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This first novel in The Vampire Chronicles centers around four very different yet almost equally fascinating vampires. The story is that of Louis, a wealthy eighteenth century Louisiana plantation owner who became a vampire in the depths of his despair over his brother's suicide. Lestat, the inscrutable force that hovers above every page of the tale, made Louis a vampire for basically economic reasons; he wanted the wealth that Louis possessed, but he also wanted a companion. Narcissistic and vain, the dapper Lestat does not teach his creation what it means to be a vampire, does not share the secrets he claims to know, does not even help Louis through the soul-shattering change that comes about when the body dies so that it may live eternally. Louis stays with Lestat only because, so far as he knows, there are no other vampires to whom he can turn for help and instruction. His distaste for Lestat grows over the years, however, and in order to keep Louis by his side, Lestat takes a young girl whom Louis had fed upon during a period of emotional turbulence and makes of her a vampire, knowing that Louis could never abandon the child. It is the story of Claudia, doomed to a most tragic life of immortality trapped inside the body of a little girl, that makes this book so powerful in my eyes. Lestat is of course fascinating, Louis is the epitome of tragedy and a fountain of knowledge by way of his questioning, eternally sad nature, but Claudia's story is an unbearably exquisite one. She accepts her vampire nature with some ease, being too young to really ever remember her human childhood, but the growth of Claudia the vampire woman inside the body of Claudia the child is a beautifully painful thing to watch. When she manages to separate Louis and herself from Lestat to go searching for other vampires in Central Europe and eventually Paris, giving dramatic voice to both her love for and hatred of Louis, the door to the dungeons of utter tragedy are thrown asunder. The introduction of the four hundred year old vampire Armand in the second half of the book gives us yet another unique vampire soul to ponder, but Armand at his most vivid pales in comparison to Claudia at her most unprepossessing.

In the end, we are left with Louis and his story, which is full of unanswerable questions. Even the meaning and lesson he tries to express about his miserable existence utterly fail in their influence it has upon the boy chosen to hear his extraordinary story. Literature really provides no better character study of the emotional meaning of vampirism than Louis, however. He became a creature of the night only out of despair, and his development as a new creature on earth proceeded without any instruction whatsoever from the cold Lestat. Thus, he questions everything about his new nature, desperately longing for a mentor. He does not relish the taking of human life, and the thought of creating another creature like himself is anathema to him. He sees vampirism as a curse, eternally wondering if he is indeed a child of Satan doomed to an immortal yet cursed life. The source of his moral suffering is his inability to really give up his human nature, and this causes him a long, long life of torment and pain. Never before had the moral, spiritual, and philosophical nature of the vampire been explored in such depth as that found in this exquisitely beautiful novel, and that is one of the primary reasons why it rivals Stoker in terms of its beauty and resonates with an emotionally hypnotic power that is unmatched in the long tradition of vampire literature.

29 of 32 found the following review helpful:

Fantastic Erotic Tale!Jun 13, 2000

I first encounterd this book when I was 12 and in the library looking for something good to read. The title caught my eye and I checked it out and I'm glad I did! The story, as told from the point of view of the vampire Louis tells of the love/hate "family" relationship between Louis, his maker Lestat and their child Claudia. Louis is having a hard time dealing with the fact that he must kill in order to exsist (some call it whining, but I call it endearing). I read this book for the first time in a couple of days (it's that good) My favorite character in the entire vampire series is Louis. I know most people think that Lestat is the hero of this novel, but Interview is Louis' tale and I understand his point of view completely. He doesn't whine, Louis just wants a better understanding of what he is and how he should feel about that. I wish Ms. Rice would write novels featuring more of him because his character is so human and so beautifully written that I look for him FIRST in each new novel by her. Some have called it too homoerotic, but I happen to like this type of romance. It is obvious that Louis and Lestat both love and hate one another and it is this relationship that is the basis of the novel. If you have never read a book by Ms. Rice, let Interview With the Vampire be your first. But be warned, you'll get hooked!

18 of 19 found the following review helpful:

The First and the BestJul 07, 2000
By Carrie Laben
Readers who are only familiar with Anne Rice's later, more self-indulgent work are likely to be pleasantly surprised by Interview With the Vampire. I certainly was. After a disappointing introduction to the legendary New Orleans author through the weak Violin, I was only interested in reading Interview because of its role in promoting the vampire revival of the 90's. I thought that reading it would be an act of research and contrition. I was wrong.

This is a strong, lush, and original (at the time, though much-imitated today) piece of writing. The blend of the erotic and the horrific is true to the spirit of the original Dracula. The attention to detail that would become so over-the-top in Rice's later books is well-balanced and poetic here. The characters are at once individual and mythic (though admittedly some of them are a little given to navel-gazing.) The dilemma of the child-vampire is an excellent addition. If you are interested in horror, in vampires, or simply in a good read, you should try this book.

16 of 17 found the following review helpful:

Curse of the VampiresMay 27, 2004
By Randall Ivey "Randall"
I love vampires. Always have, onscreen and on the published page - from Bela Lugosi's Dracula (seen countless times on the old Saturday afternoon Shock Theater) to Stephanie Rothman's hip 1970 VELVET VAMPIRE.

So it was with great enthusiasm that I approached Anne Rice's work several years ago, and it was with slight disappointment that I exited it each time. I don't know why she doesn't appeal to me the way she does to so many others. "Read the first one, read the first one!" my friends all admonished. "It's the best." So I did. I have just finished INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, and I'm no more an Anne Rice enthusiast than when I started. Maybe it's the book's lush overwriting, its constant purple prose, its almost endless striving to be elegant. Maybe it's the violence. Some of it does go "over the top", and I am usually not a prude about such things. I don't know. I'm just left as cold as one of the blood hunters Rice depicts.

Oh Rice has "skills", to coin a popular teenage phrase. She can create a memorable set piece that has the reader turning pages. And there are a number of memorable moments in this book. The initiation of Claudia. The "death" of Lestat. The fabulous Parisian Theater of Vampires. The concluding scene with the young reporter. Each is riveting, even enthralling. But in-between those scenes there is too much chatter, too much introspection, too much - huff and gruff.

I appreciate the book's classic status. And I'm going to continue reading Anne Rice, hoping the magic spell she has cast on millions of readers will soon ensare me.

11 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Gothic, Scary, Heartfelt. A Brilliant Read...Sep 09, 2004
By Eddy Campbell
I read the book with the sad idead that it would be similiar to the film. i was wrong.
The film is a LOT different than the book, which doesnt say that the film is bad - or the book- but it says that they made a good film out of a brilliant book,and changed it a lot.
Having said that, of course the book will resemble the film in parts, but not a hell of a lot. I thought that Louis would start off by narrating, and then we would be in the present timemjust reading the story. But again, i was wrong. He narrates the whole way through, and believe me it's very enjoyable.
The only problem i have, is i seen the film first. Everyone knows a book is better than the film, and a lot of the time you can enjoy the book after the film because it makes little of the film. The thing that bothers me is the characters. When i read this book i saw only Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Cruise, Antonio Banderas etc and its annoying more than anything.
I like the way i can make the character in my own, mind. but after the film, the character is as you know him or her. and i saw the cast of the movie.
Despite that, its a brilliant read, and you wont want to put it down when you get to the last page. A book you can read again and again and enjoy more each time....... ;-)

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