Anne Rice got off to a great start with this brilliant tale... and kept up the pace for several books in the series... but then she began churning 'em out way too fast and her plotting became somewhat confused.

Now she writes about Jesus.

When I was a teenager, one of my first jobs entailed working in a pharmacy, and I stole all the paperback books, condoms (which was hopeful on my part, as they tended not to get used), and hypodermic needles I wanted. This was one book I read with eagerness ("Salem's Lot" was the other one), and I found it wonderfully inventive, and captivating. Flash forward a few decades, and the foppish, existentially-tortured vampires in Rice's novels have become as cliche as marble-mouthed Counts in capes from Transylvania used to be. Still, Rice was undeniably an innovator when it came to a moribund genre within the horror field, and her work was the template for everything vampiric that's come down the pike since (which isn't necessarily a good thing).

Mediocre,especially compared to some of her other work.

This was the most engrossing of the Vampire Chronicles and maybe the only one I can say I really enjoyed. After reading the others (or, all but the last) I found myself losing interest in the characters. Self serving creatures human or supernatural just wear thin after awhile. To be truthful, I detect little redeeming value in most of Rices characters and find myself growing bored rather than frightened. She has a gift for drawing out the dark, hopeless baseness and depravity in the human condition. I stopped reading her work because it began to depress me.

The beginning of a great Trilogy. This book introduces Lestat as the evil, controlling Vampire who belives he is all powerful and can take whatever he wants, from whomever he wishes. The tale is told by Louis, one of Lestat's fledglings who isn't all that happy that he was granted immortality. Very engrossing.

This book started it all and for that reason alone I love it. We are introduced to unforgettable characters, and taken on a journey we'll never forget. Rice paints such vivid pictures in the readers minds and isn't afraid to touch on controversial subjects. She taps into the primal part of you.

An excellent story with a most unusual premise. This would have rated 5 stars except for my prejudice against vampire novels. (Which I admit, so you may take my review in stride) However, the idea of interviewing a vampire, and getting the vampire's side of things was brilliant, and to the best of my knowledge, unknown. I STRONGLY recommend this book, if you haven't read it.

This is one of my favorite books. When it came out, the idea was so new and the vampires were so different, it really was intriguing. The story of Louis is both exciting, sad, horrific, and erotic. A great read!

This is a very difficult review for me to write. I had minimal experience with Anne Rice before reading this novel. I had read "The Mummy" a long time ago, and it didn't do much for me at the time. My tastes have changed, however, so I decided to reacquaint myself with Rice's work. On the back cover of the paperback, there is a quote from the Boston Globe which reads "If you surrender and go with her, you have surrendered to enchantment, as in a voluptuous dream". I couldn't agree more, since the writing style here demands that you surrender logic and suspend disbelief in order to gain any enjoyment at all out of this story. Before you jump to the conclusion that this is a negative review, please note that I have given this work 4 stars out of 5. Briefly, this story is exactly what the title suggests: it's a first-person tale told through the eyes of a vampire. The interviewer (identified only as "boy") sits with Louis the vampire and documents his life story. There are many things with these pages which, frankly, require that you abandon logic and "go with the flow". For example, we are told that, as vampires, Louis and his mentor, Lestat, must venture nightly in search of fresh, living blood in order to sustain themselves. Louis is resistant to his vampire nature, and therefore does not kill humans for their blood often, preferring animals for sustenance. Lestat, however, kills nightly in and around New Orleans, and frequently takes more than one victim a night. That is 365 + dead bodies, every night, in 18th century New Orleans. Add the bloodthirsty Claudia (an interesting character, but I won't spoil it here), and you can easily double the body count. No explanation is given from the author regarding how the vampires get away with so much mass carnage. Very little explanation is given regarding Louis' wealth either, or how he managed to maintain it through the 200 years or so of our story. He is always depicted as being wealthy and it never seems to run out, even after traveling the world with Claudia. Also, at one point we are told that the vampire trio lived together on the same property in New Orleans for 65+ years. Again, no explanation is given for how they are able to conceal their lack of aging, which becomes quite important when speaking of Claudia in particular. Normally, such anti-logic would really bother me, and prevent me from enjoying a novel. This time, it's different. Anne Rice has immense gifts when it comes to writing prose that I found myself ignoring the nonsensical aspects of the novel in favor of relishing in the language she uses. Ms. Rice's writing has a very unique, spellbinding quality which more than made up for any lapses in logic. I even found myself comparing the writing to H.P. Lovecraft, which is high praise indeed coming from a Lovecraft fan like me. In fact, I love the writing style so much that I am willing to explain away the items listed above, and save Ms. Rice the trouble. You see, Louis the vampire is telling this story from his perspective, and the trivial details of concealing their true vampire nature were deemed irrelevant to Louis. Take that. In any case, I would recommend this book, and I plan on reading the other books in this series as well. "Interview" was a pleasant surprise for me and I hope the other novels will be too.

This is a very interesting book, and Anne Rice has a lot of unique twists to the Vampire legends. The one drawback is the flowery writing style. In places, she goes on way too long trying to describe the look of everything when she should just get on with the story.

This book is alright. It is not any classic, but it makes for a fast and interesting read.

this book is amaizing! it was cradle of filth who got me into vampires, but anne rice just took it one huge step forward. this book is just.. well... magical. she has that kind of writing that just suck you into the story before you notice it. a real classic one.

Very boring remake of the classic Bram Stoker novel Dracula.

HERE I AM! THE WINDOW'S OPEN! when you read anne rice, you have to feel empathy for louis...he has that one small vestige of humanness remaining which he will not give up..lestat is the absolute opposite, killing with relish (no pun)....it is NOT a horror story! it is rice's worldview through the eyes of the vampires...good read!

It was very intriguing and thrilling.

This particular book gave me some new insight on the topic of vampires as a whole. The one thing that made this book so interesting is how through the transformation from being a human being to becoming a creature of the night you begin to see the world entirely differently. I believe that the vampire explained it to the reporter who was doing the interview as indescribable. Humans don't posses the level of comprehension that it would take to conceive of dealing with something as complex as how a vampire sees the world.

This was a great book to read because it describes more than the movie does. Also, it gives better background info on the vamps. It was a bit long, and I'm more of a movie fanatic, but it was good nonetheless!

This book by Anne Rice is very well explained and all of what's happening is very imaginative. I like the book better than the movie because the movie is boring. I can never go to sleep without finishing the next chapter because I am always scared or excited about what's gonna happen next, or who he kills, or whatever. The movie is not so good however, because it has Brad Pitt.

Interview was a real good book. When I saw the movie it was a lot different. The part of the book I like is when Louis is eating rats. The little girl is scary.

I loved this book, although it was mostly the story of love. It was the foundation of for Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. I thought it was much better than the movie. From reading it, I fell in love with the characters that appeared.

This book created a very creepy scene. I enjoyed it very much. The whole thing with eating rats was gross, though.

If anyone can make you want to join the realm of the undead it is Anne Rice. Despite wallowing in self-pity much of the time, the vampires in her story are magnetic, their world magical. One can imagine how lovely it would be to be immortal, to be so powerful and untouchable. Her loving portrayal of New Orleans made me a fan long before I had visited the city.

I read this book five years ago and I can still recall the details vividly. Her character's (Rice's) were well developed and the storyline kept me turning the pages. I am not usually interested in books about vampires, but Rice has the knack for getting you interested in the subject.

I like this book a lot because it was the kind of book that you just can't put down. I read it awhile ago, but I can still remember that it was one of the best books that I had ever read plus one of the only books I read a lot. It was just a great book.

I thought it was a brilliant book; very detailed and intricate. It was much better reading it than watching the movie though.

I never would have become an Anne Rice fan if I started her Vampire series in the correct order -- that is, starting with Interview with a Vampire! I thought the diction was pretty dull & lifeless -- I ended the book hating Louis. However, the Vampire Lestat is brimming with color, rich with myth & history.