This vlog is great! I've seen a few booktubers talk about how Interview With the Vampire is boring or hasn't aged well, and I feel like they're going in with the wrong expectations. As you discussed, the book relies much more on the beautiful atmospheric writing and Louis' philosophic struggle, than plot. I see the book as a character study of someone who grapples with good and evil to a fault. Louis wants to be good, yet his idea of it is convoluted and inconsistent, and his endeavor for goodness is often selfish. From Interview alone, I agree that Lestat is pretty one-dimensional, but I think this is purposely done. Louis is the narrator, and he just never comes to understand Lestat like he does Claudia. I would love to see your reaction to The Vampire Lestat, and if re-reading it changes your perspective at all! I think it goes even deeper and shows Lestat to be much more perceptive than he lets on. Like Louis, he also grapples a lot philosophically earlier in his life.
This vlog reminded me of alll the reasons I couldn't put Interview down!! I love how you pulled out the themes and reckoned with Louis's hypocrisy, bring a plantation owner and being SO concerned about and human life at the same time 😂
Another amazing video Jen! Rice has also been on my all time favourites list since I was a late teen, especailly her Mayfair Witches Trilogy - which will ALWAYS be among my top 5 favourite books ever (well, at least The Witching Hour). It was the only book I got to share with my parents after being reunited with them as an adult (having grown up in foster care) and before they both passed. The Vampire Chronicles too though will forever too have a special place in my heart as they also were some of the first books that got me through a lot of rough earlier years. She is just such an amazing author, and also is the reason I became obsessively in love with Southern Gothic fiction 😂. On another note, I am currently (finally) reading the Kent Family Chronicles, and I am absolutely enthralled! For some reason recently I have been craving books about American history and will be continuing with either The Civil War Trilogy by Shelby Foote, Gods and Generals Jeff Shaara, or John Adams by David McCullough next... I'm not sure, hopefully something that continues to scratch this itch though... In any case, I LOVE these style videos! I cannot wait to see more of them, and to continue watching all the videos I have missed out on! Hope you and you're loved ones are doing amazing hun 😊. P.S. I just wanted to quickly add that I recently (about a year ago) corresponded with Anne via email to get confirmation on a signature I had acquired as well as (of course) to also thank her as a fan etc. and she personally still responds herself to all of her email and Facebook comments. Surprising I know, but it's something she prides herself on. Her email can be found on her website, but I definitely agree with printing emails like these.
I enjoyed this vlog SO MUCH and look forward to others in this series! I used to be a massive Anne Rice fan about 25 years ago, and it's been about that long since I've reread any of them. Some of her newer books I read more recently just did not enthrall me like her original vampires and witches did. They were much more plot heavy, and as you mentioned, I love Rice's lush imagery and her meticulous detail to history and I just didn't find those as much in her recent works (as well as them just being pretty weird lol). A book I've always considered one of my top 3 all time favs, but haven't reread in decades is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. As a college freshman, it was mind opening and life changing but not sure how I'd feel reading it now, particularly with all we know about the author's very troubling personal life. I'd still like to give it a try one of these days though.
I agree that her later books have leaned into the plot too heavily! The Mists of Avalon is also an all-time favorite for me but like you, the author's personal life has sort of tainted it for me. I often wonder if I'll ever return to it. Let me know if you do reread it and if it holds up!
Such a fun vlog! I love seeing people reread old favorites to see if they stand the test of time. I picked up a copy of Interview forever ago and finally read it...amazing! I'm so sad I waited so long to read it!
This always has been, and always will be, my favorite book. I LOVED this video and will definitely subscribe. You’re so well spoken and I appreciate the detail and thought out into this video.
This vlog was so fun, I love the idea of this as a series. The story of you corresponding with the author was really sweet. Glad you enjoyed it as much as you remembered. Just ordered my copy after hearing those beautiful excerpts you read (“a specter with a beating heart” WOW) and am excited to start it! 🧛🏼♀️🖤🖤🖤
New subbie here! I've been working my way through your older vids. First off, I love your channel. You have great insights and your knowledge is tremendous. I'm learning a lot. :) I'm a bit older than you (I could be your mother) - I read An Interview With a Vampire probably in the late 80's. (Yikes) I loved the first 2 books. I also really loved her book, The Witching Hour. The other two in that series I didn't love as much. I enjoyed this a lot. FYI - I LOVED Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire.
Hearing you talk about The Vampire Chronicles make me want to reconsider giving Anne Rice another chance. I did enjoy her writing style when I was reading The Mayfair Witches. The only thing I will never try again and finish is The Beauty Chronicles by her. It is written under her pseudonym.
I was so intrigued to see how you felt about this book all those years later. I’ve only read it once 27 years ago but was so interested in vampires for a while afterwards, I’d only read Dracula before. I think I read the first four in the Lestat series and then some of the Witching series. I thought the movie was pretty terrible mainly because the casting of Louis and Lestat was all wrong and I’m so with you on Louis being my favorite. The whole interview process makes the book for me.
I know I saw the film first so I don't think the cast bothered me the way they would have had I read the book first. Apparently a new miniseries is coming next year and I'll be interested to see the whole cast for that!
That’s an awesome story about emailing Anne Rice. I have a signed book by her. My mom went to a signing and got it for me 😊 I’ve read Interview twice. Sometimes I crave her writing. It was very nice hearing your thoughts!
Hell yeah vampires are hot 🔥 I've not read the book but I love the movie. And yes, totally agree with you on Lestat being one dimensional. Never liked him. The passages you read were beautiful! I've never felt compelled to read Anne Rice but now I want to
Very interesting vlog Jennifer. I don’t recall ever being a rereader - although I’m sure I must have been as a young child back in the mists of time - but last year I reread one of the two books that I most often cite as being my favourites of all time, those being A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, both of which I first (and last!) read around 20 years ago! I reread the Mistry as part of a group read and with a huge amount of trepidation 1. in case the suck fairy had come to visit and 2. everyone else in the group hated it! 😂 Indeed, the primary reason I haven’t reread my ‘favourites’ is for fear that it will somehow dilute my love for them or ‘sully’ the memory of the reading experience in some way - it’s the same reason I don’t tend to go back to places where I’ve had amazing travel experiences … which I know makes not a lick of sense but…🤷😂. Anyway, while I definitely saw some of the reasons why people might not enjoy the book this time around, it was still a really great read. Was it still an all-time favourite? I’m not certain I even know what that means anymore, but I’m going to say yes because at one time in my life it was a magical reading experience that left me with long-lasting positive memories. Looking forward to your future rereading experiments. 🦊📚🤓
I love your last paragraph here! I like the thought of always considering something a favorite because it meant something special to you at a specific time in your life. I also always fear returning to an old favorite because I think I won't like it as much or it will "ruin" the original experience--glad to know you also feel that way.
I really enjoyed this video. A friend and I began this book a while ago and we DNF'ed it about 80 or so pages in.. we both had the opinion of "it did not age well", however I could never get rid of the book and it has been sitting pretty on my bookshelf. This is just confirmation that I need to give it another go, this time with different eyes. So thank you.
I loved Interview but even more I really love The Witching Hour more!! Agree, Lestat is so not one of my fav's... this was a wonderful review and thank you!!
Jennifer, after learning that Anne Rice returned to her Catholic faith, at some point, for a time, and reading but not finishing Out of Egypt/Young Messiah, I concluded that the loss of her child to leukemia was the reason for her dark writing, her interest in vampires as a subject. From what you've explained about the theme of theodicy in Interview, the vehicle of horror fiction carries and explores her unbelief after her loss.
I really enjoyed your thoughts on Interview! Kind of makes me want to reread this series. I first read this series in high school and at the time I skipped Interview because I had seen the movie 🤦♀️ so I only read the Vampire Lestat through Memnoch the Devil. Later I reread the series and started with book one and after going through a 4 novel journey with Lestat, I didn't feel that Louis' story held up. That's one of my favorite things about books, is we both love this series but for different reasons, although I 100% agree that Anne Rice's writing is so beautiful. Great vlog, great review. Are you planning on rereading any more of this series?
I feel like I now definitely need to reread the Vampire Lestat! I'm glad to have found another Anne Rice fan! Memnoch seems like it was a really weird read but I wonder if I'm confusing it with the Body Thief?? Maybe I need to reread the whole series now, lol.
I read Interview With A Vampire about 40 years ago and read The Hunger by Whitley Streiber around the same time. I haven't read either of them since. From memory, if you want to read a vampire book that struggles with moral questions, The Hunger would be the way to go! It certainly didn't set off the fashion for sparkly vampires, and it gave me nightmares for quite a time afterwards!. Your comments about people criticising Interview because it's been ripped off so many times since made me laugh, as that's what often happens. There's an old joke about someone who went to see Hamlet and complained it was just full of proverbs.
![[VLOG] vampire books, candlelight true story time & gothic wanderings 🩸🧛🏻♀️](/img/n.gif)
Off topic but I’d love if you dropped a bookshelf tour 💕
This vlog is great! I've seen a few booktubers talk about how Interview With the Vampire is boring or hasn't aged well, and I feel like they're going in with the wrong expectations. As you discussed, the book relies much more on the beautiful atmospheric writing and Louis' philosophic struggle, than plot. I see the book as a character study of someone who grapples with good and evil to a fault. Louis wants to be good, yet his idea of it is convoluted and inconsistent, and his endeavor for goodness is often selfish.
From Interview alone, I agree that Lestat is pretty one-dimensional, but I think this is purposely done. Louis is the narrator, and he just never comes to understand Lestat like he does Claudia. I would love to see your reaction to The Vampire Lestat, and if re-reading it changes your perspective at all! I think it goes even deeper and shows Lestat to be much more perceptive than he lets on. Like Louis, he also grapples a lot philosophically earlier in his life.
This vlog reminded me of alll the reasons I couldn't put Interview down!! I love how you pulled out the themes and reckoned with Louis's hypocrisy, bring a plantation owner and being SO concerned about and human life at the same time 😂
Rereading old favorites and making vlogs to go with it sounds like a great idea. I want to reread some old favorites of mine.
You should! It's interesting how different things strike you at different times.
I'm reading "Intetview With the Vampire"in 2024 in honor of Jenny.
Another amazing video Jen! Rice has also been on my all time favourites list since I was a late teen, especailly her Mayfair Witches Trilogy - which will ALWAYS be among my top 5 favourite books ever (well, at least The Witching Hour). It was the only book I got to share with my parents after being reunited with them as an adult (having grown up in foster care) and before they both passed. The Vampire Chronicles too though will forever too have a special place in my heart as they also were some of the first books that got me through a lot of rough earlier years. She is just such an amazing author, and also is the reason I became obsessively in love with Southern Gothic fiction 😂.
On another note, I am currently (finally) reading the Kent Family Chronicles, and I am absolutely enthralled! For some reason recently I have been craving books about American history and will be continuing with either The Civil War Trilogy by Shelby Foote, Gods and Generals Jeff Shaara, or John Adams by David McCullough next... I'm not sure, hopefully something that continues to scratch this itch though...
In any case, I LOVE these style videos! I cannot wait to see more of them, and to continue watching all the videos I have missed out on! Hope you and you're loved ones are doing amazing hun 😊.
P.S. I just wanted to quickly add that I recently (about a year ago) corresponded with Anne via email to get confirmation on a signature I had acquired as well as (of course) to also thank her as a fan etc. and she personally still responds herself to all of her email and Facebook comments. Surprising I know, but it's something she prides herself on. Her email can be found on her website, but I definitely agree with printing emails like these.
I enjoyed this vlog SO MUCH and look forward to others in this series! I used to be a massive Anne Rice fan about 25 years ago, and it's been about that long since I've reread any of them. Some of her newer books I read more recently just did not enthrall me like her original vampires and witches did. They were much more plot heavy, and as you mentioned, I love Rice's lush imagery and her meticulous detail to history and I just didn't find those as much in her recent works (as well as them just being pretty weird lol).
A book I've always considered one of my top 3 all time favs, but haven't reread in decades is The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. As a college freshman, it was mind opening and life changing but not sure how I'd feel reading it now, particularly with all we know about the author's very troubling personal life. I'd still like to give it a try one of these days though.
I agree that her later books have leaned into the plot too heavily! The Mists of Avalon is also an all-time favorite for me but like you, the author's personal life has sort of tainted it for me. I often wonder if I'll ever return to it. Let me know if you do reread it and if it holds up!
Would love to see your thoughts on the tv series when it comes out if you are planning on watching it.
Such a fun vlog! I love seeing people reread old favorites to see if they stand the test of time. I picked up a copy of Interview forever ago and finally read it...amazing! I'm so sad I waited so long to read it!
This always has been, and always will be, my favorite book. I LOVED this video and will definitely subscribe. You’re so well spoken and I appreciate the detail and thought out into this video.
This vlog was so fun, I love the idea of this as a series. The story of you corresponding with the author was really sweet. Glad you enjoyed it as much as you remembered. Just ordered my copy after hearing those beautiful excerpts you read (“a specter with a beating heart” WOW) and am excited to start it! 🧛🏼♀️🖤🖤🖤
I hope you enjoy it!! It is such a beautifully written book.
sounds like an beautifully written book! i am definitely putting it on my tbr :)
Hope you enjoy it!
New subbie here! I've been working my way through your older vids. First off, I love your channel. You have great insights and your knowledge is tremendous. I'm learning a lot. :) I'm a bit older than you (I could be your mother) - I read An Interview With a Vampire probably in the late 80's. (Yikes) I loved the first 2 books. I also really loved her book, The Witching Hour. The other two in that series I didn't love as much. I enjoyed this a lot. FYI - I LOVED Jay Kristoff's Empire of the Vampire.
Hearing you talk about The Vampire Chronicles make me want to reconsider giving Anne Rice another chance. I did enjoy her writing style when I was reading The Mayfair Witches. The only thing I will never try again and finish is The Beauty Chronicles by her. It is written under her pseudonym.
I also didn't like the Beauty Chronicles!
@@jenniferbrooks being about a sex slave is just too much for me.
I was so intrigued to see how you felt about this book all those years later. I’ve only read it once 27 years ago but was so interested in vampires for a while afterwards, I’d only read Dracula before. I think I read the first four in the Lestat series and then some of the Witching series. I thought the movie was pretty terrible mainly because the casting of Louis and Lestat was all wrong and I’m so with you on Louis being my favorite. The whole interview process makes the book for me.
I know I saw the film first so I don't think the cast bothered me the way they would have had I read the book first. Apparently a new miniseries is coming next year and I'll be interested to see the whole cast for that!
That’s an awesome story about emailing Anne Rice. I have a signed book by her. My mom went to a signing and got it for me 😊 I’ve read Interview twice. Sometimes I crave her writing. It was very nice hearing your thoughts!
"Crave her writing" is a good way to put it!
Hell yeah vampires are hot 🔥
I've not read the book but I love the movie. And yes, totally agree with you on Lestat being one dimensional. Never liked him.
The passages you read were beautiful! I've never felt compelled to read Anne Rice but now I want to
Yes!! I'm glad to know someone agrees!
Very interesting vlog Jennifer. I don’t recall ever being a rereader - although I’m sure I must have been as a young child back in the mists of time - but last year I reread one of the two books that I most often cite as being my favourites of all time, those being A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry and The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, both of which I first (and last!) read around 20 years ago!
I reread the Mistry as part of a group read and with a huge amount of trepidation 1. in case the suck fairy had come to visit and 2. everyone else in the group hated it! 😂 Indeed, the primary reason I haven’t reread my ‘favourites’ is for fear that it will somehow dilute my love for them or ‘sully’ the memory of the reading experience in some way - it’s the same reason I don’t tend to go back to places where I’ve had amazing travel experiences … which I know makes not a lick of sense but…🤷😂.
Anyway, while I definitely saw some of the reasons why people might not enjoy the book this time around, it was still a really great read. Was it still an all-time favourite? I’m not certain I even know what that means anymore, but I’m going to say yes because at one time in my life it was a magical reading experience that left me with long-lasting positive memories.
Looking forward to your future rereading experiments. 🦊📚🤓
I love your last paragraph here! I like the thought of always considering something a favorite because it meant something special to you at a specific time in your life. I also always fear returning to an old favorite because I think I won't like it as much or it will "ruin" the original experience--glad to know you also feel that way.
I really enjoyed this video. A friend and I began this book a while ago and we DNF'ed it about 80 or so pages in.. we both had the opinion of "it did not age well", however I could never get rid of the book and it has been sitting pretty on my bookshelf. This is just confirmation that I need to give it another go, this time with different eyes. So thank you.
I hope you enjoy it this time around!
I loved Interview but even more I really love The Witching Hour more!! Agree, Lestat is so not one of my fav's... this was a wonderful review and thank you!!
I sometimes wonder if I also like the Witching Hour more--that is one that truly scared me. Maybe that will be my next reread from her!
Jennifer, after learning that Anne Rice returned to her Catholic faith, at some point, for a time, and reading but not finishing Out of Egypt/Young Messiah, I concluded that the loss of her child to leukemia was the reason for her dark writing, her interest in vampires as a subject. From what you've explained about the theme of theodicy in Interview, the vehicle of horror fiction carries and explores her unbelief after her loss.
Yes, I think you've nailed it, Maria! Horror can be a therapeutic way to explore grief and pain and I think Interview is an ode to that.
@@jenniferbrooks I like how you've expressed this. Hope you're writing!
I really enjoyed your thoughts on Interview! Kind of makes me want to reread this series. I first read this series in high school and at the time I skipped Interview because I had seen the movie 🤦♀️ so I only read the Vampire Lestat through Memnoch the Devil. Later I reread the series and started with book one and after going through a 4 novel journey with Lestat, I didn't feel that Louis' story held up. That's one of my favorite things about books, is we both love this series but for different reasons, although I 100% agree that Anne Rice's writing is so beautiful. Great vlog, great review. Are you planning on rereading any more of this series?
I feel like I now definitely need to reread the Vampire Lestat! I'm glad to have found another Anne Rice fan! Memnoch seems like it was a really weird read but I wonder if I'm confusing it with the Body Thief?? Maybe I need to reread the whole series now, lol.
I read Interview With A Vampire about 40 years ago and read The Hunger by Whitley Streiber around the same time. I haven't read either of them since. From memory, if you want to read a vampire book that struggles with moral questions, The Hunger would be the way to go! It certainly didn't set off the fashion for sparkly vampires, and it gave me nightmares for quite a time afterwards!.
Your comments about people criticising Interview because it's been ripped off so many times since made me laugh, as that's what often happens. There's an old joke about someone who went to see Hamlet and complained it was just full of proverbs.
Haha, Twilight isn't the exception. Edward hates himself and being a vampire. But it sounds like Interview with a Vampire explores it better.