Monday, November 8, 2010

Interview with the Vampire Part One

I am actually really enjoying Interview With The Vampire. I find it exciting and easy to read; maybe it helps that I've seen the movie so I sort of know what to expect but nonetheless I definitely like it. I do think that this movie started my being creeped out by Tom Cruise and my love of Brad Pitt...not surprisingly that was all I could think about while reading hah.
That this novel is told through Louis's point of view definitely has a lot to do with how the reader views him and the other vampire characters. This was the first instance, for any of the novels that we've read, in which I have actually felt compassion for one of the vampires. Louis's tale is a sad one...first he must cope with the loss of his humanity, then with the monstrous child he's created, and finally with the loss of Claudia. Not only must he cope with all of these things, but he must cope with them for eternity.
Seeing things from Louis's point of view probably does skew the reader's view of Lestat though... It is hard to imagine that Lestat could have some redeeming quality but maybe if we saw things through his eyes..? That's a big maybe.
We also see Claudia through Louis's perspective. Even though Claudia is sort of a little monster baby, the reader (or at least I) still liked her. I think this has all to do with us seeing her through Louis's eyes. Louis loves her and looks over her lack of respect for human life because she is his "daughter". "And there was so much pleasure in caring for her," Louis says. In the same paragraph however he expresses his concern, "She was simply unlike Lestat and me to such an extent I couldn't comprehend her; for little child she was, but also fierce killer now capable of the ruthless pursuit of blood with all a child's demanding."

5 comments:

  1. It does seem to be very significant that the book was written in Louis' perspective. I'm coming to notice from this class that the perspective is much more important than I once thought. The writer uses this as a tool to not only steer the directions of the readers thoughts but also to make the reader think. I find it funny that I have never really put a lot of thought into this before since I read A LOT, but then again I have always been a character person; it won't matter to me if the plot is good if the characters aren't worth reading about.
    Out of all the characters that Louis describes in the book I found Lestat to be the most interesting. The main reason is, and you might agree with me here because you have also seen the movie, because I did not get the impression that Louis felt the way he did about Lestat in the movie as he does in the book. He absolutely loathes him in the book. I always thought it was a love/hate relationship, but Louis wants nothing more than to be free of Lestat in the book.

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  2. I also saw the movie before I read the book. I'd have to say, while I like the book more, I am pretty surprised at how faithful the film was to the book. I didn't notice too many differences yet, and the ones that I did happen to notice seemed pretty minor (although I haven't seen the movie in a good while, so it's possible that I missed some things).

    I agree that Lestat is the most interesting character. Initially, I hated him. But then I realized that he really spices of the story by being such a strong counterpoint to Louis. While Louis provided us with a totally different perspective on vampires, Lestat was the exact opposite. He fully embraced everything about being a vampire, regardless of the effect that it had on others.

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  3. I also enjoy reading this novel. It's easy to read and its good. I agree, this is the only vampire novel that we have read thus far where i feel sympathetic towards the vampire. Maybe that's because we don't in a way experience the fear of the narrators from other novels with vampires.

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  4. The point of view that we read the novel through definitely changes a reader's mind about a character. I sympathize with Louis because he suffers, he does not just murder pointlessly like so many of the other vampires we have read about thus far in our class. However, Lestat is bitter and full of revenge for a reason. His life (as told in The Vampire Lestat, the second book in the series) is a tragic one as well. He has a good reason to be angry with other vampires, but he is not evil. He stayed away from all of his family and friends and any loved ones because of the monster he was. Really, I think Lestat was just lonely.

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  5. I really enjoyed the fact that this novel was written in Louis' point a view. It's important for the story I think, and it generates sympathy from the audience to Louis. We see him go through a tragic event in his life (losing his brother) and feel for him. I think the fact that this novel was written in this way definitely makes Louis seem more real and more three dimensional than other vampires that we have read about. We know what exactly he has gone though and we know his feelings on it.

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