Anne Rice – Lely Reads

Interview with the Vampire

by Laura
January 28, 2021February 9, 2021

I have picked up a few of Anne Rice’s books; this is the first I’ve completed, and it certainly won’t be the last. I cannot recommend this book enough for readers of romance, historical fiction, fantasy; I think there’s something here for nearly every reader.

Rice utilizes such beautiful prose that fit so well with the periods and characters throughout Interview with the Vampire. The language is flowery, but not in a way that distracts from the storyline or seems over the top for the context. It reminded me of the way I felt reading Tolkien’s writing; I love flowery prose that flows effortlessly and doesn’t seem forced by the author.

I think part of what drew me into Interview with the Vampire is the incredible way Rice captured New Orleans. Her descriptions transcend time and, despite the many changes the city underwent between the beginning and end of the book, the character of the city remained the same as it still is today. This city has a life of its own that’s not easy to capture in writing and is meant to be experienced, but Rice made it its own character rather than merely a setting.

I was immediately attached to Louis, his pains, inner struggles, relationships, all felt very real to me. Some of the interactions between Claudia (and other children) and adults were a little cringe worthy, but when you consider that she was a mature mind trapped in a child’s body for eternity, it really complicated those relationships. I never felt there was anything but paternal love between her and Louis, but there were some questionable interactions between Lestat and other children that may be uncomfortable for some readers. Character development went deep throughout the novel and continued right through the last sentence with the interviewer. Rice was thorough without drudging up unnecessary details or distracting emotions that weren’t in line with what the reader had learned of each character. I can only imagine the complicated planning this must have required on her part to not contradict details later in book. Everything felt cohesive despite leaps in the timeline.

I was not expecting the complex themes explored here, such as loneliness in immortality, the blurred lines between good and evil, differences between love and adoration, and whether decisions are made for aesthetic or moral reasons. I’m trying to keep spoilers out of this review, so I’ll avoid delving into those descriptions too much, but if you’d like to have a discussion of any themes you found of interest, please comment below and I’d love to have a dialogue with you!

In the meantime, I will leave you this lovely depiction of New Orleans that made me swoon:

“New Orleans, though beautiful and desperately alive, was desperately fragile. There was something forever savage and primitive there, something that threatened the exotic and sophisticated life both from within and without. Not an inch of those wooden streets nor a brick of the crowded Spanish houses had not been bought from the fierce wilderness that forever surrounded the city, ready to engulf it. Hurricanes, floods, fevers, the plague—and the damp of the Louisiana climate itself worked tirelessly on every hewn plank or stone façade, so that New Orleans seemed at all times like a dream in the imagination of her striving populace, a dream held intact at every second by a tenacious, though unconscious, collective will.”

(Interview with the Vampire, p.203-204)

Interview with the Vampire is available through Bookshop.org in paperback or as a collection with The Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned.