Terry's 3M's
I finished reading the first of the four books that I intend on reading of The Vampire Chronicles.
The first time that I read Interview With the Vampire was in 1976 when
it was first published.
Isn't it odd the way our memories can deceive us? I knew that I read this book right after it came out...but, if you had asked me where I had read the book, I would have said, "When I lived in Rochester, N.Y." That would have been a wrong answer! In 1976, I lived in Amsterdam, N.Y.
It makes my mother's memory lapse of yesterday a little easier to understand.
She said that I had done something when I was 9 months old and blamed it on
my brother. What's wrong with that statement is that my brother was born
when I was 27 months old! (I'm the oldest--so, there's no confusion about
which brother she meant.)
Anyway, in 1976, I was still into New Age stuff. And while I didn't believe in vampires, I thought the concept was fascinating.
I remember being disappointed that Louis was so sad/remorseful about his fate as a vampire. I thought the book was very depressing and I never read any thing else by Anne Rice until I reread this book last week.
It's amazing how much your perceptions change in 22 years. I actually enjoyed the book this time! And my understanding of Louis' dispair is greater.
Louis was in the unenviable position of knowing that he was a moral coward.
Most of the time, he gave in to being pressured whether he resented the pressure or not. Even when he disagreed with an act that was being committed, he would go either go along with it, abet it, or forgive it. But, he never forgave himself.
The one time that he protested vehemently and violently--without assistence== his actions turned out to be directed in the wrong place...and for the wrong reason.
And even after 200 years, he still hadn't learned. He still behaved in a way that he knew was going to cause him pain and regret.
But, now I am reading The Vampire Lestat. And in this book, Lestat (who was the vampire that made Louis a vampire) claims that Interview of the Vampire was a pack of lies.
And Lestat tells his story from the beginning.
Of course, this book is not the only one I am reading. I am slowly making my way through Chicken Soup for the Soul, the book of Sirach (one of the Deutercanicals/Apocrypha), and ever so slowly through Thomas Merton's No Man is an Island.
for the border background set.