Minutes June 2007 book: Interview with the Vampire

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice (chosen by Elster)

Elster chose this book because she wanted to do a 'scary' book...but she chickened out on choosing a Stephen King! She had read it previously years ago.

Interview with the Vampire is a novel by Anne Rice written in 1973 and published in 1976. This novel was followed by several sequels, collectively known as The Vampire Chronicles.

Rice was born and spent most of her early life in New Orleans, which forms the setting for many of her stories. Her given name was Howard Allen, because her mother thought an unusual name may give a woman an advantage in life. On her first day of school, however, Rice told a nun that her name was "Anne", and her mother never corrected her.

Interview with the Vampire was Rice's first book. In addition to an extensive collection of work as Anne Rice, she has also published adult-oriented fiction under the pen-name Anne Rampling, and explicit sado-masochistic erotica as A.N. Roquelaure.

From Anne Rice's website:

Originally begun as a short story, the book took off as Anne wrote it, spinning the tragic and triumphant life experiences of a soul. As well as the struggles of its characters, Interview captures the political and social changes of two continents. The novel also introduces Lestat, Anne's most enduring character, a heady mixture of attraction and revulsion. The book, full of lush description, centers on the themes of immortality, change, loss, sexuality, and power.

Interesting Fact: The original manuscript for Interview was quite different than the final published version. After the rights had been sold to Knopf, Anne rewrote the book, adding the entire Theater of the Vampires section and bringing Lestat back after his supposed death by fire.

What we discussed about the book:

• Was this a scary story? What make a book scary? (suggestions included: elements of reality, suspense, the unexplainable, depiction sf pure evil) Are we becoming immune to horror?
• To what extent was the book based on Hollywood imagery of vampires s the historical evidence of various cultures?
• How did Lestat continue to live? Were we convinced by the "rules" of the vampire "life" or were there holes in the logic?
• The idea of graduation of sin, degrees of evil. Louis seemed to draw lines in the sand that he wouldn't cross, then with the right motivation crossed those lines.
• Was Claudia the most evil of the vampires?
• The interesting perspective of experiencing this story from the vampire's point-of-view.
• Was the love exhibited in this book beyond gender? Vampires are not human, therefore do not meet human expectations.

Issues we were sidetracked into:

• The mythology of vampires is common to many disparate cultures. Why would this be the case?
• Was Bram Stoker's Dracula a scarier book?
• Do vampires shower, shave and go to the bathroom?

And in other news:

• The shooting this week on the city streets of Melbourne, has thrown into the spotlight the Good Samaritan principle. What do we think we may have done in the same circumstances? We discussed the tragedy of the death of the Good Samaritan in this case.
• We sympathised with Domestic Goddess, who had all four wisdom teeth out the week before last and is still suffering the effects. And went on to discuss how in our grandparents (? - or perhaps a little earlier) generation it was relatively common to get all your teeth removed around your 21st birthday and replaced with a set of falsies.
• We discussed the theory that hanging whites on the washing line on a full moon will whiten them (!!)

Ratings

Average: 6.99

Range: 6 - 7.5

Next book: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak