Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

75 reviews

erika_winters's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

2.25

This book took me a very long time to read because of how densely packed it is. Anne Rice created a very unique concept of what a vampire is in this book, and for that I will commend her. However, the idea of Louis questioning his existence and the meaning of being a vampire (am I an entity of evil created in Satan’s image?) grows old for the reader trying to navigate a point in the text. There were times when Rice’s ability to write beautiful passages was on full display, especially when detailing Paris and the Théâtre des Vampires. Another aspect I enjoyed was the implicit gay love affairs that Louis has throughout the book; the one with Lestat being extremely toxic and doomed, whereas the second with Armand being one of curiosity about one’s vampiric life that is also unfortunately doomed. Parts that could’ve been left out was the overt racism at the beginning of the book (Louis is a slave owner on a plantation in New Orleans), and the unsettling adjectives used to describe Claudia who is a young child turned vampire (“sensual” being one I remember here, which is cringy). Some parts read very pedophilic at times because of the interactions between Louis and Claudia, as well as just words to describe actions between the two. Overall, I expected more from this, and was disappointed to find that the end of the book leads into a second book so I just sat frustrated for a minute after closing it since I spent 15 weeks reading it. Sigh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Racism, Violence, and Blood

lambclown's review against another edition

Horrendously badly aged and racist. the show literally improves on every aspect of this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism and Slavery

dandyreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.0

This book is a slog until Part 3. It's an "okay" book, but I would not recommend it. Make sure to read the content warnings before you pick it up, because it's explicit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Colonisation

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

There are two scenes with children that have a distinct sexual overtone and are given explicit details of their bodies in the narration. As well as the issue of Claudia who

grows into an adult in a child's body

, but is nonetheless described with sexual overtones throughout the book. This is not even to get into the fact that the main character owns a plantation and Rice delves into the reality of the enslaved persons living there, and, while there are no slurs used from what I remember, they are talked about in racist ways throughout the beginning of the novel. In addition to this, while there's a lot less of it, there is xenophobic language towards Eastern Europeans, as well.

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

leosaki's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

I have not had this much fun reading an actual physical book in... honestly, maybe years.
That being said, parts of this might be some of the most atrocious things I've ever read.
In any case, it's greatly entertaining and I love being insufferably insane about it.

Louis my beloved, autistic coded Catholic guilt riddled queer icon who was married and divorced twice without ever even noticing bc he has not one single social skill beyond being polite, you will always be famous. Go send those insanely powerful narcissistic monsters into a downward spiral simply by being pretty and sad🫶🏻✨️✨️

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

panaceaenthusiast's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Toxic relationship, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Racism and Death of parent

hjb_128's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

yuvia's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

3.25

The first half was a bit of a drag but the ending was worth it in my opinion. I loved reading the differences and comparing what was kept in the show vs what was changed. In the end I prefer the  show overall and their version of Louis (because  book Louis is insufferable), but it was still an enjoyable read nonetheless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Pedophilia, Suicide, and Blood

Minor: Racism, Slavery, and Abandonment

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