(no subject)
Yeah, I'm kind of getting bored with recording my reponses to these books. Oh well. Five down, six more to go.
I remember not liking this book much when I read it in high school. This time around, though, I did, as seems to be the theme with all of these novels.
There are very few characters in this book. Much fewer than the previous one, which had probably something close to one hundred named characters. The side characters are all human, with the exception of Louis, and as before, I hate the character of Gretchen. She is person who has tricked herself into believing something and tricked everyone else around her into thinking she believes as well. She dedicates her life to serving God when she doesn't believe. Then, when she sees proof of the supernatural (read: proof of God), her mind is to weak to handle it and she snaps. And is then considered a saint.
This is the book in which David becomes a vampire. As when I was younger, I hated to see him turned, but this time around, I could see the necessity for it in regards to Lestat's moral development. Overall, liked it much better this time.
This is Rice's story of the fall of Lucifer as told to Lestat by Lucifer, or Memnoch, in this book. I hated this book when I first read it. I didn't hate it this time; I found the religious plot interesting and engaging, but definitly bizarre. Does the premise work for me? Nope. I simply can't buy that Lestat is like a modern day Job. Well, sort of the antithesis of Job, I guess. Where Job was tested, passed, adn was restored, Lestat was tested, seemed to pass, then realized he had played into the devil's hand by "passing" and then broke.
This book was supposed to be the last of The Vampire Chronicles. Rice issued a statement saying that Lestat, as an inspiration and subject of stories, had left her. She ended the book with "Adieu, mon amour" in tiny italics, a farewell to the character from the writer. Of course, she ended up writing more, but I want to think of this book briefly as what it was intended to be: a conclusion.
I think Lestat's decision to stop drinking blood and sort of stepping out of life as much as an immortal being can, was meant to be read as a rejection of the life of murder and sin that he had lived for two hundred something years. It was supposed to be his saving, redemptive act. I can sort of see that, but mainly I see a self-indulgent character giving up when it isn't really characteristic of that character at all. I'm glad it didn't end here (though I have to admit, I dislike the actual conclusion of the book even less than this conclusion, I think.)
I remember not liking this book much when I read it in high school. This time around, though, I did, as seems to be the theme with all of these novels.
There are very few characters in this book. Much fewer than the previous one, which had probably something close to one hundred named characters. The side characters are all human, with the exception of Louis, and as before, I hate the character of Gretchen. She is person who has tricked herself into believing something and tricked everyone else around her into thinking she believes as well. She dedicates her life to serving God when she doesn't believe. Then, when she sees proof of the supernatural (read: proof of God), her mind is to weak to handle it and she snaps. And is then considered a saint.
This is the book in which David becomes a vampire. As when I was younger, I hated to see him turned, but this time around, I could see the necessity for it in regards to Lestat's moral development. Overall, liked it much better this time.
This is Rice's story of the fall of Lucifer as told to Lestat by Lucifer, or Memnoch, in this book. I hated this book when I first read it. I didn't hate it this time; I found the religious plot interesting and engaging, but definitly bizarre. Does the premise work for me? Nope. I simply can't buy that Lestat is like a modern day Job. Well, sort of the antithesis of Job, I guess. Where Job was tested, passed, adn was restored, Lestat was tested, seemed to pass, then realized he had played into the devil's hand by "passing" and then broke.
This book was supposed to be the last of The Vampire Chronicles. Rice issued a statement saying that Lestat, as an inspiration and subject of stories, had left her. She ended the book with "Adieu, mon amour" in tiny italics, a farewell to the character from the writer. Of course, she ended up writing more, but I want to think of this book briefly as what it was intended to be: a conclusion.
I think Lestat's decision to stop drinking blood and sort of stepping out of life as much as an immortal being can, was meant to be read as a rejection of the life of murder and sin that he had lived for two hundred something years. It was supposed to be his saving, redemptive act. I can sort of see that, but mainly I see a self-indulgent character giving up when it isn't really characteristic of that character at all. I'm glad it didn't end here (though I have to admit, I dislike the actual conclusion of the book even less than this conclusion, I think.)