Guest Book Review: Interview with the Vampire
By Jonathan Reddoch
I recently read Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. This book is kind of old now, but the series is still coming out with new books. I enjoyed it but there were a few qualms I had.
I remember the film very vaguely from when I was a child, and how it was a line that made up for the movie, “I’m going to give you the choice I never had.” I was frustrated that the line never appeared in the book as I waited and waited for it to pop up so I could be like there you are, you little devil. Other than that I can’t say how well the two media compare.
First the high points: Rice is a good writer and I like the way she describes the world through the elegant voice of the vampire; he speaks eloquently and seems to have a perfect recollection even before turning into a vampire. The characters and story are compelling. I don’t usually like to read beyond the first book in a series (Dune, Ender’s Game, etc.); this is just a weird quirk I have as a reader, but I am curious what happens in the other books. I bet they’re at least intriguing.
I like that Dracula is not mentioned even once. I get bored of vampire tales that lazily just plop Dracula in their story. Or make an entirely new kind of vampire and call them Dracula. Also, this book is super gay, which is awesome.
The weird, not necessarily bad, things: It’s odd that most of the story is told in a monologue from the vampire. The story begins as a conversation, but she gives up on the interview format midway in. Makes me wonder why to bother with the unusual rhetorical device. But then I suppose she would have to rename the book. I think it works well enough for this single book but would lose its novelty quickly. She also does not give us answers to many questions raised about the origin of the species and its evolution (maybe these are explored in later books). Reminds me of Frankenstein, which isn’t a bad thing.
The problematic: so the vampires eating and turning each other is described as if sexual. Sounds hot right? Well, only if you think rape is hot. This act is rarely consensual. The vampires come across as very rapey (they are literal predators after all). Rice somehow makes murdering rapists (pedophiles?) sympathetic, and I found myself questioning this. Especially, since they turned a little girl into an immortal vampire and the line between father and lover is uncomfortably blurred. Ew.
Also, I keep going back and forth on whether it should be titled interview with the vampire or a vampire.
I recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror and sexually suggestive dark fantasy that somehow depicts zero sex, which features morally questionable Southerners and sensual European creeps.
Jonathan is the co-owner of Collective Tales Publishing, the publishing company for Collective Darkness. He is a father, an editor, an academic, and a lifelong learner. He enjoys writing several genres, especially horror and sci-fi.