Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

[copper wing]

From <t:1719532800:D> to <t:1724803200:D> | Leader(s): @quartz cloak

Book Link
Cover: https://cdn.thestorygraph.com/jc0a86k6j66z59it4tcnocjg9shl

ID: 6675ce85e63b4b82d5556578
Announcement: #buddy-reads message

[winged cedar]

[quartz cloak]

I love how the cover includes the special price tag lol

[winged cedar]

Ugh it's a nine week hold wait at the library might just have to buy it on Kindle

[atomic nexus]

TBH I'm probably not gonna read this one until mid-August, since my copy is in another US state

[quartz cloak]

Oooo don't worry! You can always have an extension if you need more time with it

[copper wing]

@quartz cloak,@valid spire,@winged cedar,@fierce geode,@atomic nexus,@shell meteor,@mortal nova,@quartz path,@fair latch,@quiet thunder,@quartz cloak,@oak dove,@stiff walrus,@tough nova,@thorn bronze

Hello. Welcome to our buddy-read of Interview with the Vampire! Whether you're a seasoned vampire aficionado, or this is your first bite into the undead realm, prepare for an adventure filled with blood, brooding, and a little bit of sparkly skin (kidding, or maybe not? 🤔). Grab your garlic and holy water, but be warned that your power is feeble in front of darkness.

Please share your thoughts&progress here to gain br-points! This br lasts till August 27th.

Happy reading, and may your book lights never go dim. 🦇📖💀

[quartz path]

wow that is probably the best introduction to a buddy read

/gen

i’m excited now!!!

[quartz cloak]

thank you!

I spent 2 days writing that

[quartz path]

the quality shows!!

[fair latch]

This book was first published in 1976? I'm happy to see it is only 352 pages (14 hours). I always thought it was a beast of a book. 352 pages seems reasonable.

[quartz cloak]

yes

the series is looooong tho

[quartz cloak]

Part 1
||Hi Louis. You are still fabulous today. ||

[shell meteor]

https://tenor.com/view/nesforatu-dracula-goodnight-gif-17649417313875488366

[untold drift]

I currently have iwtv tv show brain rot so maybe I’ll join this 🤔

[boreal hollow]

I currently have
iwtv tv show brain rot so
maybe I’ll join this 🤔

- abi(g egg)

[stiff walrus]

Starting this!!

[stiff walrus]

Ok I’m 122 pages / 34% in!! It’s kinda driving me nuts that there’s no chapters but I will survive

I’ve never read anything by Anne Rice before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I did kinda think ||there would be some homoerotic undertones at play and I don’t think I was wrong the mutual hate but mutual need for company is giving enemies to lovers||

||Louis and Claudia’s relationship gives me a big ick. I don’t know if Rice is using “lovers” in a non-adult way but it’s … ick. I get she’s like 100+ but now but she’s in a child’s body It’s not okay when it’s an overused anime trope and it isn’t okay now!!||

||I feel like I don’t understand much about the “philosophy” of these vampires or the depths of their feelings about their situation but I’m enjoying the story and the action. I always enjoy reading a new vampire story and learning about that story’s unique vampire lore!||

[stiff walrus]

I am not vibing with this ||the no chapters makes everything feel soooooo drawn out the writing is a bit too purple prosey and metaphorical for me, lots of the time I find myself skimming paragraphs and paragraphs of just description where’s the action ||

I’m into part 3 though

[stiff walrus]

I’m struggling with this one

I keep reading other stuff even though I’m almost done this, I don’t wanna DNF after so much progress but it’s so boring

[quartz cloak]

i was considering buying this

[quartz cloak]

I had problem with the plot too when I first read it. The vibe was exquisite tho

[copper wing]

@quartz cloak,@valid spire,@winged cedar,@fierce geode,@atomic nexus,@shell meteor,@mortal nova,@quartz path,@fair latch,@quiet thunder,@quartz cloak,@oak dove,@stiff walrus,@tough nova,@thorn bronze,@compact yacht,@clever cave

Hello. This br ends on August 27. Please remember to share your thoughts&progress with us to gain br-points.

Happy reading! Let me know if an extension would be needed.

[quartz path]

ooh sorry forgot to mention that i dnf’ed this book!

[quartz cloak]

it's okay! I hope you'll have fun with other books

[stiff walrus]

yes I’m sorry seapotato I’m gonna dnf this too

[atomic nexus]

I still intend to read this one, but I can’t start it until like August 18th

I have a copy, but it exists on the other side of the US

[quartz cloak]

thread revival

[quartz cloak]

Part 1
||Louis being reminded he has an accent is cute .
It's interesting that outside the story Louis is telling he's referred to as "the vampire" by the 3rd person narrator. It emphasizes the contrast between the human boy and him. It also makes me feel that we don't really know Louis. ||
||Why is Louis so calm. hmmm does he still feel the emotions he had when he's a human? His description of his encounters with Lestat feels more vivid and emotional than anything else he said.||
||Louis is saying Lestat chose him because he wanted his plantation, but is it true?||
||That part about the drumming of their hearts is so intimate 🫀 ||
||I always felt the Louis telling the story was different from the Louis in the story he told. Maybe it's because outside the story he's interacting with a human boy.||
||Okay that's where I was confused. Like how big/deep is Lestat's coffin? How do they fit both of them in it?||
||Lestat is like a cat lol ||
||either Louis has bad memory or he knows how to engage his audience||
||I would eat it up if there's a book telling the story from Lestat's perspective. ||
||Take a shot every time Lestat says idiot ||
||Perhaps Lestat is mean to Louis because he's jealous of the things Louis is capable of feeling?||
||Geez Louis is such a jerk at times. Don't tell Lestat what to do if things happened between Lestat and his father
Aww he said he forgive him tho.||
||> Could the fire have hurt you? / Most definitely.
Now that I think of it. It can be foreshadowing what will happen later ||
||I just realized the whole book is pretty much Louis whining. ||
||Louis' sass toward Lestat (no pun intended)||
||I'm laughing but also kind of revolted||
||I want icy skin too ||

[fair latch]

I started this a couple of days ago.

[quartz cloak]

Part 1
||Louis: He was listening to me. ||
||To be fair Lestat is telling Louis what he knows and experiences as a vampire. But Louis is just different from him.||
||The insatiable greed of vampires ||
||Wayyyy to goooo Lestat charmed Louis again
and he said to Louis he wanted a child
No don't baby trap Louis-
yeet he just decided to make himself and Louis a daughter ||
||So Lestat is the mother right ||
||Okay I was joking but this thing is so fucked up ahahhaha?
WHAT ARE YOU DOING LESTAT A CHILD IS NOT A DOLL
yes drag Louis down into the mud too||
||Lestat confusing Louis with his pretty face ||
||And so Louis' fascination with Claudia began ||
Why does this book feel so long
||Two heartbroken parents and their rebellious daughter||
||Louis... just stop it's getting soupy||
||I'm getting Wuthering Heights vibe for some reason||
40% thru the book rn
||People need to stop moaning out loud. Vampires too.||
I stopped putting my reactions here because I was too sad to be intelligent

[copper wing]

@quartz cloak,@valid spire,@winged cedar,@fierce geode,@atomic nexus,@shell meteor,@mortal nova,@quartz path,@fair latch,@quiet thunder,@quartz cloak,@tough nova,@thorn bronze,@compact yacht,@clever cave

Hello folks. Our br ends on August 27. We still have a bit more than 2 weeks to finish the book up!

Please remember to share your thoughts&progress with us to gain br-points.

Reading status:
reading: seapotato, Vaude

Discussion questions:

1. What questions would you ask Louis if you were conducting the interview?
2. After reading the book, ||do you want to become a vampire?||

[mortal nova]

got my copy in from the library today!! i plan on getting started v soon

[atomic nexus]

I won’t be able to start it until the 18th at the earliest, but will ask for an extension if I need one

[valid spire]

I will start this maybe next week I hope

[quartz cloak]

I'm done! I'll write more about it tmrw
||The ending is why I need to read The Vampire Lestat lol. I'm on the boy's side. How can you leave us with a story like this
I hope Louis was slandering Lestat. I really liked Lestat being prideful and bratty. I can't not grew on him if he says mocking and witty stuff all the time. He's a walking red flag, as expected of almost all fictional characters I have taken a liking. He's toxic, but I think it probably derived from his earlier life/childhood -- his father being cruel to him, for instance. He's so lonely, and no one really loved him kindly in this book.
And on to Louis. Oh Louis. I still have mixed feelings. He's a self-absorbed, sentimental dude. However, when I tried to put myself into his shoes, I could understand him. Well, sort of. I don't think I'll ever come to love Claudia as much. Louis just got so many things tangled up in front of him, and he's trying to figure it out, like humans would. Still, I do enjoy taking on this journey with him and through him.
The Theatre of Vampire (or whatever it's called) was different from what I expected. But since it's a reread for me, I was not as shocked as on my first read. It's kind of pulpy and low-budget (it felt European to me tho). I'm still a little let down. I was anticipating a climax more dramatic than what I got.||

[quartz cloak]

Continued. Full book spoiler.
||Claudia possesses superior vampire abilities compared to Lestat and Louis. I wonder if this has anything to do with the factor that she's so little when she's converted into a vampire, so she's more vampiric than humanlike. But vampires who exist for longer time seem to be more powerful, too. Maybe they can train their skills or they just get more powerful more close to the top of the vampire line.
Claudia is so tragic, and I do pity and admire her. Maybe I'll like her more when I'm older. ||
||I really like Anne's vampire lore. Some places in the book feel like a wink to the classic vampire tales. Like the mention of travelling by ship and they'll drink from rats. Feels like a wink, wink to the readers who read Dracula. But also, it's almost vampire cliche, so I'm not so sure about it.||
||More on the way vampires are depicted in this book. We see that beneath their luxurious facade, they are trapped -- by the eras they lived in and the fates that are damned. If they are live for eternality, to the end of the worlds, time must be a different thing for them. Yet the world go on, endlessly propelled, and they will remain the same to be the living, anachronistic specimens of the past.||
still 4.5/5 ⭐ for me. could be higher if it didn't drag

[fierce geode]

this is categorised as erotica where i read my books

[quartz cloak]

wha-

it's not even explicit lmao

[quartz cloak]

1. HOW DID LESTAT ||FIT BOTH OF YOU IN HIS COFFIN||?? Also do vampires get sick? And what did Lestat ||intend to tell you bro I wanna know||
2. Yes? Hahaha Louis plz don't hit me. I simply want more time to read and learn different things. And I would try hard to become a writer if I were a vampire. I can drink from animals no prob. The problem is how to become one without becoming a slave of another vampire. Guess I have to be sneaky And I can see that it would be troublesome to perish at the end.

I want to be evil and haunt a gothic castle so much.

[fair latch]

I am at about 45% in the audiobook and every time I listen to this book I have an "Oh Louie" moment. He's just such a downer...

[compact yacht]

Just started the book! So far, I like the writing style and word choice, they really create the whole vibe

[fair latch]

Finished! I did not like this book, nor did I dislike it. It had an interesting story but the least interesting characters I have seen in a book in a long time. I gave it a 3/5.

[shell meteor]

I I'm starting my reread proper now

[shell meteor]

General
||I forgot how much of this book is Louis saying "I'm dying, help me/horrifed by this" and Lestat saying "shut up" ||

[quartz cloak]

I love them for this

[fierce geode]

My book is supposed to arrive in 2 days but it hasn't even been sent yet

[shell meteor]

I read a massive chunk of this today, well past half way - I forgot how MESSY this book is. It's like inviting someone that you haven't seen in a decade and they chug a bottle of vodka in front of you.

[mortal nova]

starting this tonight!! I'm looking forward to it, I've never seen the movie so I have no idea what I'm in for LMAO

[mortal nova]

my libraries copy is bothering me a little, the print is like... slightly off, like the paper was a little bit wonky when they were printing the book nd it's stressing me out aside from that I'm enjoying this though, its an interesting concept nd I'm enjoying Rice's take on vampires. I'm still just on part 1, but :||the homosexual tension between louis and the interviewer is palpable, its funny||

I like how ||blunt Louis is too, like the interviewer interrupts him nd he's just like "can I continue?" it's funny af watching this kid squirm at Louis drinking blood and stuff. surely when you set out to interview a vampire on his life, you knew there'd be a lot of blood sucking||

[quartz cloak]

11 days left in the br

[shell meteor]

All done, I legitimately forgot how much I love this book. you know the drill, I'll write more about it when I get home

[shell meteor]

It's a classic for a reason. I might have to read the rest of the chronicles because I love me some Anne Rice.

||“Don't be a fool for the Devil, darling.”||

||Do you want broody, fruity vampires that spend most of their time bemoaning each other, being vampires, killing or raising their permanent child? This is the book for you. I initially read this book many years ago (fairly sure that they take my goth license if you don't read this at some point ), so coming back again to revisit the characters was a surprisingly charming experience. I also saw the movie even longer ago than that, so it's kind of like finding a dusty ass memory hidden far away. ||

||The novel is told from the perspective of Louis, said interviewee as he tells the tale of his life and how he came to be undead to an interviewer simply known as 'boy'. He is turned by the narcissistic, greedy and foppish Lestat who hopes that in turning Louis, he can take Louis' estate, instead he signs himself up for two centuries of angst and stress. This is a book about the kind of vampires who slowly erode over the centuries, whose humanity gently withers and dies, whose good intentions gradually give way to the monster inside. It's a story about the battle with hunger, and how on a long enough timeline, the hunger always wins. With that he have a story about loneliness, mortality, morality, the existence of God and the Devil and as good vs. evil. ||

||Along the way while in the most toxic fruity friendship possible, Louis bites a five-year old girl named Claudia whom Lestat turns into a vampire to serve as their daughter to make Louis unable to leave out of guilt and worry for the girl. It all goes downhill from there. After 60 years stuck in the body of a five-year old, Claudia takes her revenge (not so permanently) on Lestat by poisoning him. He of course survives just as the pair leave for Europe to try to understand their origins better.||

||It's in Paris that everything comes to a head with part 3 being my favourite part of the novel where we have vampire actors eating people on stage, the culmination of Claudia's anguish and terrible death followed by Louis' revenge.||

||It takes the romance of vampirism, an ideal that so many people are in love with, and strips it back to the ugly, parasitic truth. Everything - love, friendship, trust, hope, beauty, aspiration, creativity, EVERYTHING dies on a timeline of forever. Except you and the hunger inside you. Thus, this is why the ending is so frustrating to Louis when the boy exasperated by the state that Louis is left in, alone and worn by his experience, demands that after hearing his tale that Louis turn him to do it 'right'. ||

||Of course I'd be bereft not to mention the way that Anne Rice describes New Orleans - I only visited there briefly but the way she describes the city is fabulously immersive. The same can be said with the way that the weather, the dreary tones and general demeanor of every place visited follow the same bleak vibes. I've seen in a few other reviews elsewhere that the interview and 'roundabout' format of worldbuilding wasn't for them but I found it easy to follow along, enjoyable even as Louis takes his time recounting his woe. It's a fun concept and honestly, the mother of all broody, pretty boy vampire novels. There's very little that can actually stop an Anne Rice vampire (garlic, crosses, churches, running water, mirrors) mainly the sun, fire and dismemberment being all that can stop them from coming back - even starvation is theoretically off the table, no feeding just means that they get cold and unhappy. ||

If anyone wants to read the rest of the series, you can count me in, it's been years and this was just a pleasant reminder about how much I liked the books.

[atomic nexus]

Alright so I just got my copy, I can totally finish this in time

[quartz cloak]

#br-requests message

[valid spire]

I belive in us

[atomic nexus]

Chapter 1 (“I see…” said the vampire thoughtfully)

||I don’t blame Louis one bit for nearly killing the priest. If someone told me that it wasn’t my sister but the Christian devil, I’d lose it too. Also, with my only exposure to IwtV being the Tom Cruise movie watched years ago, the turning wasn’t quite what I’d thought it would be.

“Have you ever lost a great amount of blood?” I have, actually. 0/10, would not do again.

And there was only one coffin

I appreciate how quickly the weaknesses to crucifixes and stakes is addressed.

Re: Louis’ first kill- It’s really reminding me of a game called Vampyr, in which the first opportunity the player has to kill, the character you play as has a line where he also “couldn’t bring himself to attack and feeling no urge to do so”.

Louis figured out that Lestat sucks so quickly is almost comedic. ||

[atomic nexus]

Chapter 2 (“And there you were” said the boy….)

||I can’t decide if appearing to Babette was a true kindness and not just guilt, but Im relieved that it didn’t make things worse down the line. I mean, he definitely made them worse for himself with Lestat. Trying to hold on to his humanity while being inhuman in the company of one decidedly inhuman only goes so well.

Jeez, this is messy. Louis and Lestat skipped straight to being divorced.

To know and be known. Totally understandable desire, Louis.

Oh nevermind it did make things worse for Babette. :(

Lestat, a child is NOT going to save this relationship.

I didn’t know Claudia was originally five. I thought she was like. Eleven years old.||

[shell meteor]

[atomic nexus]

||I guess the emotion I felt during the escort deaths was “horror but also the inherent fascination of a Character Study moment”?||

[atomic nexus]

Chp 3 (“The vampire stopped.”)

||I think Claudia is just Lestat’s way of playing God. A creature he could make and shape in his own image. Louis also doesn’t seem to be taking Claudia seriously? I don’t think that’s the right word but it’s like he’s blinded by affection to the point of dismissal.

This fight and the confession were a long time coming.||

Right after ||Claudia and Louis started planning their escape||, I noticed that it’s so warm out that pages were coming loose from the glue binding 🫠

[atomic nexus]

Anyway, moved inside. Chp 3 continued.

||I support Claudia’s wanting to murderize Lestat. I don’t think it’ll end well by any metric but I think she deserves to try. As a treat.

“Greedy, brooding vampires-“ sounds like someone’s projecting.

Absinthe and laudanum is lighter than I thought she’d use, but those poor boys.

I wonder if Louis’ sister had a kid.

The church scene must’ve felt cathartic for Louis. Even though he killed the priest.

Ah yes, Lestat and the musician are just friends. Nothing else, no sir.

Im not surprised that Lestat came back so quickly, but I do like how he’s described as just a mass of scar tissue.||

[atomic nexus]

Don’t really have any notes on Part 2, other than ||how much it must’ve sucked (pun intended) to keep finding shambling corpses instead of A Vampire again and again||

[clever cave]

started this

wow okay for some reason i assumed this book was recent - like post twilight vampire stuff. but this book is older than my mom lmfaooo

[fierce geode]

I'm gonna start this tomorrow

[atomic nexus]

Part 3, Chp 1 (I think the very name Paris...)

||Of course Claudia's dissatisfaction grows day after day. She's an adult in the body of a five year old.

I'm pretty sure someone has made their own version of the Theatre des Vampires. Like how there's the Vampire Cafe (and the secret vampire speakeasy) in NOLA.

I don't know what I expected Armand's introduction to be like, but it definitely wasn't this.||

[atomic nexus]

Finished it!!

The blurb on the back says "hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic", and I'm inclined to agree. I thought I would enjoy it and I did, even though it felt like there was another layer of meaning/symbolism that I felt like I could detect but not reach. This was my first time reading it, and I feel like I'll get more out of a second read.

[mortal nova]

im still reading this i swear i just doubt ill finish it in time im having a lot of fun though, going from reading Dune Messiah to this was v much needed its a lot lower stakes nd more light hearted

[quartz cloak]

br ends tomorrow

[quartz cloak]

You can do it! Glad to hear that you are having a good time with it

[boreal hollow]

You can do it! Glad
to hear that you are having
a good time with it

- seapotato

[quartz cloak]

haikubot agrees

[mortal nova]

haikubot believes in me in that case ive gotta do it in time

[fierce geode]

We are gonna do it together

[mortal nova]

hell yeah we are we've got this

[quiet thunder]

don't think i have time to finish this on time, but i may pop back in this thread when i finally get to this book lol

[valid spire]

Ye, I did noy get time to start this book at all. Since it finnishes today I mean

[fierce geode]

i will be finishing this a day or two late

[copper wing]

@quartz cloak,@valid spire,@winged cedar,@fierce geode,@atomic nexus,@shell meteor,@mortal nova,@fair latch,@quiet thunder,@tough nova,@thorn bronze,@compact yacht,@clever cave

Hello, this br ends today. Thank you for joining < 33

finished: seapotato, Vaydium, Vaude, ctrl-altmer-del

Please ping me if I missed you on the list!

If you need just one or two extra days to finish the book, just lmk and I'll wait for you!

[mortal nova]

yeah it should only take me an extra day or so to get this finished, im just under half way but idk if i can sit down nd finish this today w out getting into a reading slump and/or going insane

[compact yacht]

I'm definitely gonna have to dnf the book 😭 classes started and hw picked up way too fast... sorry guys!

[mortal nova]

some stuff had come up irl nd I likely won't finish this in the next day or so, I'm really sorry!! I still intend on finishing this soon it'll just take longer than I'd planned feel free to send off the names w out me <3 thank you sm for hosting seapotato!!! I would never have picked this up w out the br

[quartz cloak]

Thank you for telling me! I'll send the list for br-points now. Hope you'll have lotta fun with reading later

[quartz cloak]

waiting for amanda to give points

[fierce geode]

Sorry i know im very late but i will finish today i promise
Its okay if thats to late then just give the points without me

[quartz cloak]

no pressure<3

[fierce geode]

part 1 finished
||my face mostly looked like this after claudia got introduced Like i know she is technically 70 years old but damn louis she is still a 5 year old body I also have alot of questions about being a vampire like does their hair grow? because in theory it shouldnt but if it dosent wouldnt that result in them all being bald since hair gets damaged and breaks also does claudia always just have baby teeth and potentially missing some teeth? and how would her brain development be affected since no matter how much experience she gets she would still have a 5 year olds brain ||
finished part 2
||im honestly not sure what to say about this part claudia is an abseloute menace to society and Louis is kinda a coward ||
Finished part 3
||Im not really sad about claudias death since she was a little brat and i kinda hated her and we didnt really know Madeline for long so i didnt really feel much about her death Im a fan of Armand this book is fruity as heck though which is a plesant suprise wish we could get that without the paedophilia though ||

i finished
sorry for being very very late it took me way longer to read this than expected
||Im not really sure iff i liked it im a sucker for books that are being told like this so i probably like it more because of that but the sheer amount of yucks related to Claudia really threw me off its one of those books that i already kinda forgot even while reading it because it was so meh that i didnt have huge feelings either way so idk 2,5/5 stars ||

[fierce geode]

1. ||why the fuck he was lusting after a 5 year old ||/hj
2. Yes because ||i have a tbr longer than my lifespan||