Persy -- Interview With The Vampire

I only just got around to reading the great gothic vampire classic, Interview With The Vampire by the renowned Anne Rice. I know, for someone who says she likes real vampires, you'd think I'd have gotten to Anne Rice earlier, but oh well. I finally read it.

One night in modern America (?), Louis the vampire meets with a young reporter to tell his life story, which is pretty long and action-packed. It starts centuries ago, when Louis first came to America from France and was turned into a vampire by Lestat. And... well, Louis's story spans across centuries, mostly involving himself and Lestat along with a few other vampires that come and go, namely Claudia and Armand. Throughout it all, you get glimpses of the future during scenes when Louis, mysteriously alone, interacts with his human interviewer.

I'm going to be entirely honest here. I didn't like it.

I'm sorry, but it was just... geez. Anne Rice's writing is gorgeous, but... I hated all the characters. From the beginning, I really wanted Louis to just kill Lestat and then throw himself into the sunlight so they'd all be put out of their dreadful misery. That's pretty much the basis of the entire book: misery. Immortal misery. Misery spanning centuries and centuries. Misery in America, misery in Europe. Misery with one person, misery with a whole group of people.

MIIIISEEEEEERY!!!!!

Basically, Louis's a sap and Lestat is a jerk. Claudia's insane, but that's not her fault, so mostly I just feel sorry for her. Armand's actually all right, but he's not in much and is also in a miserable situation... BECAUSE OF LOUIS AND LESTAT.

So basically, I'm right back at the beginning. Lestat and Louis should both just die.

I am going to read some later novels by Anne Rice, because her writing is pretty good, but Interview With The Vampire was just a huge disappointment.

--Persy

You might like this if you: like gothic vampiric stuff; don't read books looking for cool characters; just want to say you've read it; or if you find yourself in an incredible state of misery and for some reason want to read about other people in misery.