Review: Interview with the Vampire (1976)

Title: Interview with the Vampire

Author: Anne Rice

ISBN: 978-0-7088-6073-1

First Published: 1976

Blurb:

In a darkened room a young man sits telling the macabre and eerie story of his life… the story of a vampire gifted with eternal life, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood.

Review:

A few months ago, I happened to catch the film adaptation Interview with the Vampire on TV. It really fascinated me, the way that it deals with death and immortality, and the decadence that is inherent with vampirism. The film was enjoyable, but the book it is based on is on another level.

The main character, Louis, relates his tale to a young interviewer. His perspective on the (un)life of a vampire is one that I’d never seen before, and one that I found intriguing. He saw his transformation as romantic and tragic, coupled with the constant guilt whenever he killed. He exhibits a distance from his new life that allows him to analyse everything that happens, and it makes for very interesting reading.

All the main vampires in the novel have their own distinct personalities. Lestat epitomizes the dandy, seducing his victims and seeking luxury, Claudia exhibits elements of both Louis and Lestat, with some fascinating insights into the problems of being trapped as a 5-year-old girl for eternity, and Armand is “Gentleman Death”, mysterious and seductive. The combinations of these personalities make for exciting conflicts, and really gives the reader a sense of what it is like to be a vampire.

The plot is exciting, and there are many points in the novel where I couldn’t put it down; when Louis and Claudia finally leave Lestat, the episode in the Theatre des Vampires, the encounter with the barbaric and mindless vampires of Eastern Europe, and the final actions of Louis avenging Claudia.

The vampire mythology is cleverly used, and explained well. There are no long instances of exposition, and the reader learns more about what being a vampire really involves alongside Louis. The constant need to avoid sunlight, the nightly urge to feed, the sexuality of the vampires are iconic, and does a much better job at entertaining the reader than Stoker’s depictions in Dracula. Indeed, Rice’s novel reverses what occurs in Dracula by telling the story entirely from the vampire’s perspective. It is disturbing that they feel entirely human, yet something more.

Anne Rice’s style is as seductive as her characters. Louis, the narrator through the whole novel, is eloquent and insightful. Her language is sophisticated, but not so difficult as to exclude the reader. She does an excellent job at giving Louis a voice that spans centuries, from the seventeenth through to the present.

Interview with the Vampire is a novel that I would recommend everybody read at some point in their life. It is not simply a ‘vampire novel’, but an insightful exploration of death, immortality, morality, and sexuality. And whilst Louis may come off as a little angsty at times, none of the vampires sparkle.

Ratings:

Character: 9/10

Plot: 9/10

Style: 10/10

Overall: 9/10