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A review by smaber23
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
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.
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.
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