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March 2005 A book from the Canteen of the Detmold Theater.
This is an author I've read a few books by, in Estonia; I've read a bit of the Vampire series. And on the front cover of this book, She's given as "The Author of The Mummy." Needless to say, I was kind of expecting some more Fantasy, with magic,or the unknown taking part in it.
Instead, there's this book set in the 18th Century, about Castrati: The castrated singers of Europe, with angelic Voices. Well, that would be the second theme, in truth; The true story is about only one Castrato, and his turbulent life. It's a Novel. It's a tale. That's all there is to it. But it's beyond a doubt, written by someone who knows their writing trade, and has done the research.
The contrasts are well made, between Tonio, (the main character,) and others in his school, and line of work. -All the others started, and had the "operation" done while still young, while Tonio's was forced uppon him, by his underhanded "brother" to get him out of the line of succession of their Noble Family.
That is one of the reasons that the characters were real... or vital. There were other details though that... brought them to life. Small histories of them that were briefly gone into. Some insight to their motivations. -It seems to me, that everyone in this book... did things WITH motivations behind them: there wasn't any instance where Someone did something, just to continue the story.
The sexual, sensual side was... certainly there in this book, perhaps more than I required, but not too much over played.I personally enjoyed the description of the Opera in Rome, and the talkative, opinionative, noisy audiences.
Well, although I can not think of anything precise, and... revealing to say about this book, It was certainly good; Because I could not stop reading it, and once I was about a third of the way through, I was caught up enough with the characters, and the happenings, that I had no interest in reading anything else. (The One day that I did pick up another book to read, I was lost and confused, because all the Characters of Cry to Heaven, and the relations between them, were foremost in my mind, and I couldn't at first figure out who this other book was going on about.)
I was taken into this old Italian world. And had a good stay there.
March 2007 Reread, online.
For anyone who doesn't actually know of this book, and the others written about the same vampires, and the movie that been made of it... I have one question: What makes you NOW interested in it? Why are you reading this? What makes this different from other vampire stories, is that the vampires are not old-fashioned, castle-dwelling, cape-wearing, single-minded terrors of the night. (Many vampire stories set them selves in the present day, but then have the heros travelling to a small, old, out-of-the-way Eastern European village...) Not Anne Rice. She has developed a world, (our world,) And supposed that Vampires are intelligent. -And have been keeping pace with society and social changes. This leads to urban, city-dwelling vampires; At the peak of fashion and immersed in the cultural scene.
I think that these were likely the first books to present the psychological side: What would it mean to be a human, who becomes a vampire? To require human blood every night in order to live? What is the experience like for the newly... converted? The newly bitten? If this was not the first book to have a vampire as the protagonist, it was the first successful one to do so. And It was with this book that the viewpoint of the vampire was popularised.
This book is... a cult classic, from beginning to end. And it's well written, having vivid characters, a detailed, surprising story-line, and enthralling passion, though not of a sexual nature exactly; It's the passion of heart to heart, blood to blood, and the exquisitely intimate experience of another's life; his skin, his scent, his every little breath, and the pounding, pounding, endless surging of his blood.
There's also interesting social/ethical questions included in the novel. One of them is the question of "Good" and "Evil." This concept is explored by the main character... who spends much of his time considering the duality. Is he, as a vampire, pure evil? Is it possible to be good? Are there shades of evilness? Could there possibly, conceivably... be a god which would allow such a creature on earth, which must prey upon humans? Which is truly immortal? (And so on and so on.)
This is not one of my favourite books, and I don't think I'll read it again... But I DO plan on reading more of the Vampire Chronicles, (all by Anne Rice.) I've already started on one of the others. Why though? What is it that interests me, if I just said that she's not one of my favourites? Well, the writing isn't bad, she has fairly good plots... Most of all though, I want to know more about the Vampires. I want to know more of how their lives work, what they think, what issues arise in their lives. (And in the particular book I'm reading now, I hope to find out what formed the character of one of the three principal Vampires in Interview with the Vampire. What has made him to behave the way he does.)
Summer 2007 Read online.
One of the interesting problems for vampires which was put forth was How they can stand living for so long; after a century or two, the world changes around them too much. They miss their old habits, lifestyles, and worlds through which they moved. They feel themselves increasingly out of place, and as such, unsatisfied. This nearly always leads to their suicide. The solution which is given to this, is that any vampire who wants to survive for many many centuries must "go to earth." This refers to a period of fasting; lying in the ground, without blood, without movement, without waking, for 50 or 100 or more years. Only on coming out of that do the vampires feel... new born. They are ready to experience new things, and adapt to the new world then.
Something else which was interesting to read was the "Genesis" of vampires. There was a chapter which described how the very first vampires came into existence. There were also descriptions of earlier vampire cultures and social organisation. But for every interesting point about their history which was cleared up, another question was poised. For example, there was mention of when the very first vampire, (which survived to the present,) went out into the open, and exposed its self to sunlight... thereby burning all of its descendents to ash. But why did this happen? That is not cleared up.
So, how about Lestat's personality? In this book, are we given insight into his motivations? Some, but I feel that we didn't clearly learn them all. His desperate wish to keep friends near to him, that was given a logical foundation in his past. His lack of respect for the standard, accepted code of vampire behaviour... was partly explained. His passion for a violinist in the first book, completely clear. I just can't remember seeing at any point how he came to have no regard at all for the mortals he preys upon.
I am afraid that I have nothing much more to say. Only that at the end of the book, when there's "Danger! Great danger!" that I think this warning could be about the "father of the vampires", who is out to cause destruction, (due especially to the "mother of the vampires" leaving his side to see what was going on with Lestat.) But that will have to be seen in the next book.