Book Review
Title: Interview with the Vampire (The Vampire Chronicles #1)
Author: Anne Rice
Genre: Paranormal/Horror
Rating: *****
Review: I have seen the 1994 movie adaptation of this book many times, in fact, it is one of my favourite movies of all time, so I was excited to pick up the book for the first time. So, anyone who is remotely familiar with this series with know that Interview with the Vampire is told in an interview format (hence the title) and in the past tense, everything the vampire talks about has already come to pass. I will be bringing back my Book vs Movie series with this book, where I will compare the book to its film counterpart. The vampire initially is unnamed, but we come to learn his name is Louis (pronounced Louie) who was before he was turned a plantation owner in, New Orleans. In the first 50 pages, we get a lot of information on how Louis became a vampire and I will talk about this more shortly, but I did notice a striking amount of difference between the opening of the book and the opening of the movie.
Louis was 25 when he was turned, and this came purely from his life circumstances at the time. We learn that his brother died, and he felt solely responsible for his death even though he had nothing to do with it. After his father’s death Louis as the eldest son became the head of the household and was responsible for running their plantation Pointe du Lac, the family is Catholic but his brother was completely devoted and Louis is willing to give him up to the priesthood but as time passes Louis begins to see his brother as more of fanatic than a living saint. Everything comes to head when his brother comes to his claim that the Virgin Mary has appeared to him and told him to sell all they own in New Orleans and go back to France to do God’s work and fight the Revolution. Louis as the head has the final decision and he rejects his brother’s words leading to a fight between the pair, after turning his back on his brother he hears a noise and it turns out that his brother has fallen down the stairs and broken his neck. After this Louis sinks into a deep depression, drinking heavily and wishing for death but he doesn’t have the courage to take his own life. One night he is attacked by a vampire a left for dead but not turned, after being taken home Louis becomes quite ill and when a priest is called he ends up attacking him when he claims that his brother was possessed by the devil. That night the vampire returns and tells him of what his life could be like as a vampire and he turns Louis but before the change is complete he is able to witness his last sunrise.
Anne Rice sets the precedence for vampire novels and her take on vampire lore is quite unique. In her books, vampires don’t turn instantly but it is a slow progression over several hours. Louis learns that his creator and teacher is named Lestat, and almost immediately he notes the differences between himself and Lestat although this becomes more evident when Lestat instructs Louis to make his first kill. At this point, Louis is unaware that they can survive on animals, so when he takes his first human life he experiences something that changes him completely. They ambush a group of runaway slaves and at first, Louis refuses to kill the man and Lestat berates him for this which becomes quite a common theme, but when he is pushed Louis does feed and here it experiences something, it is hard to describe which Rice conveys greatly but the experience of taking a life is so sacred to Louis, so beautiful and depraved at the same time that he ultimately prefers to live off animals. Lestat, on the other hand, sees humans as food and nothing more whereas Louis recognises them as people with family and lives of their own. This first feeding ends up causing a great divide between the pair after his changing Louis realises that Lestat only changed him because he wanted Louis’ plantation and the wealth that came with it. However, we do see a small human side to Lestat, and he brings with him his aging father who is unaware that his son is a vampire, this also dispels the impression that the reader has that Lestat is far older than Louis.
Louis also has his mother and sister to care for, so for a time the pair live in relative harmony although Louis immensely dislikes Lestat but doesn’t want to ask him to leave or leave him as he doesn’t know everything he needs to know about being a vampire although looking back on it he realises that in those first few days Lestat had already taught him everything he needed to know.
Things begin to go downhill for the pair when some slaves realises that their masters aren’t human and begin to spread a feeling of discontent which ultimately leads to an uprising. Before this happens we get another significant event in Louis’ new life as a vampire. The head of the neighbouring plantation is challenged to a duel and Louis knows that if this young man dies his five sisters will be left to fend for themselves so he is determined to do everything he can to protect the boy, especially since Lestat wants him. On the evening of the duel, Louis does his best to prevent Lestat from taking the boy before the duel which he ends up winning until his mortally wounded opponent shoots him and Lestat seizes the opportunity to take the boy. Louis gives chase and tries to stop Lestat from killing him but fails. As they race the sun back to the plantation Louis stops to inform the eldest sister who he called Babette that her brother is dead and if she wants to provide for her sisters then she has to take over running to the plantation and defy every social rule to do so. Babette does this and Louis visits her frequently to offer support and advice although he never really allows Babette to see him. After the duel, Lestat tells Louis that they can live off animals and this is the route that Louis takes in order to survive but Lestat hunger is never satisfied often taking 2 or humans a night which only increases the fear running through the plantation.
One night Louis overhears a conversation between the slaves and his chosen overseer that they plan to kill the masters as they are demons. Louis races back to Lestat to tell him of this conversation and he brushes it off, turning Louis’ attention to the fact his father is dying. Lestat has a very strained relationship with the old man often venting his anger on the man without physically harming him, Louis on the other hand, has quite a good relationship with the old man. As the man is blind he doesn’t see Louis and continues blabbing as if he is talking to his son and Louis learns that his father pulls him out of school despite Lestat’s obvious intellect and this among other things sparked their hard relationship and all he wants before his death is his son’s forgiveness. As the slaves begin to rise against them outside after Louis is forced to kill the overseer Daniel who saw Lestat for what he was, he knows their time at Pointe du Lac is running out. Louis orders Lestat to prepare for their leaving but Louis knows the old man can’t be moved and Lestat demands that Louis kill him, but he refuses until Lestat tells the man that he is forgiven. Lestat under Louis’ demand gives him and forgives his father although it seems like he doesn’t mean it and Louis kills the old man but not by feeding on him but bleeding him. In his anger, Louis sets the whole place on fire which angers Lestat greatly and the pair spends the name at Babette’s before moving on to one of the townhouses in New Orleans. Louis isn’t worried about money because he has invested wisely and has plenty of funds to draw on yet another difference between him and Lestat as Lestat steals to survive financially.
It is at the point that Louis knowns that Lestat has nothing more to teach him but is scared of leaving him as he feels that Lestat might be holding important information back. But he now knows the kind of man Lestat is and realises that he does have some power over his creator and uses it the best he can. The story isn’t told consistently as the interviewer only referred to as the boy often stops Louis’ story in order to ask questions or clarify points that Louis is making. We also learn a lot about how Louis is now compared to how he was in those early years, now Louis relies on detachment to survive, he had it when he was turned but his lingering human emotions still came into play, and he also doesn’t value his own memories and experiences like anyone else would. In his own words, he says that if he held something that close he wouldn’t have brought it up, meaning that everything he is talking about doesn’t sit that closely to Louis’ heart although I have a feeling this will change when someone is introduced a little later on in the novel. After seeking refuge with Babette she ends up discovering what he and Lestat are and almost ends up killing Louis. In these moments he realises that he can’t stay with Lestat any longer but is scared of being alone without another of his kind but for the first time he and Lestat talk about what they are, and the delusion Louis has been living under. We also see Louis drink from a human since the first time after his change, but he doesn’t kill the child and Lestat makes the joke of going back and changing her and if anyone has seen the movie you know who this is. However, I also like Louis’ relationship with the interviewer as he almost gives up on telling his story, but the boy keeps him going, not for the interview but because he wants to know Louis’ story.
As Louis continues with his story we learn what kind of person Lestat is although I think Louis has always known yet chosen to ignore it. Lestat goes to the local hospital and retrieves the little girl under the guise of being her father and then proceeds to turn her into a vampire as Louis watches helplessly only realising what Lestat intends to do when it is too late. Lestat tells the little girl whose name is Claudia that they are now her parents and he will teach her everything she needs to know. Claudia here is only 5 years old and is going to stay that way physically for the rest of her immortal life but her mind can mature into that of an adult. For the first couple of decades Claudia is very close to both Lestat and Louis, as she kills with Lestat and Louis acts as her father and tutor teaching her everything he can, and she takes on his love of books and reading which Lestat despises but says nothing about now. However, as time passes Claudia’s mind matures into that of a woman while her body stays young and the only thing that indicates this is her eyes, and while Louis notices these changes he ignores them. It’s only when Claudia starts asking the same questions Louis did that he acknowledges that Claudia is now a woman despite her young frame, and this irritates Lestat to no end especially when Claudia starts ignoring him. After roughly 65 years have passed Claudia is doing everything she can to push Lestat to the edge and she single-handedly shatters the peaceful atmosphere that has surrounded them.
Claudia soon becomes obsessed with learning how people are made into vampires and vampire nature since unlike Louis she can’t remember being human due to her young age. As more time passes she grows resentful towards Lestat and even confides in Louis that he has nothing to teach them which Louis has known for a while which makes her even more resentful to her creator. However, when Louis explains to her that it was him that killed her and Lestat only gave her a new life, he is afraid of losing his companion, but Claudia is surprisingly forgiving and compassionate with Louis as she isn’t this way with anyone else. She ultimately forgives him and tells him they have to leave Lestat and seek out others of their kind in Europe and so in secret Louis makes the necessary arrangements thinking he can reason with Lestat and appeal to his greed to let them go. Claudia knows this won’t work and tells Louis that she plans to kill Lestat although Louis doesn’t believe she can and makes every effort to dissuade her from this idea, her mind won’t be changed, and before long the night she intends to kill Lestat is upon him. Claudia is clever and poisons two little boys with absinthe and laudanum and then gives them to Lestat, poisoning him. She then slits his throat reducing him to a dried-out husk and Louis all the while stands by watching not believing that Lestat can die until it seems like she has killed him. Considering how dependent Lestat and Louis are on each other I was very surprised that Louis didn’t try and intervene but his bond to Claudia is far stronger than his bond to Lestat.
As they dispose of his body, Louis feels the weight of what Claudia has done and even grieves from his creator turning away from Claudia but being a child she needs to be close to someone and Louis has no choice but to give in. As they take their newfound freedom and prepare for their trip to Europe, life seems good for the pair until the young musician that Lestat was friends with comes calling for information on his friend and Louis does his best to get rid of the man without hurting him but he does notice that someone has fed on the man quite recently. The following night they pair go their separate ways to hunt before boarding the ship to Europe, but Claudia returns home in a panic, saying that she was followed home by the musician and at first Louis doesn’t spot him but when he does he knows the boy has become a vampire. Hearing footsteps climbing the stairs Louis recognises them as Lestat’s and is immediately thrown into a panic and has to fight the pair of vampires off and escape from the burning house with his beloved Claudia, this destroys the last remnants of any relationship Louis and Lestat had as Louis knows Lestat will never forgive Claudia and himself for what they did, although it was more Claudia’s doing that Louis’.
As they escape on their ship to Europe, Louis is expecting Lestat to come after them, but he doesn’t however, Louis doesn’t let himself believe that Lestat died in the fire. Louis and Claudia obviously want different things from Europe, Louis wants to visit all the places he hasn’t before and collect knowledge while Claudia has the sole purpose of finding more of their kind. They end up in a place called Varna close to the Black Sea and immediately come across a strange village, where the German-speaking residence all lock themselves away at night in the local inn because of the vampires roaming the nearby monastery. Louis meets an Englishman called Morgan whose wife Emily has been killed by a vampire and the villagers want to burn her body to prevent her from becoming one although Louis knows this will never happen. Louis enraged by the actions of these people heads out to the monastery with Claudia to find the vampire. Upon arriving everything is too still for Louis’ liking and he doesn’t like the place at all, but they do find the vampire, however, it isn’t what either of them was expecting. This “vampire” is nothing more than an animated corpse looking for blood and Louis puts an end to it before it ends them. As dawn approaches he and Claudia head back to the inn and tells the villagers that the vampire is dead, and he claims to be acting under the Church. As they turn in before the dawn approaches Louis refuses to feed on Claudia opting to kill a rat only to have a very strange reaction when he sees himself feeding on it in the window. After leaving the village they move through Transylvania, Germany, and various other places only to find the same kind of vampire they did in the village. Claudia and Louis both have their theories on this, but Claudia seems to be pressuring Louis to make another vampire, something which he refuses to do driving a wedge between them. Louis also is beginning to believe that Lestat was the only other vampire like them and both know the last time Louis felt complete was when Lestat was around. Having Claudia and Lestat on either side of him was like a shield to Louis, and now without Lestat, he feels lost and that he has to protect Claudia when he isn’t even sure if he can protect himself, despite this the pair continue their journey.
After the disaster their trip to Eastern Europe was they decide to head towards Vienna, but Louis decides that they will bypass Vienna and head straight to the heart of Europe; Paris. Louis uses a long monologue here comparing Paris; his homeland to New Orleans the place he lived most of his life and finds the task impossible. Louis immediately takes to Paris but Claudia even though she doesn’t do or say anything has a resentment building within her. This resentment is mainly towards Lestat but also towards the fact that she will never be a woman in body even though she is in mind. Shortly after arriving in Paris, Louis accidentally comes across another vampire like him, but this vampire is mute and very hostile attacking Louis, but he knows it is a test of some sort. After the mute vampire is carted off, another vampire hands him an invitation for himself and Claudia to attend the vampire theatre. Encountering vampires like themselves since Lestat there is no hesitation about whether or not the pair will attend but they find the theatre packed with humans except for the actors on stage who are all vampires. However, the performance takes a dark turn when a young woman is shown on stage, terrified pleading for her life. While the audience believes this is part of the show Louis knows it isn’t and has wildly conflicting emotions about it, as he feels for the woman and would help her but he is also utterly captivated by the performance and the vampire actors who seem to blend in so well, even though their appearance makes them stand out.
The vampire introduces himself as Armand before disappearing into the night and the pair don’t see him again until the following night where they attend the show at the theatre of vampires. At first, nothing is amiss apart from the vampiric actors but quickly things become quite dark when a mortal woman is brought onto the stage and clearly used in the performance against her will. Louis is aware of what is happening and is torn between captivation and disgust at the actions of the vampire who attacked him named Santiago. The woman pleads for her life even asking the audience for help, but they believe it to be part of the performance. This doesn’t change even when the woman is stripped naked but here Armand enters and immediately captivates the woman’s attention before feeding on her. After drinking his fill she is passed around the other vampires before being returned to the stage where she dies. All through the performance, Louis is being sucked in by Armand and what I think is his gift, but it is after the performance where they meet again. They end up in Armand’s room where he confessed at 400 years old he is the oldest living vampire in the world, and he can’t answer Louis’ questions which is both heartbreaking and enraging for Louis. Armand also seems to have a special connection to Claudia and seems quite fond of her but when Louis is once again accosted by Santiago, Armand drives him back and warns Louis to give them nothing of himself especially information concerning his origin. Here Louis realises he hated Lestat for the wrong reasons, it wasn’t that he kept information from the, but that there was simply nothing to know. Louis feels so guilty at wronging Lestat but has no idea whether he is still alive and doesn’t dwell on the prospect of making things right between them.
With less than 80 pages left in the novel, I am excited to see how differently the book ends compared to its movie counterpart. In the aftermath of this encounter, Louis comes to realise how much he loves Armand and how much he wants to be with him, but you have to bear in mind this isn’t in the sexual sense although when Louis and Armand are alone it does have that feel to it. Louis despite this love for Armand he can’t leave Claudia because she is defenceless. She is a killer, there is no doubt about that, but her form is defenceless, a little child alone makes people ask questions and unlike adults turned into vampires, Claudia is a lot weaker and slower than other vampires because her body is so young, she wasn’t physically ready for the change. After this Claudia asks Louis to do something he swore to himself he would never do; create another vampire, a mother for Claudia to replace her father who wants so badly to be with another. Enter Madeleine, a young mother whose own child died, wrought with grief and seems the perfect candidate for Claudia’s vampiric mother. Louis refuses to change Madeleine throwing Claudia into a rage where she confesses what they both have always known, she doesn’t remember being human, she is devoid of human feeling and knows Louis wants to be free from her and Madeleine can do that for the both of them.
Louis with his huge love for his daughter ultimately gives in and makes Madeleine a vampire but comments that it wasn’t Madeleine that died in the hotel room but the last thing in him that was truly human and now they are even. After this, he meets with Armand and they talk about their nature and how they were created, during the walk to the tower they take shelter in from the weather Louis realises that being near Armand is causing him to acknowledge and accept the gifts he has always had, in a way he never did with Lestat. In that tower we see a great difference between Louis and Armand’s creation, Armand’s master loved him and Armand loved him in return and his master couldn’t bear to see him grow old and turned him into a vampire but he waited until Armand was of an age where he would be physically able to look after himself and even though Armand still loves his creator to this day he doesn’t need him any longer, he needs Louis know. He explains to Louis that there are so few true vampires because many can’t handle the pressure of immortal life and even up killing themselves because they can’t stand knowing they will go on forever unchanging while the world constantly changes around them. He also confesses that if he hadn’t met Louis when he did, he would have been among these vampires. Louis in return tells him that his creator made him for very selfish reasons, land and money, things Armand could never understand and that is why there is no love between Louis and his creator. Louis wants to desperately go with Armand but feels he can’t leave Claudia just yet even though Armand has already told him that he believes Claudia and Madeleine will be fine together but cautions Louis to get them out of Paris as soon as he can because Santiago and the others know of Madeleine’s creation and are waiting for Louis to give them a reason to destroy them all.
The last 50 pages of Interview with a Vampire is heartbreaking and despite all the changes I noticed between the book and the movie, the ending has the most changes. Louis leaves Armand to return to Claudia only to ambushed by Santiago and the others and while Louis allows Claudia to escape, he and Madeleine are taken to the Vampire theatre where Lestat is waiting for him. It seems that Lestat has been in league with Santiago to get revenge on Claudia for trying to kill him which is the only law that vampires have that results in death. Louis tries his hardest to convince Lestat to leave Claudia alone and he isn’t having any of it but Lestat also believes that Santiago promised him that he could take Louis home with him, but Santiago also has unfinished business with Louis. At this point, he locks Louis in an iron coffin and seals him within the walls of the theatre and Armand is nowhere to be seen. This leaves Madeleine alone with the other vampires and by the time that Armand comes to rescue Louis he realises that Armand is saving him and him alone. Returning to the theatre the other vampires seem completely subdued and there Louis finds the burned remains of Madeleine and Claudia who have been locked in a room and exposed to the sun.
This completely breaks Louis and throws him into a rage overwhelmed by his grief for the loss of his daughter. He ends up leaving both Lestat and Armand, but he gives Armand a warning not to return to the theatre again and he heeds it. Louis formulates a plan and returns to the theatre with only 15 minutes until dawn and burns the theatre and all the vampires to the ground and he believes Lestat to be there as well. Afterward, he realises that all the human guards were gone and when he questions Armand he tells Louis that he told them to leave as they were in his employ. When Louis asks why he didn’t warn any of the other vampires he merely shrugs and tells Louis to pick a reason as they are all true. Louis realises that Armand is truly evil, and he is as well and that when anyone else would destroy them for their evil they manage to love one another. Louis leaves with Armand to travel the world but finds himself growing more distant from the man he claims to love, and Armand feels it as well. Ultimately Armand prompts Louis to return to New Orleans with the information that Lestat wasn’t dead and he was living there.
As Louis has unfinished business with his creator he returns to see him once more. He finds Lestat trapping by time as he can’t adjust to the modern age which has swept over the world, and rather than hating him, he feels nothing but pity for Lestat. They do have an emotional scene where Lestat confesses he didn’t mean for Claudia to die and he had no idea what Santiago was planning to do, but Louis pushes away all his emotion and once again leaves his creator alone, to suffer in this new age. When he returns to Armand unchanged, Armand grows angry as he thought that he meeting Lestat would bring him to life again only he has failed to realises that the one who kept him alive and feeling was Claudia and he played a huge part in her death. Armand realises that this Louis is the Louis he will have for eternity and finds that he can’t love this cold, unfeeling creature and Louis explains that he killed the very thing he loved in Louis and now only sees a reflection of himself. With this, they part ways and Armand disappears into the night never to be seen again and as he didn’t return for his coffin we can only assume he has died. Here Louis draws his story to a close as there is nothing more to tell, however, the boy can’t accept this and asks Louis to turn him. Louis refuses but fails to see how much the story has impacted the boy and how much he wishes to understand Louis. Louis ends up drinking from the boy but not turning him and when the boy asks if he is going to die Louis tells him he doesn’t know. When he wakes the following morning Louis has vanished and he is alive and filled with the sole purpose of seeking Lestat out from the location where Louis last saw him. Overall, Interview with a Vampire is very different from its movie counterpart, it is far more sensual, seductive and heartbreaking. If you haven’t read this book then I highly recommend it and I will definitely be continuing with the Vampire Chronicles over the rest of the year.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk
Comments