Stephy Read Interview With the Vampire

 

 “For what can the damned really have to say to the damned?”

 

 About/Summary

Published in 1967, Interview With the Vampire is the first book of the Vampire Chronicles. The book focuses on a vampire, Louis, telling his "life" story to a reporter. 

Content/Trigger Warnings

Death

Child Death

 Slavery

Underage vampire (this gets a warning because sometimes it gets a little weird when you remember Claudia has the body of a five-year-old)

Lestat (he gets his own warning... like seriously)

Emotional manipulation

Characters

I'm sorry, but the characters in this book are all horrible. Just, horrible little creatures that entertain me greatly. Like, who knows what kind of shit Lestat is going to get up to. He doesn't even know! It might be heartbreaking, it could be hilarious, but no matter what you will not be able to look away cause that man is a car crash.

Also, I love Armand. He is baby. I love him.

And one of the main characters is just called The Boy through the entire book. Which, rude, Louis. Ask for his name before whining to him for 10 fucking hours straight.

 

Setting

Book is mainly set is New Orleans and Paris. And technically San Francisco cause that's where the room is where Louis whines at Daniel (that is the reporter's name, unlike Louis's rude ass, I care) for an entire night. 

Writing

Anne Rice's writing isn't for everyone. Sometimes it's not even for me, if I am perfectly honest. I am not saying it is bad. I am saying some people might not enjoy it. 

Plot

The entire plot was Louis, a 200-year-old vampire, telling a random guy how shitty it is being a vampire. That's it.That's the plot. I mean, other things happen, but the main plot is vampire is whining about his existence.

Romance

Louis and Lestat were totally a couple. A toxic couple. But still a couple. 

How diverse is it?

The only people of color were slaves.

 

Overall Thoughts

No thoughts about this book will ever top when my kid was reading it, they burst into my room and shouted "Lestat baby-trapped Louis!" You could have the most thought-provoking insight for this book and I will look you straight in the eye and go "Lemme tell you about the time my kid was reading this book". 

But aside from that... This isn't my favorite book from the Vampire Chronicles. I enjoy it, but I tend to find myself thinking "oh gods, shut up Louis..." a lot while reading it. 

Another thing, I need to know how long Louis and Armand traveled together. How long did Armand have to deal with Louis just... going through the motions and probably talking constantly about how beautiful Lestat was? Poor Armand for dealing with that. 

Also, I need to know is how long Lestat, Louis and Claudia stayed in New Orleans. And if it was longer than five years, how did nobody notice the three weirdos that didn't age? And did anyone notice the amount of death that happened? Louis says they have to kill to feed, which, fine, whatever. So that was at least three dead people a night. At least 90 dead people a month. That's over a thousand people a year. I know this took place way back in the day, and the mortality rate was higher back then, but still. That is a lot of dead people that no one seemed to notice or care about. 

 

I think that's about it... Stay tuned for me to ramble about the drama that is Lestat de Lioncourt some more. Cause that boy is just drama in human form.

Stephy Rambles About Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire series

 

I was going to use a stock photo for a job interview because I thought that would be funny. But I couldn't find one I liked, so y'all get a shitty picture of my TV instead. 

Hey guys! Guess what I just finished watching!

That's right. Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire series on AMC. And oh my gods was it good.

I'm pretty sure Ryan (go follow him on Twitter) is still shocked that I watched something in a timely manner instead of waiting six months.

Let me start off by saying that while I have many issues with both the Interview with the Vampire and Queen of the Damned movies, I do enjoy both of them. And I have felt for years that the Vampire Chronicles would make for a better TV show than a movie. There are too many things in those books for a movie. 

Now, for the show.

Oh. Spoilers ahead for both the show and the book. Maybe the movie as well. 

Also:

Warnings:

This show contains blood, death, suicide, self-harm, nudity, murder, abusive relationships, violence, sexual situations, gore, racism, and probably a few things I forgot.

I was excited for the show, but not overly excited. Especially when I heard about some changes they were making. I wasn't sure if it was going to work out or not. But, my fears were unfounded because the changes they made worked out great in my opinion.

For those unaware, the whole basis of Interview with the Vampire is that Louis de Pointe du Lac is a vampire and he meets Daniel Molloy, a reporter, and tells his life story. 

The show takes place after that. Louis had given his first interview and angrily left Daniel when he asked to be turned into a vampire. And then, Louis wants a re-do. So Daniel meets Louis again, and Louis tells his story. Again.

Louis's story starts in 1910. He is a gay, creole man living in New Orleans. He catches the attention of a white French man, Lestat de Lioncourt. Spoiler, Lestat is a vampire.

Louis and Lestat have a little love affair before Louis begins to distance himself. But then, Louis's brother Paul dies. Louis goes to church to confess his sins, but Lestat is like, "Hey, how about we not do that. Instead, I will turn you into a vampire." And Louis is like "'Kay."

Okay. There was a lot more blood during that, but that is basically what happens. 

The two vampires continue with their (frankly unhealthy) relationship for a while. At one point, bringing in Claudia, a teenage girl that Louis treated like a daughter. 

That's all I'm going to say about the plot. Watch the show. Seriously. It was good. So fucking good.

As I said before, they changed quite a bit for the show. One being Louis is a black man. Which works considering other changes they made. Didn't take anything away from the story. Gave a bit more to it, if you ask me. 

Claudia is older than she was in the book, which is good. Claudia in the book was five. In the show, she is 14. That change works very well. And Claudia got more depth and more story focused on just herself instead of who she is in relation to Louis and Lestat.

They also changed the time period of the show. In the book, the start of Louis's story was in 1791. In the show, it began in 1910. I liked this change as well. 

One big omission from the book the show made was Lestat's father. He wasn't in the movie, either. But he was in the book. And it is an omission I never had an issue with. The old man didn't bring a lot to the story.

Each episode has scenes that take place in the present day of Daniel and Louis talking. Which were really interesting. 

All in all, I liked the changes they made. They worked. Didn't pull anything away from the original story. I don't mind changes in adaptations, really. Makes it more interesting and exciting to watch sometimes. As long as the changes are good and don't change the overall original story. Like, if they changed Louis's race for the show, but kept the same time period and have him still be a plantation owner? No. Bad change. But, they changed his race, changed the time period, and his occupation and it all worked out pretty well in my opinion. 

And there were quite a few little bits for the fans of the Vampire Chronicles to catch and go "ooooooo!" Which were super fun. Which, I need to read those books again. 

The show was great all around. 

The costumes looked authentic enough. Not 100% sure how authentic they actually were. Need to work on my fashion history skills. 

The humor was fucking fantastic. I did not expect to laugh during this show, and I was hysterically laughing at least once per episode. And none of the humor felt forced. I always enjoy a bit of comedy with my drama, so good job to the writers for giving me that.

I did have one major issue.

Those vampires were messy as fuck when they ate. Come on guys. You wasted more blood than you drank. No wonder you had to kill so many people. You got maybe two sips out of each person. Do better.

Oh. One more thing. Louis and Lestat are in a romantic relationship. I know this. Pretty much everyone I ever discussed the book with know this. Anne Rice confirmed they were lovers. The only thing this show changed in their relationship is that it is mentioned and talked about and shown. So if you don't like that, don't watch the show. Also, what the fuck are you doing on my blog? The vampires having sex in this show is a little odd since aside from a brief thing in the Pandora book, they don't do that in the books. But hey, sex sells. I'm not even a little mad that the show made the vampires horny as fuck. Still a little mad about how messy they eat though. Dear gods... 

Oh. And one last thing. Armand is pretty. I am so happy to see my baby looking so pretty. Not that Antonio Banderas is an unattractive man, but he was just not Armand to me. And while this actor isn't a 15-year-old boy with auburn curls, I am happy with him. Can't wait for more Armand.

The show only covered the first half of the book, so I cannot wait for more. I need more. Give me more AMC.

That's all for this week. See y'all next Wednesday 👋🏻

Stephy Reading Challenge - Book 22

 

Vittorio, the Vampire by Anne Rice

I spent a lot of time while reading this book rolling my eyes at Vittorio. Because teenagers thinking they know best is apparently not a modern trope.

When Vittorio was 16, his entire family was slaughtered by vampires. An attractive female vampire, Ursula, allows him to live though. Which... Stupid...

Vittorio travels to a town, trying to find a way to have his revenge on those vampires. After a nightly visit from Ursula (when I think they had sex...), Vittorio learns that the town gives their undesirables to the vampires.

So, Vittorio goes vampire hunting.

And fails.

The vampires capture him and feed him a bit of vampire blood, which, I think Ursula did before... Anyway. It's a vampire court... A Satanic vampire court.

Ursula begs Florian (the leader) to turn Vittorio. Which doesn't happen. Instead, Vittorio passes out and wakes up in Florence (I think it was Florence...) where, holy shit, he can see angels now! At first, he just sees Fra Filippo Lippi's guardian angels. Then another angel. Then finally his own guardian angels. He convinces the angels to help him destroy the vampires. They agree, with the vow that he will kill all the vampires.

The angels take him to the vampire's castle, help him enter their daytime resting place. Where he slaughters the vampires. Well... All but Ursula.

He tells the angels that he's going to redeem Ursula's soul.

Ursula wakes up and tricks Vittorio and makes him a vampire. Because of course she does.

Together they slaughter the captive humans at the castle and most of that town that Vittorio stayed at before. 

They make their way back to Florence (I think...) where, hey, it's the angels! Since Vittorio broke his promise to the angels, they punish him by making it so he can see people's souls. 

And, that's the book.

I enjoyed it, but... I had some issues. Mostly the Vittorio and Ursula romance. He meets her when she is trying to steal away his younger brother and sister. Then the next night he's all "Monster! Let's kiss!" And the next night they're all "I love you!" Seems... Weird to me... But whatever.

Good side story to the Vampire Chronicles.