Intervista col vampiro

You can't underestimate the influence of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, and Interview with the Vampire, the first of the trio of novels, kicked it all off in the mid-70s. Its vampire spawn include, perhaps, the Broadway play Dracula, and later, countless teen vampire shows on television, not to mention other monstrous offspring cousins like Zombies. Before Rice the vampire was a caricature of a monster: evil, bloodthirsty, scary, demonic, the centerpiece of a typical horror movie. Rice flipped the formula and created a much more complex, dare I say human, protagonist. Sure Louis, the main character, and his companions Lestat, Claudia, and later Armand, are blood-thirsty and murderous. And most of Louis's fellow vampires are much less conflicted than he is. But they all, to one extent or another, retain some vestige of their former humanity, even if it a purely aesthetic attachment. Louis, on the other hand, is truly tortured by questions of morality, good, and evil. Beyond the philosophizing, the book has a lot of entertainment value. Rice was a native of New Orleans and has a good feel for bringing an earlier century alive in Gothic overtones. Most of the time her prose is pretty straight forward but every now and then it is woozy and poetic, as if she has ingested some opium and let her mind and pen wander freely taking the reader along for the ride. It's fun fiction, but has its serious side. While I will take a break for a while, I am sure Chronicle Two, The Vampire Lestat, awaits me soon. ( )

I picked this book up in New Orleans, and was not dissatisfied with its portrayal of the city.

The subject's story moves enticingly forward, his language paints colorful pictures and the settings are darkly vivacious! With that said, I'm struggling to find verisimilitude in the power dynamics between the narrator and his interviewer, which is a frequent interruption. ( )

This book is something that I actually found myself really enjoying. I truly didn't think that I was going to like this as much as I did. The story was captivating to the point where I couldn't put this book down. I just plowed right through it. Some elements threw me for a loop, but I just think that some elements didn't really age that well. But besides that, I liked the characters and the story even though at some points I had no clue what was going on. I will pick up more from Anne Rice and her vampire series. ( )

This novel and the two written after are very well written. The story and characters are believable. You can feel Rice's pain and the loss she endured. Vampires with emotional issues. It is understandable why they might feel this way. I have a feeling after Queen of the damned she just got lost and her ideas came from a very different place. ( )

Interesting read. Have always wanted to read Anne Rice. Guess I need to find out what happens next. Good book. Sure better than the more recent books about vampires out there. ( )