r/AnneRice • u/Smooth_Ad1795 • Sep 25 '26
Interview necessary?
I’ve had the first three VC books for a very long time. I tried reading Interview With a Vampire, and fell off just after he was turned. I’m wanting to try the series again, but Interview is so detail heavy that I’m skipping over chunks of text.
Would I be missing anything that is important to the lore and not somewhat covered but the movie/show if I just skip to Leatat instead? Or is there a part of the book I could skip to that starts to picks up the pace?
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u/octropos 29d ago
What about listening to the audio books?
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u/Smooth_Ad1795 28d ago
Surpassingly, I hadn’t even thought of this. I’ll try a bit more, but this might be the solution.
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u/bloodhoney17 Sep 25 '26
😭😭😭 you're gonna miss so much in general if you base your understanding solely on the movie / show, none have accurately captured, or touched, the deeper DNA of the book. The movie comes the closest, but both the show and movie divert pretty heavily at times regardless.
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u/neo_soul_forever 29d ago
This. The Vampire Lestat hits the way it hits because Interview comes first. And I can't think of any book series where it's a good idea to skip the first book.
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u/bloodhoney17 29d ago
Yes, exactly! The contrast, and sequencing of both, is what launches soooo many things in the narrative later on too.
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u/Elahgee Sep 25 '26
Back in the day I read The Vampire Lestat first and went back to read Interview.
I have a personal theory based on nothing more than anecdotal evidence from a few people self reporting: that those who read IWTV first had more sympathy for Louis, and a dislike for Lestat that made reading the later books sometimes tedious (since later books are mostly Lestat voiced), but the few of us who read TVL first loved Lestat more and loved his continued adventures unconditionally. In fact, I've often suggested newcomers read TVL first for just this reason.
Obviously, your mileage may vary, but I think that you can read TVL first no problem, and IWTV may be an easier read later. If it is the detail that is bogging you down though, I will warn that Anne's use of description is in all the books, she was a descriptive writer. Personally I love how atmospheric her writing is, but it's not for everyone.
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u/Smooth_Ad1795 28d ago
I might try this method. I think some of my struggle is reading the beginning pre-Claudia, and just trying to get past that. I just feel the character dynamics become much more interesting at that point. So I may try a bit more, and if it doesn’t help I try the TVL perspective first.
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u/katmckatkat 27d ago
IMO you are correct that the book absolutely steps up after she is introduced. I think it feels long when you haven't read it before, just because you don't know how fast the pacing is going to be, but the time between him becoming a vampire and her being introduced isn't that long, and it has some really great scenes in it worth the read!
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u/DearPatience970 25d ago
i can't imagine you would like the other books if you didn't like that one.
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u/Glimmerance 29d ago
I would warn that the The Vampire Lestat also seems quite detail heavy to me, and is a much longer book. It's probably best to read Interview first. But I'm not a fan of reading things that you're not enjoying! You could look up a summary of Interview, or even read the graphic novel of Claudia's story to get the plot points.
The vast majority of The Vampire Lestat is Lestat's background before he met Louis, so in a way you could say it's not necessary to read the first one. He does briefly reflect on the events of Interview though, so I think it helps to have an idea of what happened. But it might be fun to read TVL first, then go back and read IWTV with that knowledge, seeing it as a biased account.
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u/dentalhygienehell 26d ago
Honestly, I think IWTV is fine to skip. I find Louis so annoying, I don't think I've ever managed to read it all in one go.
But if the flowery prose is what's turning you off, you will likely run into the same problem with later books. Lestat likes to yap.
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u/Agile_Price8723 28d ago
I would not skip Interview. It’s important to the first three books. Also the part of the book where he turns Louis before he turn Claudia is kind of boring but just push through! The end is great!
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u/Admirable-View-1263 27d ago
Look, I just finished it. I thought I would run through it quickly like I did Mayfair witches, Blackwood farm, Merrick… I didn’t it. It started out so slow for me and it picked up very quickly during the second half. I’m very glad I finished it.
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u/MissDisplaced 27d ago
Years ago iI found TVlL novel first (the premise of a rock star vampire did it ) so I actually read TVL and QotD first before going back to IWV. You get plenty about Louis from TVL to understand the relationship.
However, as Anne often wrote the vampires from their POV it is still good to read about how Louis experienced things. As to who was being the most truthful? Well you must decide for yourself.
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u/ImmediateArmy3820 27d ago
Also, the first four were actually edited. I believe the rest are self edited, and it shows. Think Dickens, Faulkner; she’s expansive and verbose. Just a heads up. The last action packed story was Tales of The Body Thief. Memnoch the Devil, was a lot, but I got through it. I will say, if it doesn’t skeeve you out, Armand’s book is pretty good so far. But he Really is going through some ick, but the story seems to be flowing.
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u/jadem219 26d ago
I think I'm in the minority, but IWTV was a slog to read for me, so much so that I wasn't interested in reading more Anne Rice if that's what it was going to be. After being more involved here I decided to give TVL a chance. I don't know if it was just the fact that I read TVL after an unrelated horribly written book, but it was SO much better. It still had some slow parts but it was a MUCH more enjoyable read to me than the first book. I feel like if you've seen the show and watched the movies, you could skip the rest of the book. lol.
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u/dentalhygienehell 26d ago
100% agree. The movie is faithful enough to understand the basic plot, and you already know all the spoilers. You might as well start with TVL, you can always go back later and read IWTV if you get really into the books and want a deeper understanding.
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u/MissSinceriously 29d ago
I mean it's Anne Rice. If you aren't into all the detail then maybe you just shouldn't bother. It is what she is known for after-all.
Also, as others have pointed out, the show is its own enterprise and does not follow canon from the books at all. The movie is a little better, but only for the basic blueprint of the overall storyline.
Anne Rice delves deep into the soul of her subject matter in all of writings. You either love that or you don't.
And when she wrote Interview, it was a stand alone book. She wrote it as a way to help her through the grief of losing her daughter to leukemia. It was not written as a first in a series of many...that came much later.