Reviews with content warning for Pedophilia - Interview with the Vampire

Overall a slow read.
Louis is not as interesting a character as he makes himself out to be.
Deals with the unreliability of memory, catholic guilt and morals.
He is constantly struggling with his vampiric nature and his need to drink blood and bring death vs. his own moral superiority and general aloofness.
Because the world is being told through Louis and he isn't as interested in the history of vampires and his own struggle with existence it is at times hard to symphatize with him as a character.

His inner thoughts about Claudia become very uncomfortable, especially when you keep in mind that she is physically 5.

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emrysreads's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

I came to this book from the TV series, so I may be biased. I found the first part of four of Interview With The Vampire (which is actually half of the book) slow and a bit boring. There's so much that can be done with vampiric turning and yet I felt the most interesting thing was that they shit themselves. I enjoyed the second half of the book more<spolier>, especially Claudia's death, which was so visceral and hit me a lot harder than in the series. I also enjoyed the repeated arson, and the little glimmers of the Lestat we come to know in later books through Louis' biased retelling. I'm glad I read this book so I can read the rest of TVC and I can understand the TV series better, but I don't know if I'll be rereading it aside from certain chapters.

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sarahrifen's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective slow-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

3.75

Very well written book, but felt myself trudging through it. Amazing ending though. Couldn’t get past the weird relationship with Claudia…

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smaber23's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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

5.0

I love New Orleans, I love vampires, so of course reading this felt like destiny.

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.

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