On the Crazy Train to Vampire Land

            Hey everyone on the internet. It’s Creative Karma again. That means it’s time for another book review.

            Like I promised, over the next couple of days I will be tackling the Twilight series. Last Wednesday I went over Twilight. Today it’s time to tackle the second book in the series New Moon.

            This time around I won’t be going into as much detail since you have the basic foundation for the way the characters work. The only thing that really changes is the amount of “face time” the characters receive in the story.

            Without further adieu, here is New Moon.

            This time the book really takes the readers on a ride. In the first book, it was all about Edward and Bella. This time the readers get thrown for a loop as Edward completely removes himself from the field. I won’t say why because if you haven’t read the story then I don’t wanna ruin it for ya.

            However, this allows the readers to really see the relationship between Bella and Jacob which is something the reader didn’t have. It was only ever implied that they had a friendship. Now, we get to see how deep the friendship goes.

            That is something I really appreciate about this series. They don’t just give a straight forward romance and stick with it. They have ups and downs and they let it fall together completely. At least they offer Jacob as a true friend to keep Bella from being completely alone.

            There are some issues I have with the Bella acts in Edward’s absence is that she is in a very deep depression. I get that a girl could be upset when her first boyfriend disappears on her. However, she is so depressed that she cuts herself off from all her friends. We may not see if her friends try to help her out but it is presumed that friends would help each other. This leads to my second issue, Edward and Bella were only together for what…half of one school year? Maybe the summer and a bit into the next? Even so, seems like a really short amount of time to be so depressed over the loss of a boyfriend.

            Now, Bella has completely alienated herself from her friends and the only one she has to turn to is Jacob. By the way, those school friends of hers. Time to start saying your goodbyes. They will be making their last large appearance in this book. In the next one they are the minority.

            So now that Bella has a friend to talk to and hang out with, she can hang out, talk about how she feels, get over Edward, and move on with her life right? Wrong. Despite how kind Jacob is being in trying to distract Bella from the loss of Edward, Bella spends all her time doing stupid stuff in order to have hallucinations of Edward. The picture of mental health.

            This continues no matter where or who she is with. You would think she’d try to just maintain a sense of normalcy but no. She’s too obsessed with Edward that she will do anything to see his ghostly figure again. This is really turning out to be healthy relationship.

            Unfortunately, this crazy train doesn’t stop here. Nope, we have our last stop. All of this comes to a crazy head when Bella decides to take up cliff diving. Now, to make this a stupid thing she goes alone despite the fact Jacob had offered to take her to do this very thing. Nope, she’ll do it alone and maybe die because she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Reeeaaalll smart move there Bella.

            Of course, the series doesn’t end here so we know she doesn’t die but she gets really close. Jacob saves her life and berates her for her actions. This being the normal part of this scenario. He takes her back to her home and we see the return of a Cullen. My personal favorite (besides Jasper) named Alice.

            Just to review for those that don’t know, Alice has visions of the future based on a line of choices a person has made. Until the choice is made the future remains foggy. Alice can always see Bella’s future except when she is around the wolf pack. This being said, Alice saw Bella jump off the cliff but didn’t see her being rescued. Like any sane person, this led Alice to believe that Bella was dead. So, she rushed back to Forks to see for herself.

            However, the problems start mounting immediately. Through Jacob’s hatred of the Cullens and the lack of correct and complete information lead Edward to believe what Alice came to confirm or deny. That Bella was dead. This is where we truly see that Edward, despite his disappearance from Bella’s life, still was just as in love with her as ever because he would rather be dead with Bella than alive without her.

            Now, you may think I’m crazy but everything after this is more logical. Hear me out first before you throw things at me.

            If there was someone you cared deeply about who thought you had died and it was up to you to go and prove otherwise so they wouldn’t kill themselves, wouldn’t you go? I know I would. And this is exactly what Bella does. However, unlike for most of us this requires her to get on a plane and fly with Alice to Italy. In Italy, is the group of vampires known as the Volturi who are more or less the vampire police. They were the ones that made the rules about what not to do and what the punishment would be for doing it. Rule number one: don’t reveal the existence of vampires. Ole Edward is gonna break this rule in order to make the Volturi kill him.

            As I said before, this book series wouldn’t have more in them if one of the members of the love triangle died. It just wouldn’t be interesting to most people anymore if they killed off Edward.

            But now they have a bigger problem. Here they all are together in front of the Volturi. Let’s see here. Aro, vampire. Caius, vampire. Jane, vampire. Marcus, vampire. Dimitri, vampire. Felix, vampire. Alice, vampire. Bella, human. Edward, vampire. Oops, Bella is a human that knows about vampires. Now, those that read the book know that the Volturi have a human working for them. However, they are more than willing to kill her or turn her if she either becomes more useful or a hazard. Edward on the other hand…not so much.

            This is the drama in the book that I actually appreciate. Emo girlfriends. Just no. But because you’ve fallen for a vampire and are discovered for it, that is something I can get behind. It creates a sense of urgency and fear. If they don’t agree to turn Bella by a set time then the Volturi will definitely make Alice’s vision of Bella’s death come true. I will ignore the fact for now that Bella is way too willing to become a vampire.

            If Bella hadn’t been as willing throughout the books and then this happened, I think it would have been much more believable and riveting. Then, it’s not just about Bella and her wants that have to come to pass but about her survival. Thanks to Alice’s visions, Bella is saved because everything is back on course for Bella to be a vampire one day. Obviously Edward is no longer thinking about staying out of Bella’s life.

            So after a less than thrilling anti-climax where they get to go home, we get to the end of our story where Charlie gets to be a dad for a page or two, Bella gets around Edward’s wishes by voting with the rest of the Cullen’s for her to join the family after she graduates high school, and a nice little time skip.

            The rest of the pages afterward doesn’t seem to be much of anything. One might think they could skip these pages and leave the book alone. But don’t do it. They are there for a reason. It’s in these pages that Edward finally has something over Bella. These pages make me laugh. All this time Bella has been completely eager to become a vampire. However, she’d rather have Edward change her into a vampire. Oh, but Edward gets an idea. He would be more than happy to turn her tomorrow if she agreed to marry him tonight. Makes me laugh thinking that Bella is finally out done.

            Personally, I would have taken the offer. However, Bella’s odd way of thinking has her completely against being married so young but she’s more than willing to be a vampire at nineteen. Kinda backwards isn’t it?

            Anyway, the book ends with no decision made and a nice little prologue which I will keep secret. To me it’s like the icing on the cake. Funny, drama, Charlie doing what he does best and Bella in actual trouble for once.

            Now, with all this said about New Moon, I do like the book. However, it’s still not my fave. Wait for my review of Eclipse for that. But this book changes things up. It’s not all about Edward and Bella. It shows us just how deep the friendship goes for Bella and Jacob. We get more details that wouldn’t have been revealed if this book never came out. Edward’s reactions my seem to come out of nowhere but if you read between the lines then you can see the act he was putting on in hopes that Bella would try for her own life without him in it. Sounds like a decent guy to me.

            However, this book has some serious negatives. Bella’s reactions to Edward leaving are WAY too over the top for me. It doesn’t feel logical or real. It feels like an overly obsessed emo girl going crazy over a boy who she barely knew much about and knew only for a short time. Bella’s friends are a little too forgiving in this book as well for all the psycho things she’s done.

            I don’t hate this book, but I don’t love it either. If I had to rank this book against the others then it would come in last place. However, there are other books I hate far worse than New Moon and with any luck you’ll hear about them soon enough. Now, this judgment might change with the next reviews but we will see how it goes.

            For what it’s worth, give it a shot. You need this book to at least understand what is going on in the last two books. Every book series has a book that’s not as great as the others and for the Twilight saga New Moon is that book unfortunately.

            Well, that’s all for now. Tune in next time for my review of Eclipse and you’ll see why that book is my personal favorite of the series. Until next time, I’m Creative Karma and I love me a Southern vampire.

Werewolves,Vampires and Humans Oh My

            Hello everyone, Creative Karma here again.

            Lately, the entertainment world has been swept up into a frenzy about vampires. However, looking ahead into the newest videos and books coming out, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of vampire lore. Maybe the end of the vampire era is coming.

            True you still have The Vampire Diaries on TV but that has taken on a life of its own and just become something that only the die hard fans will watch.

            But the biggest craze out right now is the Twilight saga craze. Most people know it for the movies but I know it for the books because I read all the books before they showed them in the theaters.

            Now while some people see the movies as a horrible rendition of the books that are an abomination, I see things a bit differently. So I’m shoving aside the movie and just looking at the book which I think is the key especially when talking about the Twilight series.

            With the recent release of Breaking Dawn Part 1 into theaters, which part of me thinks is a rip off from Harry Potter, I think it’s about time I delve in with them. Now, if you are looking for a full on rant about the movies themselves then it’s best to jump over now to my friend Cinema Chic’s movie review site at http://thecinemachick.blogspot.com/2011/07/twilight-rant-part-1-cast-and.html. Here, I am just going to start off with the first book and end with the fourth one in four different reviews.

            So, enough of the sweet nothings and let’s dive into the first book Twilight.

            This book starts off with a bit of foreboding. When I first read it, I’ll have to admit that I was rather confused about the whole thing. Then again, I didn’t even know it had been a book series until a friend told me I should read them.

            Thinking back about it, it does set the reader up for something evil and horrible to come and might want to make you know just what would happen to get us to that point.

            Immediately after, we are finally introduced to the main female character named Isabella Swan, Bella for short.

            According to her, her parents had divorced and her mom Renee is seeing someone new but misses him because he has to travel a lot. Bella seems to be rather convincing as she has convinced her mom to go and travel around with Phil, which we will never see, while she moves back to Forks, Washington to live with her dad named Charlie.

            However, during all of this intro it become abundantly clear that Bella doesn’t have a very high opinion of herself. Either she is very self deprecating or simply has a case of low self esteem. Most people who saw the movie preferred to choose the former. But in reading the books, I really wanted to believe that she had some severe case of low self-esteem and needed something to help gain her confidence and learn where she truly fit in.

            Isn’t that what we all really want? A place where we really fit into the world.

            In any case the conversation is as lacking between the pair as one might expect from a father and daughter who have barely spent any time around the other and a father who doesn’t really know what it takes to raise a teenage daughter.

            Yet, as a father he does the best he can and has even gone so far as to purchase a truck for Bella to drive around town and to school in without any strings attached.

            Sounds pretty good to me.

            This is where we meet Billy Black who happens to be a long time friend of Charlie and the one that Charlie purchased the truck from and his son Jacob. Apparently, when Bella used to live in Forks the pair had been good friends as kids and spent most of their time together causing for an easy friendship for Bella to cling to in her new environment.

           

            After the friendly scene, Bella heads off the next day for her first day of school. Her thoughts are what every kids might be if they had to start school in the middle of the year. She comes off really shy and somewhat insecure in this new school despite the fact it’s not the biggest school in the world.

            After making it through her first class, we get the first few shy meetings with some of the students of Forks high that take it upon themselves to introduces themselves to the new girl. It is here we meet Eric and Jessica specifically. Apparently, Bella doesn’t have the best memory so those are the only two names she remembers.

            Seems to me that if Bella is really looking for a place to fit in that maybe she needs to work on that memory problem. I don’t think any of my friends would stick around very long if I forgot their names. Unless I had a concussion of course.

           

            However, it is at lunch that things start to change for Bella. All day long she has had the other students gawking at her. So it becomes all the more obvious when a group of students isn’t doing that very thing. This is where we are finally introduced to the Cullen children who are Dr. Cullen’s foster kids their names being Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, Alice and Edward.

            According to the various students Bella talks to about the Cullen kids, they had been are still are the talk of the school for various reasons. Mainly because they keep completely to themselves and seem to be hooked up in pairs. The only one who hasn’t followed this pattern seems to be Edward who hasn’t accepted any of the various advances of other girls in the school.

            Now, this is where the author, Stephanie Meyer, has really set it up for everyone to get hooked onto the relationship of Edward and Bella. Edward along with Jacob have been left utterly available and are thrown at the readers for them to notice. Plenty of fodder for a love triangle and droves of fangirls who want one or the other for themselves.

            Now, this is where I personally deviate from the rest of the fans out there. Yes, I’m a fan of the books however I’m not one of the many who has gotten sucked into the Team Edward and Team Jacob. While at this point in the book, we haven’t gotten much detail on the others in the Cullen clan, I didn’t feel like Edward was that attainable. He was single but there was just something about the way the other girls were so attracted and obsessed with him that made me not want to go after him myself.

            As the book goes on, I become more attracted to the character named Jasper Hale. True, he doesn’t have an abundance of lines and he’s described as the “one that looks like he’s in pain”. I think it’s the fact that he’s not really noticed all that much. The very fact that he is outside of everyone’s view makes me more determined to really want to know him.

            That being said, Jackson Rathbone if you ever read this I’ll look forward to the day I can make it to one of your concerts or see you in person.

            But I digress (always wanted to say that).

            Well, it’s here that slowly, Bella’s world becomes more and more about Edward. She becomes just as curious as the other kids about the mysterious Edward Cullen and his family…but mostly Edward let’s be real here.

           

            But things don’t start off smoothly like everyone would expect. That’s the one thing I appreciate about this book series. It’s not like in some movies where they run into each other one day and the next day it’s like they’ve known each other forever and then they suddenly decide to get married. No, if that would have happened then I would have put the book down and walked off never to return.

            This becomes very apparent in Biology when they are forced to sit next to each other. Edward doesn’t even talk to Bella when she sits next to him. He sits there in his seat and practically glaring at her the whole class in a very stiff posture. There gives the readers a place to pause and wonder why does Edward have this sudden aversion to have her sitting there next to him? What was it that caused this reaction?

            Well, we don’t get the answer here and we don’t get it for a long time as Edward does everything in his power to avoid her. Then, he up and disappears. His siblings are seen at school everyday but he’s no where to be found. This leaves Bella having to get along in her life without his presence which she does rather well. But, of course, the book wouldn’t exist if things stayed the way they are now.

            A week or so passes and this brings with it the return of a somehow calmer and changed Edward. This change is once again shown when Bella sees him sitting at now their table in Biology. We finally get the first awkward conversation between Edward and Bella. Through these interactions it becomes clear to Bella that something is up since the first time she saw Edward his eyes were black and now they are suddenly this amber color.

            Awkward…that pretty much sums up the early days of their conversations. The venue may change slightly but they barely scratch the surface of regular conversation that friends would reach let alone the friends Bella has been hanging with since the beginning who are slowly getting less and less actual face time.

            Then, the reader gets the first huge clue that at the very least Edward Cullen isn’t all what he seems to be. On a snowy day, Bella becomes endangered by a van skidding through the parking lot at her school that’s on the course to squish her like a pancake against her own truck. In a flash of action, Bella is surprised she wasn’t killed when she finds that not only is there a dent in the truck where something stopped the truck but that Edward Cullen is now by her side making sure she is okay.

            It is from this moment on that Bella becomes more than obsessed with discovering what Edward is because he can’t be human with the things she has witnessed. It’s this very obsession that leads a conversation with Jacob later into her first clue. We get the legend of the Quilete tribe that Jacob is from that they are descended from wolves and his ancestors fought against a creature he calls “the cold ones”.

            Now, I like how they have this connected. It may be a small scene that is rather glossed over in the movie but it gives a good connection to the surreal world that Bella finds herself in that her other school mates aren’t aware of.

            Her curiosity now peaked about the creatures Jacob spoke of has her going to shop with some of her female friends for a dance that she has been avoiding going to.

            I have to interject here. I can understand that this book series is all about Bella, Edward, and Jacob. However, realistically, I never really saw why all the boys were going after Bella as if she was the only single girl in the whole school. She may have her charms to some boys but I’ve only seen a reaction like this in movies that play up this popular girl that everyone wants to be like and all the boys want to date. Maybe I’m missing something here but it seems a little nuts to have these boys so attached to someone they barely know like I mentioned earlier.

            Back to the shopping (*shudders*), where Bella splits off from the girls as she goes off to find a book store for something she can read. However, she doesn’t find what she’s looking for and wanders off hoping to find another bookstore. However, despite the stupidity of wandering off the beaten path, she gets herself lost and then she is followed by a group of guys who are either drunk or horny or both.

            In any case, this leads to the Edward as a hero moment when he saves her from the goons and chases them off before speeding off with Bella in his car. Unlike any of the previous awkward scenes in Twilight, this one actually means something to the plot. Edward finally reveals that he isn’t what he appears to be. He can read minds. But it’s the ride home that provides the most telling information. Edward is a vampire.

            Oddly enough, it’s that simple sentence that sums up the conversation. Yeah, they go through all the typical vampire lore questions but there’s barely any shock. The only shock Bella has is to find out that it’s true. That her assumption is right. Granted, he has only protected her this whole time but even I would pause for longer than she did but I’d be slightly more concerned about their diet than she is.

            Oh, remember these amber eyes I mentioned before? Those amber eyes is the way that Stephanie Meyer decided to use to show that feeding on animals has a noticeable change at least in eye color which I will explain further later.

            Despite the typical hysteria that usually follows someone meeting a ghost, ghoul or vampire, I found that if I were in the same situation I don’t think I’d be as panicked as most either. Now, if this vampire had done me harm or vampires were something to seriously fear then things would be different. But the vampire in this book hasn’t been made up to be something even remotely scary. This vampire is the final evolution: the dateable vampire.

            Slowly, this book forget about the human element and focus entirely on the relationship between Edward and Bella. There is even a scene that is remotely basic. Bella goes and meets Edward’s family. It’s almost normal if you ignore the fact they are all vampires and not remotely related save for the fact they feed on animals instead of humans.

            Yes, that’s right, in this world of vampires they are able to feed on animals if they choose to instead of humans. But I want you to keep in mind a fact that most skip over in the book. The fact that the Cullen family feeds on animals is not normal by vampire standards. They are different even in their own world. They have set themselves apart from other vampires who feed on humans.

            After a couple of time skips and various dialogue we have our first scene of Edward and Bella at “his” field. Now, I won’t go into huge detail here and trust me you aren’t missing much. There will be more scenes like this than you can shake a stick at. Bella is self conscious around the “gorgeous” Edward and he keeps trying to get across he is the monster here and that he’s dangerous. It happens the same way in ever book just with a topic or two added here and there for flavor.

            However, here is where another sticking point does occur for people who prefer the traditional vampire. Unlike even, the Dracula vampire, the “Twlight” vampires sparkle when the sun hits their skin. Now, despite the fact I’m rather accepting of a new version of the vampire even this made me stop in my tracks. It was hard to try and picture a human looking creature sparkling in the sun. My mind went so far to make it an anime sparkle. Don’t tell me you haven’t been there. I was worried it would make them look like one of those disco balls. The movie handled it rather well in my opinion. Not too much sparkle.

            Once again, Bella is only mildly surprised with this revelation and they continue to see each other. Is it just me or is Edward not really trying to scare her off. If that’s his intention then there are far more scary things he can do. But I can see also why he wouldn’t want to scare her off. We are only seeing Bella’s half of this story. If Edward really wanted to stay away from her then he would just do it but he doesn’t. Edward is just as enamored with Bella as she is with him.

            Of course, even with all the lovey dovey stuff in the world that they could add to this movie they decide not to go all in with the romance for which I am very thankful. No chick flicks for me thanks so much.

            Then we get to the scene that I personally loved the best. The world’s next incoming sport: vampire baseball. I really liked that they still have those human tendencies. I mean, I’ve really had enough of vampires who only kill everything or dress up in fine outfits and go dancing in lavish ballrooms. I like the fact these vampires actually still love things like playing baseball, solitare, working on cars and things like that.

            Of course, the peace can’t last as we finally meet the protagonists of this book. Namely, the nomad vampires called Laurent, Victoria, and James. These vampires however don’t have the golden eyes of the Cullens. They have crimson red eyes which is how this type of vampire can distinguish who feeds on humans and who feeds on animals. So remember, if a vampire’s eyes you are gazing into are red he isn’t checking you out, he’s wonder what you taste like.

            It’s this group of vampires that brings the real issue to the forefront. They discover that Bella is human and James becomes more than interested in her…as dinner. This is heightened by the simple fact that Edward protects her from him. To James, the game is on and he’s ready to do whatever he can to get past Edward and feed off of Bella.

            Now, everything changes as it becomes all about saving Bella’s life. Suddenly, vampires are dangerous again and not someone you’d want to take home to meet your parents. I appreciate that all the vampires aren’t like the Cullens. The author has showed us that the traditional idea of a vampire still does exist in this world. Vampire who could care less about humans till it’s time to feed on one. They actually enjoy the thrill of the hunt of humans. Most people I talked to about Twilight seemed to forget that little fact even if it’s not the main focus of the books.

            The Cullen’s hatch a plan for Jasper and Alice to whisk Bella away to safety while the others protect her father and try to lead James away to kill him so he won’t kill Bella. However, they underestimated James who gets around their plan and discovers where they have hidden Bella. Through trickery and vampire wiles he is able to get Bella alone. This leads up to a fight scene between Edward and James.

            I won’t go into complete details here but while Bella isn’t sucked dry by James, he did manage to bite her just once which seems to be more than enough to start turning her into a vampire.

            Again, here is where the lore changes. In other vampire movies, the change is inevitable and quick. In the Twilight series the change is not only incredibly painful but it takes three days to complete. However, in the first moments after being bitten it can be reversed which becomes Edward’s only option who doesn’t want Bella turning into a vampire yet.

            He tests his will by actually sucking the “infection” out of her like one might do for other wounds. This effort prevented Bella from turning into a vampire. Bella later wakes up in a hospital, goes along with the lies to her mom about what happened, freaks out when Edward talks to her about moving back to live with her mom before he gives in and they all head back home to Forks.

            The book ends with Bella being taken to the prom by Edward despite all her earlier denials that she’d ever go to a dance. Apparently, she was more taken over by Edward’s offer.

            And that’s Twilight.

            Now, despite all the problems the movie caused in my book, the book itself had some very strong points that could have been something great. Things are left out and changed to the point that I had been seriously concerned that anyone who went to see this movie would be very confused if they hadn’t read the books to begin with.

            That aside, Twilight has its perks. The vampires may not be those traditional blood sucking and evil creatures of the night but they have their place in the changing views about vampires. Maybe one day we will see a rotation back towards the original idea of a vampire as the popular idea.

            While this story is heavily centered around Bella and her feelings for Edward, it does make sense. This book is all from her perspective and that’s what we have to work with. Jacob is placed solely in the friend category because that’s where he’s always been to Bella. Edward on the other hand is something new. She has to get to know him in order to see where if anywhere that he fits into her life. It’s then she sees that her feelings about Edward aren’t something simple.

            It’s through Edward that she has found a calling and a purpose that she aspires to. Now, most people don’t aspire to become a vampire but as far as we are aware vampires are just fiction. Who can really say what they would do in a world were vampires did really exist like they do in Twilight.

            My opinion: read the book. Even if you saw the movie first. There are things in the book that aren’t covered in the movies and things are portrayed in a different light. Some that like the movie may hate the book and vice versa. However, the one thing I always stress is that when a book comes out and a movie is made off that book that it’s the book they are basing the story off of not the other way around. Keep that in mind the next time one of your fave book turns up as a movie and see if the way you view the movie is different.

            As for me, the movie was all right but I prefer the book.

            That’s all from this chic for now. I’m Creative Karma and I will always be Team Jasper.

Interview With A Vampire

           Hello all you internet surfers. If you’re reading this then you’ve made your way to my book review blog. I’m Creative Karma and for fun I’ve decided to jump out there and review books I’ve been reading lately. Any books I choose to review could be mainstream or off the beaten path. They might have been made into movies that broke the box office records or completely flopped. Beware, this blog and future ones will have spoilers for the books themselves. So, if you want to read them yourselves just jump to the end of the blog for the final summary.

            For this first installment, I’m dragging along an old friend of mine Pop Rocks, Roxie for short. She’ll chime in every now and then and add her thoughts in on this grand opening review. Say hi Roxie.

            What up guys and dolls, I'm Pop Rocks.  Please call me Roxie since we're all friends here.  I'm a pop culture junkie so I study everything from music to movies to fashion.  I'm also Karma's stalker, so I sleep in her closet.  So kind of her to let me out tonight.

           Be nice Roxie. Don’t make me close you back in. Anyway folks, tonight we are gonna start off following the current trend in movies. That’s right, the vampire genre. Many people are familiar with the current Twilight craze working its way across the world. However, that book review is for another time. Tonight, we are starting with the book that some people consider being the starting point for what’s called the modern or romantic vampire, Interview with a Vampire.

Yeah, don't get started on Twilight.  People have to tie me to chairs when we talk about that.  Interview with a Vampire came out in the late 1970s, back before Twilight was even in its embryonic stage.  It's one of my favorites because it doesn't try to make the vampire seem glamorous.  Instead, it's a realistic account told by our protagonist, Louis.  Oh Louis...I have a literary crush on him.

Louis is a character you can actually understand and feel for as a person. This is mostly because of the way he sees life. The book starts of with Louie in the apartment of an unnamed writer and interviewer. In the book, this character is only ever referred to as boy or the boy. Well, this boy is about to have the interview of a life with the vampire Louis. The interview itself starts off with the usual question about how long Louis has been a vampire. This is where we discover that Louis was turned when he was 25 in the year 1791 on a Louisiana plantation. I’m such a sucker for Southern vampires.

You have to admit Karma, Southern vampires just have a charm that others don't they? Louis, in the film, is played by Brad Pitt.  He is oh so yummy in the movie.  Louis is a man struck with grief and he's suffering from some bad depression.  He's suicidal and when things seem their worst, Lestat magically appears.  Lestat turns him into an immortal.  They become companions, though things aren’t exactly happy between them.  Louis has human compassion, finding it damn near impossible to kill another person for blood.  Sounds familiar, don't it?

Oh, I do agree Roxie and I do believe that sounds very familiar. Though, I will save our audience by not going there for now. But as you mentioned, Louie does spend all of his eternal days hunting and feeding on rats and the like having trouble adjusting to the feeding upon humans as well as having a disdain for Lestat. He tries to distance himself from Lestat despite his need for him. It is through this series of events that leads to the introduction of the next important character. In Louie’s wanderings, he ends up feeding on a human despite his issues. A young girl named Claudia.

Lestat turns Claudia in order to save her and to keep Louis close.  I know, I know, Lestat is a manipulative guy.  Well, keep in mind she's only about five years old.  In the movie, they made her eight because...it's less creepy?  But yes, they "raise" Claudia together and she becomes unhappy, stuck as an immortal child.  She realizes she'll never mature, never become a woman and this somehow leads to one conclusion: Murder Lestat

Actually, I believe there is a good reason for this conclusion in Claudia’s mind. She may have the mind of an adult but that doesn’t mean it’s a balanced one. It’s hard to think that any child that was taken as a vampire as young as Claudia was would be able to keep from going crazy in some form if it’s not kept in check. However, having Lestat being the one as the vampire tutor wouldn’t keep her from that. Also, as a child she could never really comprehend what had happened to her and so now that she has the ability to think it through it’s reasonable for her to be angry.

 I'd be pissed too honestly.  You know...this situation sounds even more familiar now.  Claudia becomes a vicious and cruel child, tricking Lestat into drinking poison and slitting his throat.  However, Lestat apparently can't die and attacks them only to be set on fire.  With all that out of the way, Louis and Claudia head to Europe to seek out other's of their kind.  This is the time they meet Armand.  By the way, Antonio Banderas, you failed as Armand.

While Antonio may have failed as Armand in the movie, it is Armand that plays the key role in Louie’s life to set him on the right course to leading his own life. Through their discussions, Louis comes to terms with his own existence.  Although, we get a moment of Claudia’s own selfishness. In a way, she is like Lestat and is able to manipulate Louis to get the things she wants. Claudia finds a woman named Madeleine and has Louie turn her into a vampire. I guess in a way to be a surrogate mother to Claudia. A way to have a complete family.

Too bad Madeline doesn't last long.  As punishment to Louis, Armand has him locked in a coffin while Claudia and Madeline are kept in what looks like a well.  They have no safety from the elements, which sadly leads to fried vampire.

That is the movie version. I checked with the book and the movie changed this part of the story. In the book it is Lestat that wanted this. He wanted them to bring him Claudia. His ultimate goal being to force Louie back with him. It was Lestat that told the other vampires that Claudia was the one that had tried to kill him which is against vampire law according to them. Then, it becomes Armand who rescues Louie from the coffin that had been bricked up into an alcove.

I'm a bit rusty on my literature, so pardon my inaccuracies.  Talk to me about movies and I'm an expert.  It's still a heart wrenching scene.  Louie does love Claudia in their own twisted little way.  He isn't able to save her, which kills him.  If you think about it, Louie has lost almost everything he's cared about.  First his brother, now his unofficial daughter.  He's a sympathetic character.  At this point, I wanted to give him a hug and a sandwich...well, blood.

I completely agree. Louie is a character that you will always feel for in some way. He’s not the romantic vampire like in Twilight or Vampire Dairies. He doesn’t look to be more human but as you get to know him you feel compassion for him. You see him as something other than an evil creature that’s only out to kill and feed. In a way, the characters in Interview with a Vampire embody the transition from evil creatures of the night to possible boyfriend material. Lestat would represent the classic vampire that lives as the monster and revels in it. However, Louie is more compassionate towards humanity. He doesn’t want to make anymore vampires and he loathes having to feed off of them.

You have to admit, Lestat always seems like he's having fun with what he's doing.  Everything he does is calculated and planned.  Even when things go wrong, he still has a whimsical charm to him.  Keep in mind he's also sort of batshit crazy.

Oh, I agree. Lestat loves being the monster. He “lives” for being what he believes vampires to be. He may be crazy and manipulative but he’s also very calculated. To me, a vampire is always calculated about their actions in one way or another. This is really showing that not all vampires are alike. That becoming a vampire doesn’t make you any more evil or good. It’s the way that that vampire was brought up and if that changes the way they feel, think, or act as an undead being.

Time to hurry this along a bit. After finding the roasted vampires, he has the heart to heart with Armand after burning the place they lived down and killing the vampires inside,  he left with Armand and traveled about various parts of the world, Armand tells him Lestat didn't die in the fire, and then they both headed to New Orleans. Louie finds Lestat with other vampires that have been helping him. After telling Armand about that and Armand finding out that Louie doesn't need him anymore he leave Louie. After all that, the "boy" he was telling the story to gets angry about the way the story ended. He wants to know more and he wants that life. Louie gets angry at him and tells him that there is only one way to show what it's really like and he feeds on the boy but doesn't turn. He wakes the next morning to find Louie is gone. So he goes to his tape recorder and uses in info there to find where to look for Lestat and leaves to find him.

Don't worry about "boy".  He shows up again in a later book.  Fun fact: His name is Daniel and in the film adaptation is played by Christian Slater.

Thanks for that Roxie. That’s the only thing that bothered me a bit about the book. In the book, he is never named.  There is never even a hint at this guy’s name or even his age. They say “boy” which makes me think he’s much younger than the movie suggests.

I'm not sure of his age, but remember, back in the day of Louie and Lestat, boy was a derogatory term deemed for servants.  Servants didn't have names, they were just called "boy" or "girl" in order to prove who was superior.  Remember kids, if you said it loud and with authority, that makes it true.

In any case, that’s Interview with a Vampire.  Now, the story itself is full of tons of rich detail and ideas that weren’t touched on here. If we had, this blog would have you sitting there for hours. However, the story itself is definitely a turning point for what makes a vampire a vampire. There will always be those movies of the vampire that would rather kill you than feel sorry for you but Interview with a Vampire gave the literary world a new way to look at vampires. This book is one of those books that I feel everyone should read at one point or another. Though it made it possible for the Twilight series to exist it doesn’t dumb itself down for the readers. It is definitely a book for a more mature audience.

And as we all know, different authors will interpret the vampire story in different ways.  Some are tragic creatures while others are feral things hellbent on killing for the sake of killing.  Lately, they all seem to be emo kids, who experience vast emotional problems.  They all have some huge inner turmoil about love, which for me, detracts from the idea of a vampire.  Ah, but what do I know?  It's late, I'm getting sleepy and rambly.

Yes, it’s time to say goodnight to everyone. Once again, give this book a chance. It’s definitely worth the read. Say goodnight Roxie and then you can head off to bed.

I'm Roxie and I'm totally in disguise right now...as far as you know.

And I’m Karma, Creative Karma and the next time you see me I might be reviewing your favorite book.