Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

45 reviews

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

Everything with Claudia and Louis, as well as Armand and his "boy," left me very unsettled. I think I'll give book 2 a try, but any hint of sexualizing small children, or any children really, and I'm never touching anything written by her again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Racism, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• 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

5.0

This book hits a lot more differently now than when I read it seventeen years ago. Just because I can see the cracks does not mean that the spell has been broken. It lives in my heart, forever and always.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Colonisation

Minor: Drug use, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Claudia as a five year old adds a disturbing layer to her scenes involving intimacy and violence, there is biting galore, property damage is imminent, and the complexity of destructive relationships (both with ourselves and others) is at the heart of the novel.

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

tanacef's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I’m aiming to add more classics to my repertoire which is the only reason I pushed through to finish this cult classic, I’m sorry to say. I understand that this was a pivotal classic in its time, and maybe that’s the missing piece for me, but I wouldn’t say it’s timeless, and honestly I can’t imagine that this loquacious vampire’s interview was anymore interesting to read in the ‘70s either. This book was just so dull. Essentially, a slice-of-life diary of a very boring, introspective vampire. It was a little compelling in the beginning, naturally, as the exposition was laid, but then I was bored all the way until Part 3. And then eventually Part 3 also dragged on. I couldn’t wait for it to end. I wanted so badly to enjoy it. I always liked the 1994 film and more recently the 2022 TV adaptation. My personal feeling is just that this book was too slow-paced and ponderous. I relied heavily on the audiobook to get through it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Slavery, Violence, Stalking, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death

izypup's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

2.75

The last twenty pages were I honestly the best out of the whole book. The obsession with childlike innocence and it being ‘sensual’ to the vampires reads off more pedophilic than symbolic. The vague homoeroticism didn’t make me care about the characters and the majority of the book was a drag. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, and Excrement

titanic's review against another edition

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? No

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Racism, Slavery, and Suicide

penguuu's review against another edition

Way too long, way too slow, none of the characters are likeable, I couldn't do it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

Just, bad.

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.

seanml's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-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

3.5

Interview With the Vampire was not what I expected. For whatever reason I thought it's be suave and golden, when really it was cold and sorrowful. I found the middle very much dragged for me, even up until the final 40 pages. A relationship between the protagonist and their closest friend is a strange one and I know it's supposed to be, but it toes a strange line. Don't get me wrong - Anne Rice can write some incredibly poetic lines. Every once in a while I caught glimpses of the heart of the matter and Rice's ruminations on eternity and love, but they were seen through the haze of conversations that circled around and lengthy traveling. 7/10.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Gore

startjpw23's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• 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

4.0

This book is about the main character Louis telling the story of his life to an author. The story he tells starts a little before he is turned into a vampire by Lestat. Louis is living in New Orleans at the time. Louis tells the story of his time in New Orleans after his turning and his later travels to try to meet and learn from other vampires. It spans around 200 years. Although a little slow in parts, I really enjoyed the book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death