Book Review: Interview with the Vampire
Interview with the Vampire is a book that takes us back to the good old days when vampire romance was good, blood flowed freely, corpses piled up like cordwood, and decades passed in each chapter. And although this book has more flowery language than I usually like, I'm not going to bash it for that. Here's my review!
Positives
Interview with the Vampire is in an interesting narrative style. It's written as... well... an interview. It's written as an interview between a vampire and a reporter. It feels interesting, because it's like the vampire is talking right to us for the whole book. Next is the creep factor. Some of the events are freaky just because they happen. Not gory, just freaky.
Neutral
There were times where I would wind up missing chunks of the narrative. Not because I'd accidentally skip forward on something or focus too much on what I was doing while I had my earbuds in. Just because the events in the book weren't super compelling. Some of the details don't grab you by the throat (so to speak) and drive you forward.
Negatives
Going along with the missing time from the previous paragraph, there were only a couple of times where I was actively thinking "well, get on with it." The bigger problem were the times when I would get confused with names that were a little close to other names, or when characters would change locations, but still refer to previous ones, i.e. spending time in Paris, but referring to streets in New Orleans, etc. Those got confusing, and it threw me out, but it fit within the character, so I can see that it fit.
Overall
My feelings on this are that it has certainly earned its place as a classic vampire story, although I'm not sure why it's held up as a beacon of one of the best. It's very good, to be sure. And I'm sure it's one of the best. But there are a lot of them out there. I'm sure a few are contenders for the king of the hill. This is one of the giants, but hasn't aged well. But if you see far, it's because you stand on their shoulders.
I give Interview with the Vampire 6/10
Thanks for Wreading!
Jeff
Positives
Interview with the Vampire is in an interesting narrative style. It's written as... well... an interview. It's written as an interview between a vampire and a reporter. It feels interesting, because it's like the vampire is talking right to us for the whole book. Next is the creep factor. Some of the events are freaky just because they happen. Not gory, just freaky.
Neutral
There were times where I would wind up missing chunks of the narrative. Not because I'd accidentally skip forward on something or focus too much on what I was doing while I had my earbuds in. Just because the events in the book weren't super compelling. Some of the details don't grab you by the throat (so to speak) and drive you forward.
Negatives
Going along with the missing time from the previous paragraph, there were only a couple of times where I was actively thinking "well, get on with it." The bigger problem were the times when I would get confused with names that were a little close to other names, or when characters would change locations, but still refer to previous ones, i.e. spending time in Paris, but referring to streets in New Orleans, etc. Those got confusing, and it threw me out, but it fit within the character, so I can see that it fit.
Overall
My feelings on this are that it has certainly earned its place as a classic vampire story, although I'm not sure why it's held up as a beacon of one of the best. It's very good, to be sure. And I'm sure it's one of the best. But there are a lot of them out there. I'm sure a few are contenders for the king of the hill. This is one of the giants, but hasn't aged well. But if you see far, it's because you stand on their shoulders.
I give Interview with the Vampire 6/10
Thanks for Wreading!
Jeff
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