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Interview with the Vampire Audiobook
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(3.00) - 239,156 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of its publication
The time is now.
We are in a small room with the vampire, face to face, as he speaks--as he pours out the hypnotic, shocking, moving, and erotically charged confessions of his first two hundred years as one of the living dead. . .
He speaks quietly, plainly, even gently . . . carrying us back to the night when he departed human existence as heir--young, romantic, cultivated--to a great Louisiana plantation, and was inducted by the radiant and sinister Lestat into the other, the "endless," life . . . learning first to sustain himself on the blood of cocks and rats caught in the raffish streets of New Orleans, then on the blood of human beings . . . to the years when, moving away from his final human ties under the tutelage of the hated yet necessary Lestat, he gradually embraces the habits, hungers, feelings of vampirism: the detachment, the hardened will, the "superior" sensual pleasures.
He carries us back to the crucial moment in a dark New Orleans street when he finds the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her, struggling against the last residue of human feeling within him . . .
We see how Claudia in turn is made a vampire--all her passion and intelligence trapped forever in the body of a small child--and how they arrive at their passionate and dangerous alliance, their French Quarter life of opulence: delicate Grecian statues, Chinese vases, crystal chandeliers, a butler, a maid, a stone nymph in the hidden garden court . . . night curving into night with their vampire senses heightened to the beauty of the world, thirsting for the beauty of death--a constant stream of vulnerable strangers awaiting them below . . .
We see them joined against the envious, dangerous Lestat, embarking on a perilous search across Europe for others like themselves, desperate to discover the world they belong to, the ways of survival, to know what they are and why, where they came from, what their future can be . . .
We follow them across Austria and Transylvania, encountering their kind in forms beyond their wildest imagining . . . to Paris, where footsteps behind them, in exact rhythm with their own, steer them to the doors of the Théâtre des Vampires--the beautiful, lewd, and febrile mime theatre whose posters of penny-dreadful vampires at once mask and reveal the horror within . . . to their meeting with the eerily magnetic Armand, who brings them, at last, into intimacy with a whole brilliant and decadent society of vampires, an intimacy that becomes sudden terror when they are compelled to confront what they have feared and fled . . .
In its unceasing flow of spellbinding storytelling, of danger and flight, of loyalty and treachery, Interview with the Vampire bears witness of a literary imagination of the first order.
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"I am re-reading the Vampire Chronicles (at least the first three, which I found packaged together as an e-book in the library). I first read these in high school, so reading them is taking me back to that time--I read every single Anne Rice vampire book that came out, devouring them instead of doing my homework. I actually still love them, but it surprises me how tame they now seem to me. Perhaps it is age and experience, or graphic media saturation? Or maybe just that shocking things, once read, can become familiar."
— Emilie (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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A magnificent, compulsively readable thriller . . . Rice begins where Bram Stoker and the Hollywood versions leave off and penetrates directly to the true fascination of the myth–the education of the vampire.
— Chicago Tribune -
Unrelentingly erotic . . . sometimes beautiful, and always unforgettable.
— Washington Post -
If you surrender and go with her . . . you have surrendered to enchantment, as in a voluptuous dream.
— Boston Globe -
A chilling, thought-provoking tale, beautifully frightening, sensuous, and utterly unnerving.
— Hartford Courant
Interview with the Vampire Listener Reviews
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Codename Eric, 7/1/2015
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" Besides Dracula, this is the best vampire story ever. "
— Diana, 2/14/2014 -
" I devoured every word of this book. I consider Interview a masterpiece. Rice is a master of language, imagery, and characterization. I can't say enough good things about her vampire series. The best part is, after you're done hating Lestat, you get to fall in love with him in the second book! "
— Kristen, 2/7/2014 -
" Took me awhile to finish reading it. The writing was deep, often describing more of philosophy than plot which I suspect is the reason why I took my time reading the book. The story was good though, far better than the movie. I'm glad I watched the movie before reading the book. Often times when I do the reverse I end up not enjoying the movie because it doesn't make sense anymore. "
— Aenaho, 2/5/2014 -
" This is the first time I can say I preferred the movie... "
— Khrys, 1/31/2014 -
" Love this book, Anne Rice's imagery is palpable. I swear I smell the earth and flowers she describes and I was not able to put this book down. It does get a little creepy but it onle adds to the sensuality of the story. "
— Patti, 1/27/2014 -
" I read this book several years ago. The book was much better than the movie! "
— Hilla, 1/22/2014 -
" The last 50 pages or so saved it from being a one star book "
— Josh, 1/13/2014 -
" My favourite book of all time. Beautiful, macabre and evocative, transporting the reader into another world. This is the novel that inspired my love for literature and the gothic. A must read for all erotic and vampire lovers. "
— Lucy, 1/13/2014 -
" It's not bad but I like the books more that are following after this "
— Ruth, 1/12/2014 -
" ann rice was able to convince me that there exist vampires and i'd like to become one "
— Rey, 1/6/2014 -
" I read this book 20 years ago, and at the time, read it in only two sittings. I couldn't put it down. However, it did not make want to read the entire series. By the end, I had had my fill of Lestat. "
— Shari, 1/2/2014 -
" When I first read this I enjoyed it. I decided to give it a second read and could not get into it, which is strange for me thus the 3 stars. "
— Nadine, 12/27/2013 -
" The first vampire book I ever read (yes, as a teenage girl), which made me obsessed with vampires. (Honestly, what IS it with teenage girls and vampires?!) Point is - this book kicks YA butt. It's the real deal. Read it and forget all about Edward! "
— Tara, 12/23/2013 -
" my fav book ever ,, "
— Karen, 12/11/2013 -
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Jjoe, 12/7/2013
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" I read this book before the movie was made so I had a nice unbiased view. Loved how the story was portrayed and how it moved. A shame however that certain parts of the book never were used in the movie because to me they did add value and depth to the story. "
— Tanja, 11/27/2013 -
" I loved this book. Granted, I'm a sucker (no pun intended) for creatures who ingest blood (as in vampires or cannibals) and for stories written with tons of description. This more or less fulfilled both. Although I am unsure of Armand and Louis's sexualities...anybody know that?:/ "
— Brittany, 11/26/2013 -
" So much better than the movie. i love Louie after this book, rather than the second fiddle that the movie made him out to be. "
— Lawrence, 12/19/2012 -
" LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!AND THE MOVIE WAS ALMOST EXACT. Anne Rice, best author of all time. "
— Candida, 10/30/2012 -
" I have started this book about a million times and never got very far. This time, I tried the audio book and got further than before, but I just can't do it. I can't put my finger on it, but I'm giving up for good this time. "
— Jayme, 9/13/2012 -
" I love Anne Rice - all her books. "
— Jocelyn, 5/26/2012 -
" Best vampire book I have read to date. Weaves a fantastic tale that starts an epic series. If you are into the pre-twilight vampire stories but all you know about this book is from the movie then go back and read this book. "
— John, 5/23/2012 -
" My adolescent self read this in one sitting and cried. "
— Saffron, 4/15/2012 -
" Great book! Very entertaining. No sparkly vampires here. "
— Vashti, 3/9/2012 -
" Descriptive and thought provoking book. The image of the child vampire, Claudia, still haunts me. "
— Shannon, 9/30/2011 -
" Anne Rice like fantasizing about this blood sucking creature. "
— Dennis, 9/23/2011 -
" Awesome...of course better than the movie :) "
— Sonya, 7/18/2011 -
" First one, best one. "
— Shannon, 6/8/2011 -
" This is one of my favorite books of all time. I was amazed with the beauty of the language and the realness of the characters. Would read it over and over again "
— Ariel, 5/20/2011
About Anne Rice
Anne Rice was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. She holds a Master of Arts degree in English and creative writing from San Francisco State University, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science. She is the author of over thirty books, including tales of the Mayfair Witches. Her first novel, Interview with the Vampire, was published in 1976 and has gone on to become part of one of the bestselling series of all time. She continued her saga of the Vampire Lestat in a series of books, collectively known as the Vampire Chronicles, which have had both great mainstream and cult followings. She lives in Palm Desert, California.
About Simon Vance
Simon Vance (a.k.a. Robert Whitfield) is an award-winning actor and narrator. He has earned more than fifty Earphones Awards and won the prestigious Audie Award for best narration thirteen times. He was named Booklist’s very first Voice of Choice in 2008 and has been named an AudioFile Golden Voice as well as an AudioFile Best Voice of 2009. He has narrated more than eight hundred audiobooks over almost thirty years, beginning when he was a radio newsreader for the BBC in London. He is also an actor who has appeared on both stage and television.