Interview with the Vampire book review

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice
Series: The Vampire Chronicles #1
Published by Ballantine Books on August 31, 2004
Pages: 342
Goodreads

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child. Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even "settle down" for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia's struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind. Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are.
Louis and Claudia travel Europe, eventually coming to Paris and the ragingly successful Theatre des Vampires--a theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires. Here they meet the magnetic and ethereal Armand, who brings them into a whole society of vampires. But Louis and Claudia find that finding others like themselves provides no easy answers and in fact presents dangers they scarcely imagined.
Originally begun as a short story, the book took off as Anne wrote it, spinning the tragic and triumphant life experiences of a soul. As well as the struggles of its characters, Interview captures the political and social changes of two continents. The novel also introduces Lestat, Anne's most enduring character, a heady mixture of attraction and revulsion. The book, full of lush description, centers on the themes of immortality, change, loss, sexuality, and power.source: annerice.com

Interview with the Vampire was a reread for me and I thought I was going to enjoy it way more than I actually did. I really wanted to love this one because I have previously read it and thought it was amazing but for some reason, this fell short. It took so long for me to read this and I just didn’t enjoy it, it felt like a slog to get through and I cannot even talk about how wordy some of this was. I really wanted there to be more action and for me to be more invested in the story and the characters but so much time was spent on philosophy I lost sight of everything else because I was SO bored. I definitely think there was more that could have been done and I just think this one wasn’t one that has grown with me.

The main characters in Interview with the Vampire are Louis, Lestat and Claudia. I suppose they make up a dysfunctional version of the perfect family. I think the characters had great potential but I think there was too much talking about things that didn’t necessarily matter or could have been handled on one page instead of 50 pages. I would have loved to see more of Claudia and have more development of her as a character and her growth as a vampire. I thought that apart from Louis CONSTANT whining the other characters were sort of sidelined and I wish there was more of focus on the others and what they were dealing with. I think this was the one downside of it being an interview rather than an actual story.

The best bits for me were definitely the time they spent in New Orleans as a threesome, there was definitely more action and enjoyment within this section of the book than any others. I would have loved to see more of these interactions all the way through Interview with the Vampire, they made the storyline more bearable and a lot easier to read about. I enjoyed the superstition that surrounded the vampires at the beginning and the way it all ended up working out.

I was basically disappointed all the way through Interview with the Vampire, I felt as though I was constantly waiting for the climax or for something exciting to happen. It just felt as though I was listening to one character moan about their life for 300 pages, and there was no kind of redeeming factors throughout this. I have mentioned above that there seemed to be missing information and potential throughout the book, for example there was a lot of development missing in both Lestat and Claudia characters and growth. I would have loved to see more of the interactions and see some sort of relationship grow rather than the lax effort that was centred around whining. Plus the last 2 parts of this book went by SO fast like unbelievably so I felt kind of like I had whiplash with no real understanding.

I don’t think I would recommend this book, I really didn’t enjoy it and I wish I hadn’t wasted so much time on it. I think I will be unhauling it and moving on relatively quickly.

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!