Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

I can’t even begin to describe how completely sucked into this book I became, right from the start. There was so much passion and intrigue, the characters were phenomenally well done, and this book earned itself 5 out of 5 stars for being so well written and addictive.

From the publisher:
Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force --- a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

My thoughts:
There are few stories that take the vampire and make him into a sensitive, romantic character while still maintaining bloodlust and avoiding sparkling in sunlight.  Interview with the Vampire eroticized this mythical creature, adding a touch of old world passion and romance that can only come from a setting such as New Orleans or Paris (our characters visited both).

Louis is essentially a lost soul, given the gift (curse?) of eternity by L’estat, a materialistic individual who enjoyed using his thirst for blood to obtain wealth and good fortune. All Louis wants is to lead a quiet life, hunting animals instead of people, and learning all he can with his extended life, but L’estat uses his sensitivity to lead him into a darker side of things, starting with Claudia, a young girl L’estat used as leverage against Louis, to stop him from leaving L’estat in pursuit of knowledge and answers to his questions.

Even in the moments when you dislike L'estat, or Claudia, or any of the other characters, you can't help but sit at the edge of your seat, hoping they get out of harm's way, or succeed in whatever they are attempting in the book. I love this feeling, of knowing the characters and feeling them as entities beyond typed words on a page. These fictional characters, particularly Louis, felt more realistic than some people that actually exist!

In my opinion, it's becoming harder to find a book that I cannot put down; that I am sucked into with every fiber of my being. There was little romance in this book, and yet I thought it was more tantalizing and erotic than Fifty Shades of Grey (and it took a lot of cajones for me to actually write this in my blog). Reading Interview with the Vampire made me want to be a vampire, to use my heightened senses to see the world in a way that I could only have dreamed of before. I dare you to read this story without wanting to be a part of it, without feeling yourself feel Louis’ guilt and pain, without being so enthralled that you’re the only person awake on a 6am bus into New York City (I did it several times, because of this book). I am very much looking forward to picking up the rest of Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles.

Agreed.