire, but after the vampire assures him that he is not about to attack him, he gradually feels at ease.
Louis (the vampire), was a young man that had settled on a Plantation in Louisiana. He came to the ... more
I haven’t read any books for years, I can’t remember exactly the last time I did, maybe as long as 20 years ago! Shame on me. And I can’t even remember the name of the last book. Anyway, after reading opinions about all sorts of different books, I decided that I must be missing out, so decided to choose a book to read.
I enjoyed the film, Interview with the Vampire, and my sister was raving how good the books by the author were. Anne Rice has written quite a few books, which she calls The Vampire Chronicles, and Interview with the Vampire is the first volume in the series. It took just under a week to read. I spent a couple of hours each night on it, until I had finally finished it. I had forgotten how much description from an author goes into a book, and this book was no exception. It helped that I had seen the film, so the characters were fresh in my mind. If I had read the book first, I think I would have had to picture my own characters on the way that Anne Rice had described them.
The book is based on an interview with a vampire and a reporter in modern day. They are referred to as ‘the vampire’ and ‘the boy’. The vampire begins to tell his story to the boy, who at first is very nervous of the vampire, but after the vampire assures him that he is not about to attack him, he gradually feels at ease. Louis (the vampire), was a young man that had settled on a Plantation in Louisiana. He came to the new world from France, with his mother, sister and younger brother. An accident happened; his brother had fallen down some stairs and was killed. Louis had blamed himself, and did not handle his brothers death at all well. He wanted to die himself. He went out and hoped that he would be attacked by robbers; he just wanted to die. Then, one night, as if he heard Louis’ pain, a vampire answered his call. He watched his last sunrise, and then became a vampire himself.
Vampires will drink their victim to the point of death, but to become a vampire, you must also drink the blood of your Master, the one that is making you the vampire. Louis’ master had to teach him how to survive as a vampire. He learnt that you must never drink from a victim when the heart stops beating, that you can drink from animals if there are no mortals, and that the steak through the heart and the crucifix were old wives tales. Only by beheading, burning and sunlight, could they be killed.
They became companions for many years, but Louis could not face drinking the blood of humans, to cause their death in order for him to survive, so he mainly drank from rats and other small creatures. He was also inquisitive, and wanted to know where vampires had originally come from. Were there any more of them? Were they the servants of the devil? But Lestat (his vampire master), is hesitant to tell him these things. After a while, the servants on the Plantation are becoming suspicious, so they move to a town house in New Orleans. Louis begins to despise Lestat, for not telling him things that he wants to know, and because he hates the way he laughs at his kills.
The great plague hits the area, and one night, whilst out looking for rats, Louis hears a child crying. He looks through a window to see a 5 yr old girl crouched at her mothers feet. The mother had been dead for days, taken by the plague. Louis feels sorry for this child, and wants to put her out of her misery, so he drinks from her. He feels the child’s heart is strong. Then, he hears Lestat laughing at him. He drops the child to the floor and runs. Louis can only think about the innocence of this beautiful young girl, how he wanted her. Lestat brings the child back to their home and makes her a vampire. A gift, from him to Louis. Louis watches as the pair, Lestat and Claudia, feed together, as she learns the way of the vampire.
Time passes, and Louis and Claudia have a special bond between them. She then wants to know who made her into what she is. Who has doomed her to stay a child for eternity? She begins to despise Lestat as Louis does, and wants the two to run away together. But they are afraid of what Lestat might do. There is only one way to escape him, they must dispose of him, kill him. Not even Louis could contemplate that, and he begs Claudia to put it out of her mind.
Do they kill him? That would spoil the story if you haven’t read it. But as time goes on they eventually travel Europe in search of other vampires and answers to their questions. And the boy? Well there’s a little twist at the end regarding him.
This is the first book I have read by the author, and I thoroughly enjoyed every word of it. Her words are very descriptive and she writes in such a way that I started to fall in love with the master vampire, Lestat. It isn't written in a gruesome way, she tells of love and loyalty between the vampires. I am now starting to read the second volume, The Vampire Lestat.
...on a long journey Interview with the vampire – The first volume of the Vampire Chronicles seemed to be a natural choice.
· Don’t judge a book by it’s cover?
This black tome features golden gothic writing and an eerie picture of a pale man with gushing tributes strewn all over the back,
‘ One of the most wonderful, erotic, sensual books ever written’~ Sting’
This quote alone almost had me starting to read in ... ...· Are you sitting comfortably?
And so my journey into the darkest recesses of Rice’s mind and the altogether sunnier realms of London began.
The main character Louis begins narrating his tale to the keen, young journalist and I can almost feel a Dictaphone in my hand.
The story begins many years before in New Orleans with Lewis and his sire (a sire is the person who makes somebody a Vampire) Lestat. From the onset we are given a glimmer ...
Glorificus1 10.07.2002
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Advantages: classic vampire book Disadvantages: very depressing.
...called Daniel is offered an interview with a man who claims to be a vampire. At first daniel is sceptical, but as the evening wears on, he begins to change his mind. The man who talks to him is a vampire called Louis, who had once been a plantation owner. brought down by despaire after the loss of a loved one, Louis has no desire to live, but when a vampire offers him an eternal life of death, he takes this. The vampire is Lestat. There is a strong ... ...and adores the vampire who changed him, and in this first novel, you don't get much insight into how Lestat feels about Louis. Their little family is completed when, between them, they make a child Vampire, Claudia. Seeking to escape from Lestat, Claudia and Louis attempt to kill him, flee to the old world, where they meet the paris vampires, and their grotesque theatre. Armand offers Louis the answers he has long been craving, but Armand is jealous ...
Bryn_Pearson 19.09.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Advantages: Unique perspective on the vampire mythos Disadvantages: Lapses in logic, realism sometimes sacrificed
I had minimal experience with Anne Rice before reading this novel. I had read "The Mummy" a long time ago, and it didn't do much for me at the time. My tastes have changed, however, so I decided to reacquaint myself with Rice's work.
On the back cover of the US paperback, there is a quote from the Boston Globe which reads "If you surrender and go with her, you have surrendered to enchantment, as in a voluptuous dream". I couldn't agree more, since ... ...suspend disbelief in order to gain any enjoyment at all out of this story.
Before you jump to the conclusion that this is a negative review, please note that I have given this work 4 stars out of 5.
Briefly, this story is exactly what the title suggests: it's a first-person tale told through the eyes of a vampire. The interviewer (identified only as "boy") sits with Louis the vampire and documents his life story.
There are many things with these ...
President-X-D 18.02.2003
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Advantages: Essential reading for horror fans - a novel which changed the vampire sub-genre forever. Disadvantages: Not really 'pure horror', more darkly gothic atmosphere.
'Interview with the Vampire' marked the start of what was to become a one-woman franchise for Anne Rice, and today is often thought of alongside her current offerings in the vampire chronicles series. What is often forgotten is the vast impact the novel had on the genre when it first appeared in 1976. It was, in essence, a revolution.
As the novel begins, a young man sits in a darkened room, telling the macabre story of his life to a young reporter. ... ...man, Louis, is impossibly old, is in fact a bona fide vampire. The narrative then takes us into Louis first person account of his life as a card-carrying member of the undead, from his dark birth at the hands of the wild vampire Lestat, to the turning of the child Claudia and the Theatre of Vampires in Paris… this is an imaginatively blend of historical setting and self-discovery. Told somewhat solemnly (Louis, for all that he has a god heart, is ...
RichardW 06.12.2000
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Advantages: A diiferent slant to the vampire genre Disadvantages: A bit slow at times
Interview With The Vampire is the film adaptation of the Anne Rice book of the same name. It stars Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas & Christian Slater. Tom Cruise is superb as the vampire Lestat. Louis (Brad Pitt) has lost his wife and seeks death, what he finds is Lestat who decides to make him a vampire. The only problem is that Lestat revels in the killing while Louis cannot bear to take a human life. Instead he lives off rats & other rodents ... ...a life it is that of a young girl, Claudia, Lestat intervenes and makes her a vampire as a means to make Louis happy. Together they form a weird 'family'. Eventually, Claudia realises that she will be a child forever and blames Lestat. Together with Louis they try to kill Lestat and then flee. Louis and Claudia travel to Paris and meet a band of vampires masquerading as a theatre troupe playing 'humans pretending to be vampires'. This theatre of ...
Tyler-Durden 04.01.2001
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice
Would you read it again?
Story
Characters
Readability
How does it compare to ...
Similar reviews »
Reviews which might be of interest for "Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice"
Advantages: good story, really interesting, gripping Disadvantages: the tenses (see review)
it would be hard for any author to have to set a story out this way. The only author that comes to mind that has not only a weird way of telling a story, but who is such a clever author is Meg Cabot... However Cabot has yet to write a book quite like this one in the same format... And I sure hope AnneRice's books get better and better.
The story line is pretty simple. You start off by following this young interviewer who is also a journalist. Recently a guy, called Louis, is claiming to be a vampire, told this interviewer that he wants his story to be known. So we follow the interviewer who is going to see this vampire.
Louis then decides to tell the interviewer about his life, how he was before and how he was when he turned and then the rest of his life up until now. However the interviewer wants more and more and so therefore ...
Advantages: Great premise, brilliant action pieces (when included), engrossing story Disadvantages: Too 'talky' in places, tends to retread the same ground
Interview With the Vampire is a dark, brooding and rather introspective piece, and fully deserves it's classic status.
It starts with an interesting premise; what if a vampire agreed to give an interview to a human, as he is so desperate to have his amazing life story heard?
The book starts off very promisingly, with the story of Louis's life before his transformation into a vampire, and his new life under the watch of the charasmatic Lestat. However, sometimes the narrative can get bogged down in Louis' introspective musings on the morality of his new persona, while the action gets left behind.
Overall, a fantastic story, beautifully executed, but possibly too 'talky' for this reader's tastes. However, other readers, especially AnneRice fans, will probably find it perfect. ...
Advantages: Engaging, well-researched story Disadvantages: Slightly long-winded, slow at the beginning
INTRODUCTION
I bought this paperback from a second-hand book shop in Marseille after reading its teaser at the back and becoming intrigued. I love a good and complex story set in the past, whether it is 20th century war-time, Middles Ages or the Renaissance. Having had a busy summer it did take me about a few weeks to finish the 400 pages, now in retrospect, was it worth it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Most known as the author of Interview with the Vampire and its sequels, American novelist AnnRice (born in 1941) - somewhat deviating from her usual gothic genre - penned Cry to Heaven in 1982 between her first and second novel of the Vampire Chronicles of which she produced ten in total. She has also written religious themed novels, notably two on the life of Jesus Christ.
THE PLOT
In 18th century Italy, our protagonist ...
Similar products and search queries by other users »
Interview Rice, Interview with Rice, Interview a Rice, Interview Vampire Rice, Interview Anne Rice, Interview with a Rice, Interview with Vampire Rice, Interview with Anne Rice, Interview a Vampire Rice, Interview a Anne Rice, Interview Vampire Anne Rice, Interview with a Vampire Rice, Interview with a Anne Rice, Interview with Vampire Anne Rice, Interview a Vampire Anne Rice
Are you the manufacturer / provider of Interview with a Vampire - Anne Rice? Click here
