Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

15 reviews

ariparip's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

anne rice girl what the fuck (x3)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Incest

hannahbananars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• 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

Read the book because I love the show so much! It was fun to see where they got their inspiration from and the verbatim words they kept in. Overall, it’s a great book! I didn’t find it as slow and taxing as others described it but maybe that’s because I already love these characters. Louis’ catholic guilt is insane and at times so paralyzing. It’s exhausting to watch but his humanity despite his hunger and his senses are what make him such a compelling character. He doesn’t really paint Lestat in a great light at first, but his love for him is evident with the guilt of his murder. Claudia is such a tragic character, I found her the most macabre of all people. The way Louis describes her stillness as if she were just a doll is so eerie. I also noticed that Louis and Armand’s relationship really could have been something beautiful if not for their separate issues…..and that makes me sad. 

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.

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Content Warnings

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

hocuscrocus's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

5.0

My 5 stars don't come from the readability of the book. It is a bit of a slog at times, but it's a gorgeous slog.

My 5 stars comes from the story, the complex characters, the depth into topics that are very disturbing (mind the content warnings), and an existential look at what being immortal really means.

That very much outweighs the slow going for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Incest

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

franklloydweft's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Once again raised my rating after having read more Anne Rice. I under appreciated the feeling that she injected here, and the transgressive themes still DO bother me but I consider that as something you just have to deal with when reading her.

Copied from fable: 
The reason this gets 4 stars is the same reason it doesn’t get 4.5 or 5: Anne Rice. As much as I enjoyed her contemplative and descriptive prose and her conception of the vampire, she can’t help but introduce the problematic elements she’s come to be known for. Namely, the weirdly sexual relationship between Claudia and Louis unsettled me. Her description of enslaved people at the beginning of the novel was also notable in its seeming lack of empathy. There is definitely a reason this book revolutionized the genre, and I very much enjoyed it, but Rice’s penchant for the weird sometimes goes a bit too far for me. This is particularly because, unlike what I observed of Butler writing Fledgling, I believe she actually possessed some of these beliefs. Rice has said some concerning things regarding race and sexuality towards children that lead me to believe this aspect of her writing is not to make vampires seem more inhuman like Butler, but a reflection of her. Just something to chew on. The show is doing a wonderful job with the source material however!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Racism, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Pedophilia, and Fire/Fire injury

satanichris's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest and Pedophilia

macliffe's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

Started out so good! But as I got further in, I realized that the pace and storytelling had some problems. It could have been so much shorter. There were a lot of mini-plots without much of an overarching plot. I was confused as to why a lot of things happened. Including the pedophelia, what’s with that? Also, SPOILER WARNING: that dang vampire Lestat just wouldn't die! It was so frustrating. On a more positive note, the vibes were the best part of the book. It was so immaculately gothic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Minor: Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Stalking, and Death of parent

snerp_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I found this book to be very entertaining, and though they have their literary weaknesses, I quite liked the characters. The tension between the main cast was palpable, if a bit rushed. (However, this may be because of the 'recalling memories' style of telling a story) The use of an interviewer-intervewie narrative added to the atmosphere, the interviewer's naivety of the story working as a classic stand-in for the reader, making it a good introduction to a series. 

However, I had a few issues with the word and portrayal choices within the story.

The biggest issue for me was the characterization of Claudia, who seemed to be treated as an adult while being described as a child. This could have been a good way to explore the effect of vampirism on a growing mind stuck in an eternally small body, which I suspect is what Rice was going for, but her portrayal of Claudia came across as more uncomfortable than anything. Louis and Claudia are specifically described as father and daughter throughout the book, and Louis met her when she was just five years old, but Rice soon begins trying to implement a strange psuedo-romantic relationship between them, which comes off as gross in every way possible.

I don't think it was executed well at all, and I have to remove a star for this reason. 

My more brief issue was the description of a mass killing of vampires as "the Holocaust", which is a very distasteful choice, for multiple reasons.

Other than that, I enjoyed the story, and will continue reading the series. If you can get past the portrayal of Claudia, you may also really like this book as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Slavery, Kidnapping, and Colonisation

Minor: Genocide, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, and Antisemitism

ninubean's review against another edition

4.0

At first, I was kind of put off by the structural choice of the book, but it is called Interview with the Vampire, so not sure what I expected lol once I got over that though, I came to enjoy this novel a lot! Honestly, it was very camp and I think people would enjoy this more if they thought of it like that. Louis is a gay little vampire with a tortured existence - his philosophical need to understand why he's alive is trivial, but his musings were intriguing and thought-provoking for me. Louis' narration is limited by design, so readers are bound to his opinions and interpretations of the events, but this only made me excited to read the book's sequels to know the other characters more.

Yes, there are uncomfortable concepts in this book and sometimes they are jarring to read. And yes, this book isn't really character-driven and is only slightly plot-driven, which makes the pacing feel strange. Since this is a dialogue though, I feel like the pacing can be forgiven since it is meant to be someone speaking and recollecting centuries of their life. Overall, I enjoyed this sad, gay vampire's TedTalk about why he hates himself LOL

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Grief

michayla13's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Pedophilia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, and Grief

I enjoyed reading this book but it was far from good. There’s a horribly written incest/pedophelia plot which seems more romanticized than condemned in any way. It feels very sloppily written as well. If you’re looking for a book to read based purely on vibes, then this book is okay, but try not to think too hard while reading it.

nigrumcattus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Racism, Sexual content, and Slavery

Minor: Incest, Pedophilia, and Colonisation