Interview with the Vampire

By: Anne Rice

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 14 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

40th ANNIVERSARY EDITION • From the #1 New York Times bestselling author, "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). • The inspiration for the hit television series

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.

©1976 Anne Rice (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"[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)

100% Delightful!

If you could sum up Interview with the Vampire in three words, what would they be?

Addictive, Beautiful & Amazing

What other book might you compare Interview with the Vampire to and why?

I have never read anything like this before, and I love Vampire stories/history etc.

What does Simon Vance bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Simon Vance gave me the extra "umph" to help me visualize the characters and story better than I would of reading it on my own.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book made me laugh, cry, go "aww." I was really able to connect and place myself in this story. I feel like Louis was telling me his story himself which was a plus for me.

Any additional comments?

I was able to become lost in this book, it was sooo addictive I couldn't stop listening. I am completly hooked on Anne Rice novels especially The Vampire Chronicles! I am excited to start The Vampire Lestat and finish the rest of The Vampire Chronicles. Oh and one last thing..as for the movie Interview With The Vampire, the 2 are rarely similar and I much more enjoyed the book than the movie.

Still a wonderfully written book

This is one of my favorites but it was hard to finish as the narrator is a bit monotoned

I love Anne rice's work

love finally getting through the whole book! I tried years ago with a real book and I'd always fall asleep . I love audibles! I love the movie and I love Anne Rice! Such a wonderful vampire universe

Terrifically Narrated, Great Read

First time reading Ann Rice. This book was perfect for Audible, terrifically narrated., a great read. Looking forward to book 2.

vix reviews

loved it . it was so detailed and overall just relly great 👍. my favorite part was the ending.

A fantastic adventure!

I loved the film, but as it seems to be the case with many, the book is better. The performance was fantastic and I found myself enthralled by the story. Highly recommend this classic

nice!

I didn't like the narrator's energy for this genre a lot. There are some conspicuous parts that should have been narrated with another... pace, I guess. But it's good enough and I got through the whole book happily.

Very unfortunate :(

I absolutely adore Anne Rice and interview with vampire, but I couldn't handle the narrator. This was the first time I have ever returned a book. Makes me so very sad.

great story. good narration.

story is great and the narrator was fair. wasn't convinced by his accents at first but after the story got moving his character was consistent. quality listen.

The best Vampire Series

Such a great story. I prefer the book to the film. A dark, moody, and poetic tale that will keep you invested all the way through. Loved the narration. Great performance!