Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Veren vangit by Anne Rice

45 reviews

tdawgg07's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I don’t really understand why this book is so beloved. Much of it was very slow and it’s a bit hard to read as a lot of the problematic/evil behavior was pretty gross. I don’t think the point was to glorify their evil behaviors of course, but I don’t enjoy reading it. I can appreciate the internal struggle Louis deals with of what is evil and his guilt over being a vampire, and how immortality itself can be a purposeless and boring existence, but I wouldn’t recommend this book or re read it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

sassyjax's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

I can't believe I read this book almost 30 years ago.  I've kept meaning to do a re-read, but didn't want to be disappointed as the later vampire books in the series caused a sour taste in my memory.  The story is just as powerful as I remember.  What I didn't realize then that I realize now is that the story is very much about an abusive relationship, leaving it, and then finding a life after.  

I wish that Anne Rice wrote more in Louis' perspective, but I understand that she found Lestat a much more intriguing point of view.  Even now, I identify more with Louis than Lestat.  Well, I know he appears in later books, but after being burned by 2 or 3 books after Queen of the Damned, I pretend that there are no more Anne Rice books after QotD.

This book still holds up for me and the fact that it was published 20 years prior to my first reading. I can't believe the book was published in the late 70s and still holds up (for me at least).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

abookplaylist's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad 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

3.5

" La grande avventura della nostra vita. Che cosa significa morire quando si può vivere fino alla fine del mondo? Che cos'è la fine del mondo se non  un modo di dire, che chissà anche soltanto cos'è il mondo stesso? Mai ho già vissuto due secoli e ho visto le illusioni dell'uno completamente distrutte dall'altro, sono stato eternamente giovane ed eternamente vecchio, senza possedere illusioni, facendo Ottimo per attimo come un orologio d'argento che batte nel vuoto; quadrante, lancette delicatamente intagliate, nessuno guarda, e che non guardano nessuno, illuminate da una luce che non era luce, come la luce alla quale Dio crea il mondo prima di aver creato la luce. Tic tac, tic tac, tic tac, la precisione dell'orologio, in una stanza vasta come l'universo "

Anne Rice ha uno stile sublime ma ha un grosso difetto: la sua narrazione è molto lenta.
Penso che ad una certa ho talmente sentito pesante Louis come personaggio da aver pensato che forse era meglio Lestat.
Dopo la lettura di questo volume mi è venuta un'insana voglia di farmi un veloce rewatch del film e iniziare la serie TV uscita qualche anno fa.
È stata una lettura sofferta che continuerò in tutta calma, anche perché sono davvero curiosa come continuano le vicende.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Blood, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Abandonment

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Hate crime, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

yilliun's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Racism, Slavery, Grief, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

scifi_rat's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Slavery, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Stalking

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

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

laffi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Slavery, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

thysparklyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

4.5

I've been putting off reading this book my entire life because I grew up obsessing over the movie but now I'm also deeply in love with the show.

To be honest I actually like it a lot more than I thought i would? Yes, some key parts are obviously spoiled by having consumed other iterations of this story but this is so uniquely written and so particularly disturbing and unsettling at times that not even Kirsten Dunst's perfect Claudia could hold a candle to it. 

The dynamic between Lestat and Louis is something I wasn't expecting but really enjoyed. It's good to know that no matter how I consume this story, Armand is always my favorite character. Claudia was a lot better than I thought she would be, I was worried about how her character would come across in written but I feel like we got a good glimpse of what she is about. 
The interview parts were my favorite. Getting to see how different Louis was when everything was happening and how he carries himself in present day is always such a tone shift that I love and never gets old. 
 
I'm excited about continuing to read these books, however long it takes for me to do so. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship

harrimyers's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

3.75

this is a complicated one.

well. i was Not expecting the amount of pedophilia and/or sexual imagery used on a very small child. idc how much AR tries to justify it that ‘she had a woman’s mind in a child’s body’ that’s both 1) not a good excuse and 2) the weird pedo language was there from before she got older. Weird. the first half of the book was. boring. act 3&4 were Fantastic, probably because so much happened and the pedophilia basicallt disappears. i admit i’m very curious and will read at least the next in the series. at times the writing was a bit too rambly but there were a few beautiful moments, and i understand that it’s part of the gothic horror lit schtick. quite conflicted because i love the series as a whole and the movie, so reading the book was very interesting indeed + i already had an affinity for the characters. but honestly. until about 60% of the way in i didn’t really care what was going on and i think that the show took the best aspects of some of the characters and made them much more nuanced than they are here. not a bad book but it’s hard to balance the PEDOPHILIA and boredom with a somewhat exciting and compelling ending.

idk how to rate this 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, and Toxic friendship