Right after reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, I read Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire. I was barely a teenager and for that I could not completely grasp the subtleties of this novel. Besides, I had read it in Portuguese. Years later and able to read in English, I gave it another go. I wonder why did it take me so long to do so.
In Interview With The Vampire, Louis narrates his life's story to a young reporter, many years after he became a vampire. The somber and eerie ambience is what makes one immerse in his accounts right from the start. He spares no details and bares his surprisingly human emotions while living like a predator.
The movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise is quite similar to the book, except in the book Lestat, Louis oponent, is the blonde one. Claudia, the child vampire is merely five. In the book, the reader also has a much better sense of how Louis sees the world, given he's the one telling the events. In the movie we get flashbacks as if he was omnipresent. In the book we see the world as he then saw it and felt it, like a tormented soul.
I also read most of the book while listening to the movie's soundtrack, but after a while I switched to Chopin's Nocturnes. The music certainly added another dimension to the plot, wonderfully creepying it out. Yes, I just made out a verb. There is no better way to describe it, really. The melodies fitted the gothic aspects of the narrative, filling in the space left to the imagination, making the horror beautiful.
This is indeed a beautiful novel, yet grim. Louis is a vampire and we know that from the start. However, he keeps his humanity close at heart and he feels the immensity of his immortality through human lenses. I could only wish we got more versions of the story, which the first person account takes away.
I also would like to have known more about the physical aspects of being a vampire and the innuendos of sexuality, which are left out by the platonic nature of Louis' love and search for knowledge.
That being said, I certainly enjoyed the vampire gore and all the details of a novel that spurred so many other vampire tales. Anne Rice was a visionary, much like Bram Stoker. I will find more of her works in the future, and even though she wrote about Lestat in detail and I don't really care for Lestat, I will read those.
Anyone who likes vampire tales should read her books, I think.
8/10
Vanessa
In Interview With The Vampire, Louis narrates his life's story to a young reporter, many years after he became a vampire. The somber and eerie ambience is what makes one immerse in his accounts right from the start. He spares no details and bares his surprisingly human emotions while living like a predator.
The movie starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise is quite similar to the book, except in the book Lestat, Louis oponent, is the blonde one. Claudia, the child vampire is merely five. In the book, the reader also has a much better sense of how Louis sees the world, given he's the one telling the events. In the movie we get flashbacks as if he was omnipresent. In the book we see the world as he then saw it and felt it, like a tormented soul.
I also read most of the book while listening to the movie's soundtrack, but after a while I switched to Chopin's Nocturnes. The music certainly added another dimension to the plot, wonderfully creepying it out. Yes, I just made out a verb. There is no better way to describe it, really. The melodies fitted the gothic aspects of the narrative, filling in the space left to the imagination, making the horror beautiful.
This is indeed a beautiful novel, yet grim. Louis is a vampire and we know that from the start. However, he keeps his humanity close at heart and he feels the immensity of his immortality through human lenses. I could only wish we got more versions of the story, which the first person account takes away.
I also would like to have known more about the physical aspects of being a vampire and the innuendos of sexuality, which are left out by the platonic nature of Louis' love and search for knowledge.
That being said, I certainly enjoyed the vampire gore and all the details of a novel that spurred so many other vampire tales. Anne Rice was a visionary, much like Bram Stoker. I will find more of her works in the future, and even though she wrote about Lestat in detail and I don't really care for Lestat, I will read those.
Anyone who likes vampire tales should read her books, I think.
8/10
Vanessa
2 comentários:
Eu gosto de histórias de vampiros (Dracula <3) e o Interview with the Vampire é um dos meus filmes favoritos, por isso se o livro é bom, I'm in!!
Gosto de todas as histórias de vampiros até ao Twilight. A partir daí, penso que descambou um pouco.
Vanessa
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