Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

I saw this movie years ago, but with my current literary vampire fascination, I thought it made sense to go back and read the book. The entire book is Louis (Brad Pitt in the movie), a disgruntled immortal, telling his story to a young journalist type (Christian Slater). Given the set-up, this means that everything in the book is told from Louis's point-of-view, and it allows Rice to play with memory and assupmtions in a way that would be missing from either a third-person narrative or a present-time first person. Louis begins the story with how he became a vampire on his New Orleans plantation in the 18th century - though he doesn't seem to remember or understand much of the process. What he does know is that it was done by a strong and manipulative vampire named Lestat (Tom Cruise). Lestat controls Louis by withholding knowledge, and attempting to convince him that they are the only two left of their kind in the world. Ultimately, they create Claudia (Kirsten Dunst), a child vampire for Louis to take care of. Eventually, Claudia realizes her unhappy fate of growing older intellectually and sexually, while her body remains that of a 5-year old. Her realization turns into hatred of Lestat and a desire for revenge- which takes her and Louis to Romania and Transylvania to the roots of the vampire legends - and eventually to Paris where they are forced to confront the true nature of who they are, and what they mean to each other. I was thinking that reading this book was like watching Citizen Kane - an instant classic, but when seen so many years after its creation, when people have had decades to build on it, it suddenly seems simplistic and obvious. But, then I have to remember that Stoker's Dracula (written in 1897) is still absolutely fabulous and does not suffer from that same problem. So, perhaps there is still a little something missing. I wouldn't say that this novel was riveting, but when I finished it at 10:00 at night in an empty house, I was definitely a little creeped out and didn't really want to leave the room to turn off any lights. So, I think it served its purpose, and I look forward to reading more in Rice's Vampire Chronicles.