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smaber23's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Rice is a powerful author whose eloquent prose and captivating imagery will leave you breathless. To say this novel is a tragedy is an understatement and it is clear she wrote it from a place of profound grief.
Like her predecessor Mary Shelley, Anne Rice was inspired to write a novel about life, death, and immortality following the loss of her child. She inserts her late daughter into the novel as Claudia, an immortal child who fully develops mentally but is eternally cursed with an adolescent body. She is raised by her two gay dads (jokes) Louis and Lestat, the former a depressed and tortured soul serving as our narrator, the latter a flamboyant hedonist who wants nothing more than to suck the marrow from life (or undead-ness) itself.
I don't recommend this novel for everyone as it can be supremely triggering for survivors of CSA. It is abundantly clear Rice desperately tried to keep her daughter alive into adulthood through Claudia, who continues to evolve sexually and emotionally beneath arrested physical development. Grief can create amazing art and, in spite of these harrowing depictions, this is no exception.
If you feel called to read this, I implore you to do so. You will walk away with a different impression of life, death, and beauty.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Racism and Slavery
Minor: Alcohol
semisinful's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The way Anne Rice has such a command of her prose is truly awe inspiring and the level at which relationships and the drama therein is what drives the plot is absolutely what I desire to do with my writing and I now see it can be done successfully for this style of story.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Alcohol
hannahbananars's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
In conclusion, great book but I would recommend the television series more. They really take the essence of the book and make it better in my opinion.
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
gh0st_f1sh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
There were a few little things that I picked up from this read through; for example, it rocks my world that there is a reference in the book about a lone leader who was the only one in the social group who didn't dye their hair black. If I had only read the book in 1996, I would have been able to quietly flex with all my baby bats... (as I didn't either).
Realistically though, the book has some very problematic and unsettling features. It's supposed to be gothic horror, and it gets that way by how it messes with people's heads. It's very dismissive of Consent, and it challenges Church and Morality. There is blood and booze, and debauchery. The main character comes across as remorseful and moody, but he is also inconsistent, and has low-key pedophilic vibes. The character is also fairly non-sexual.. being attracted more by beauty and vivacity, which I think leans a little into Acephobia, to try and un-human him.
As someone who was a LARPer (live action role player) I spent about a zillion nights in fancy dress playing at vampires. It was interesting to read about vampires who knew nothing about their own
kind because as a player of Vampire games and student of vampire myths, it makes anything these undead creatures do in a book seem familiar to ME, but they of course, having only just being reborn into night (muahahah) they don't know what they can or can't do, and have no words for the things they feel.
I think the book is clever in the way that it launched thousands of vampire fans, and in how the struggles of immortality are depicted, but as a story it kind of drags, and the characters aren't particularly loveable (I know... but it's _my_ opinion, and LeStat is a deadbeat dad, and Louis is a moper).
All in all it's a so-so story. It's not bad, but also not something I'd rush out and buy a copy of to lend to all my friends.
Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
citrusandwords's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Classism
meowster18's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Stalking, and Death of parent
cgrays's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Minor: Classism
taurus97's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal death
phillyhufflepunk's review against another edition
Graphic: Blood
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment