Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

90 reviews

rosenrot's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, and Slavery

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced

• 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

4.5

Anne Rice is the queen of vampire novels 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

madamenovelist's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Alcohol

smaber23's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

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

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

Wow. Truly one of the best vampire stories. No adaptation has in any way captured the feeling this book gave off. It’s truly remarkable. I can’t imagine a better first vampire novel. I’ve seen plenty movies, shows and games of vampire stories but this is my first ever vampire novel and it was remarkable. 

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. 

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Content Warnings

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

vonaegir's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-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? Yes

3.5

if you're anything like me, you struggled to get through this book as a traditional reader, because reading non-stop dialogue descriptions of past events didn't really work for you. if that rings a bell for anyone, i fully endorse taking a stab at listening to this one as an audiobook. it was the only medium through which i could enjoy the original story, personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Sexual content and Slavery

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

sleepye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

peggy_racham's review against another edition

4.75

To give up humanity and mortality only to end up chasing it forever. 
I get IT, fully and finely.
And I thought I wouldn't like the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Gore, Pedophilia, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

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