Mary's Review: Interview with the Vamipire by Anne Rice

Quality of work is such a fickle thing. Some authors continue to get better as they go along, some stay the same, and some regrettably, just go down hill. Ms. Rice, the reader must regrettably be informed, is of the final variety. All the more reason to celebrate her earliest and most enjoyable novel. For the uninformed, Interview is the story of one Louis de Point du Lac, told from the vampire himself to a modern day interviewer not much older than yours truly. Louis became a vampire on a stroke of depression most of all. After the death of his brother [yes moviegoers, his brother. Louis was never married] life lost meaning, and Louis would go out drunkely in the city streets searching for death. Enter Lestat de Lioncourt, a choris matiz vampire offering a most appealing detail: life eternal, with meaning to it. Now, as any half dead charmed mortal would, Louis accepted. Now, if you will buckle your seatbelts, we will plunge into the briefest of overviews of the rest of the novel, having covered the first 50 pages.
This is a book primarily of relationships that conflict. The first third is reserved for the long running love/hate (here we will be observing 'hate') relationship of Louis and Lestat. Later the doll-like child vampire Claudia creates their happy 'family' , and for 65 years (this translates as some 10 pages) it is so and then we have, er, disasterous occurings and the focus shifts. For the midsection of the book it is Louis and Claudia taking center stage, the cold lover and the slavishly devoted husband (for though Claudia's mind grows her body does not, leaving her quite dependent on Louis). Third and in the thin of the novel is the vampire Armand, vampire of more that 400 years, forever 17. To Louis he is the promise of knowledge, something Lestat failed to deliver on. These four characters carry the novel, supported by Rice's prose that is dense in atmosphere and ambience. 300 some pages seems to fly by (though the middle of the book begins to drag slightly before the story comes to Paris.) Oh, the days when this woman wrote before becoming overly in love with description. Enchanting. Ah yes, a final warning--haunting, beautiful, and mournfully romantic. But happy fails to describe this book or its ending. Read it anyway. A little gloom is good for you.
Final Verdict: 5Q-Hard to imagine a better book 4P-Broad general teen appeal