[Review] Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

Title of Book:  Interview with the Vampire ( Vampire Chronicles #1)
Author:  Anne Rice
Publisher:  Random House Publishing Group

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.


                I was browsing through the internet and I found Anne Rice reading challenge. I remember that I have Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles series on my laptop so I entered the challenge. Before reading the book, I did a little research because seriously other than vampires, I didn’t know what this book is about. Some of the reviews said that this book was good. They even give high rating on this book. So I’m optimistic that I will enjoy the book. Sadly, I got bored along the way. I don’t know, maybe it’s because I read it intermittently since I was in a period of final exams.
                One thing that I like from this book is its main protagonist, Louise. Louise’s characters contrast with the vampire character that is often portrayed in the media. I’ve read Bram Stoker’s Dracula and it scares me. In that book vampire is represented as a cruel blood sucking creature. But in Interview with the Vampire, vampires are represented as creatures that have emotion and sympathy. They still have some of their human nature.
                This book could be beautiful. In fact, it is supposed to be beautiful, the way Anne Rice describes Louise’s tale.  But I feel a bit disappointed about some points. As the title of this book, the story presented through interviews between the vampire and a ‘boy’. Is it just me or Rice didn’t explain how the boy met the vampire? I mean you can’t just walk in into a bar randomly and meet a vampire then ask him/her for an interview. Other thing is, in Louise’s story, he had conversations with people err .. or vampires, then he told his story by conversing with the boy. There is no clear barrier between conversations that Louise had with the boy or with those people/vampires in the past. All of those conversations are written using direct speech rule. It’s confusing for me. Who the hell is this vampire talking to? The boy? Lestat? Armand? Claudia?
                In spite of those flaws, I still have expectations for the sequel. So I’m gonna keep reading this Vampire Chronicles series. Maybe the next book will match or even exceed my expectations. Moreover, there is a reading challenge I need to finish. 


3 comments :

  1. I'm sorry you weren't thrilled by this one! About how the boy and Louis met, the boy says that he sometimes does several interviews a night, so I guess he just asks random people he meets. Since Louis wanted to tell someone his story, the boy got lucky.

    As for the direct speech, I figure it wouldn't read very smoothly if Louis kept saying "So then I said to Lestat...", you know? Louis narrates the book, which is him talking to the boy. He just happens to tell the story in the style of a narrator because it sounds nice. :)

    You might still love the second book. It's narrated by Lestat, so it's a pretty different style.

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  2. Thank you for the explanation.
    Direct speech would be fine, if only there's a line or limit between flashbacks and conversations Louise had with the boy.
    Anyway, i'm moving on to The Vampire Lestat now. :D

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  3. Thank you for the explanation.
    Direct speech would be fine, if only there's a line or limit between flashbacks and conversations Louise had with the boy.
    Anyway, i'm moving on to The Vampire Lestat now. :D

    ReplyDelete