Ron Does Stuff

This actually isn’t the first time that I’ve read this book. I remember reading this literally decades ago as a pre-teen, on a jeep in Pasay as I was going back home from school.

This was so, so long ago and it’s kinda tinged my memories of this book with nostalgia. But now that I’m an oldie who’s seen everything that’s went down with author, with the fandom, and the rest of the books as time went on, will my opinion on this book change? Let’s find out!

In case anybody’s memories need a refresh, Interview with Vampire tells the story of Louis de Pointe du Lac, a more than 200-year-old vampire who finds himself talking to a mortal interviewer sometime during the late 60s or early 70s. Once he overcomes the interviewer’s skepticism about him being a vampire, Louis then takes the interviewer — and the reader — through the many things that have happened to him throughout his long life.

As he relays his tale, we meet a remarkable cast of characters that were the vampires of a certain age bracket. Whether it was Lestat de Lioncourt, Armand, or Claudia, vampire-loving adults of a certain age probably wrote fanfic of them. And by wrote I mean literally. Pen on paper. I know because I was one of those adults.

Rereading this after so long has certainly been a trip. Now that I am a MALICIOUS GAY FAGGOT, all the gay stuff in the book is definitely more apparent. “I begged Lestat to let me stay in the closet”? “You will get on top of me if you know what’s good for you”? This is MALICIOUS GAY FAGGOTRY.

I joke, but it really is delightful to read this now as an adult and see all the things that either flew over my head or things that I liked but couldn’t articulate why I liked it. I also like how Anne Rice addressed the practical matters of immortality because now that I am an adult that needs to do adult things that are not fun like paying bills and the like, it’s oddly comforting to see her vampires having to worry about this as well, at least at the start of their immortal life.

I also couldn’t help but compare this book with its movie adaptation, because who knows how many times I’ve watched that movie. It’s really so clear that Anne wrote most of the script of the movie because not only are some of the lines taken verbatim from the book, there are also some decision made about their celluloid depiction that make it apparent that it was made by someone who knew what happens to them after the first book. For instance, Lestat was definitely portrayed in a much more forgiving light in the movie compared to the book, where Louis’ contempt for him is very apparent. Lestat’s image rehabilitation only happens in the second book and I guess the Warner was optimistic about a second film getting made because Tom Cruise’s performance in the movie certainly would have been a good segue into the further adventures of Lestat if a sequel had been made.

One character that was understandably defanged, pun intended, is Claudia, who I’m only now remembering was turned as a five-year-old thanks to this re-read. She’s fascinating, horrifying, and unsettling and while it’s obvious why they had to age her up in the movies, the image of a five-year-old body living for close to a century — in the book she was already in her 65th year of vampirism before she asked how it was done — is deeply, deeply unsettling, especially when paired with some of the things she does in the book.

Getting older has also made me aware of some things that modern readers might find divisive about the book. The black characters and people in the book disposable, often only serving as literal food for Louis and Lestat. I don’t know if it’s period-appropriate or whatever but I do think it wouldn’t be out of character for Louis considering he’s a literal slaveowner.

This reread also made me realize why some people don’t find this book enjoyable at all, outside all the drama Anne Rice has had with her fans. It’s a pretty long book where nothing much happens because the one telling us the story is a vampire undergoing an existential crisis, and if you’ve been so used to the classic vampire Anne Rice’s version really isn’t going to appeal to you.

Some people might also find the prose a little too purple for their taste and that’s okay! I’m someone who doesn’t mind purple prose and honestly she conjures up some memorable imagery, such as when she describes the existential dread that Louis feels when he realizes that there really isn’t anything more to their lives as immortals. And of course, her descriptions of the blood drinking ecstasy are always something I’ve liked.

All in all, I enjoyed this re-read of Interview with the Vampire, although I was also reminded that it’s not exactly my favorite of the first three books of The Vampire Chronicles. I do feel excited to reread The Vampire Lestat because I do remember liking that more and also because I wanna refresh my memory as to how he redeems himself from how bad he’s made to look in this book.