Book Review: Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Once upon a time I was a massive vampire lover, from Buffy to Nosferatu back to Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Then I fell massively in love with Twilight. Once I regained my senses and got over the shame of idolizing such a vampire, I decided to redeem myself with Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire.

I am sure most of you know the plotline but, for the sake of following the conventional book review layout, Interview with the Vampire tells the story of “new” vampire Louis and his quest to find out more about himself and the vampire world.

So, what makes this book so good? Well, in my opinion, it was exactly what a vampire book should be: thrilling, shocking and just erotic enough. Yet, it shifted successfully from the conventional vampire stereotype. For one, the character of Louis was very relatable. Of course, I doubt there are any of us out there can relate exactly to the life a vampire, but the feelings of loneliness and not knowing fully who we are, most of us will have experienced at some point. And who hasn’t experienced a love/hate relationship like that of Louis and Lestat before? Even if was just the love/hate relationship between your own sell and Lestat as you read.

The prose also helped me fall in love with this book. I found myself not only captivated by the characters, but by New Orleans itself. I found myself pounding the streets at the same time as my new vampire friends, without the bloodthirsty urge, of course. The descriptions of Paris were also beautiful and projected a wonderful image into my mind.

I guess now the time has come for me to get on with the rest of the Vampire Chronicles. However, I have heard that they do decline in quality, meaning I won’t be rushing out to buy them. Anyway, I shouldn’t end on such a negative point. Interview with the Vampire was “fan-tastic, Ted” and I urge all vampire fans go out and grab themselves a copy.