Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice
rated 5 out of 5:
Wonderful! I began and didn't want to put this book down. It takes off right from the start. The novel is beautiful and exciting to read. I actually ended up really liking the vampire Louis, even though he is a cold blooded killer.
Next I have to read the rest of Anne Rice's vampire novels.
The story starts in modern day with the vampire Louis narrating his story to a reporter, whom is referred to as 'the boy'. This reporter is fascinated by Louis' life story and is tape recording while Louis tells his tale.
In 1791, Louis is a young plantation owner living in New Orleans. He is approached by a vampire named Lestat, who wants his plantation. Lestat turns Louis into a vampire. Louis feels guilt at having to feed off human blood, while Lestat kills humans every night. So Louis instead feeds off animals for some time, and hates Lestat for being so evil and so vengeful. He also hates Lestat for not revealing more to him about being a vampire, Louis has many questions.
As times passes, Louis becomes mildly infatuated with a woman named Babette.
'I had never seen her as she looked then; her hair was down for bed, a mass of dark waves behind her white dressing gown; and her face was tight with worry and fear. This gave it a feverish radiance and made her large brown eyes all the more huge. As I have told you, I loved her strength and honesty, the greatness of her soul. And I did not feel passion for her as you would feel it. But I found her more alluring than any woman I'd known in mortal life. Even in the severe dressing gown, her arms and breasts were round and soft; and she seemed to me an intriguing soul clothes in rich, mysterious flesh. I who am hard and spare and dedicated to a purpose, felt drawn to her irresistably; and, knowing it could only culminate in death, I turned away from her at once, wondering if when she gazed into my eyes she found them dead and soulless.'
There is one character in this book that really creeped me out, her name is Claudia.
One night Louis finds a crying child next to her mother who has died of The Plague. Louis & Lestat turn the 5 year old girl into a vampire, name her Claudia, and she and Louis become inseperable. He loves her all his life. They remind me of soulmates.
Claudia and Lestat enjoy hunting and killing. However, as years pass, she begins to ask questions and wonder why she is a vampire and what happened to her mother. Claudia begins to hate Lestat and plots to kill him so that she and Louis can be free.
The way Claudia is described in this book is very scary. She is a young girl, around age 5, curly blond hair, she looks and dresses like a doll, yet her eyes are dark and demonic.
Claudia is cursed to live her life in the body of a child, never to grow up or be able to take care of herself. People who see them, think she and Louis are father and daughter. But even Louis fears her at times and is tortured by the realization
that he helped make her a vampire. She tells Louis she hates him as much as she loves him for making her this way.
'Her jaunty, straight backed walk was not a child's, and often she entered small boutiques ahead of me an pointed a commanding finger at the perfume or the gloves she would then pay for herself. I was never far away, and always uncomfortable-not because I feared anything in this vast city, but because I feared her. She's always been the 'lost child' to her victims, the 'orphan', and now it seemed she would be something else, something wicked and shocking to the passers-by who succummed to her.'
Eventually, when Claudia and Louis begin to travel the world and search for other vampires, they find another vampire, Armand. I found the relationship between Louis & Armand very interesting. They have a strong bond.
This book was a great read, and I highly recommend it! I don't know what took me so long to read it.
'My vampire nature for me has been the greatest adventure of my life; all that went before it was confused, clouded; I went through mortal life like a blind man groping from solid object to solid object. It was only when I became a vampire that I respected for the first time all of life. I never saw a living, pulsing human being until I was a vampire; I never knew what life was until it ran out in a red gush over my lips, my hands!'
see more about this book at Anne Rice's website
see the movie version:
Interview With the Vampire
This book was part of the R.I.P Challenge
