Louis is telling the story of his life to a boy reporter in an apartment in San Francisco. Louis wants to tell the story of how he came to be a vampire. The boy has enough tape for his tape recorder to get the story word for word. Louis's life before he became a vampire was filled with depression, after the death of his brother. He moved to New Orleans to escape from the home of where his brother died. From that day on he "lived like a man who wanted to die, but had no courage to do it himself.” The night that changed his life to be forever in the darkness of nights was his vampire attack with Lestat.
Lestat's character enjoyed the thrill of killing and taking the life of his victims. Taking their energy for his own, it was like a game to him and it could be that he longed to have a companion to share that thrill, and to have his own slave that he can taunt and make him do anything. Louis accepted Lester’s offer and after being drained to the point of death and consuming the blood of Lestat. Louis was forever more to be a vampire. After that, he saw things differently with his new vampire eyes. There is a lot of sexual tension by Lestat towards Louis.
What makes this story a classic for any book lover or vampire fan, is the characters. With such great detail, you can feel the suffering and pain that Louis was having, in trying to understand the meaning of being a vampire. He constantly asks himself “what was its purpose?” Lestat enjoys the thrill of taking life and blood. Claudia is also frustrated because she is forever trapped in her young body and is never able to grow up. Also the character of Armand (the head of a vampire coven deep within the theater) is the oldest living vampire (400 years) and he has knowledge and elegance to his character. What Lestat, Claudia, and Armand have in common (besides being vampires) is they all want Louis. He is very popular with the three and throughout the story, whichever one of them is with Louis, there is an erotic, thrilling feeling.
Lestat and Louis could not be more different. Louis being a new vampire, still appreciates life and didn't enjoy taking life from another human. Life to him was precious and death was never something to laugh or think of as entertainment. Lestat was everything that Louis refused to be. He enjoyed sucking the life out of some poor soul. When Lestat hunted he would start out with a young girl (those were his favorites) and then towards the end he would take the life of a male teenager. Louis killed and drank the blood of animals to satisfy his hunger. Louis hated Lestat at not not only being in this torture, but because he didn't want to learn his ways of being a vampire. Surely Louis thought of other vampires that knew the answers to his questions. Lestat knew that Louis wanted to leave him, and Lestat wanted to keep Louis. When they have arrived to New Orleans (after burning down their plantation and the house). It was there that a new character was to join them, but this new person was going to be Lestat’s key to keeping Louis with him. Claudia was a young girl that was found on the floor with her dead mother (some kind of plague that spread). Louis turned her, because he had been hungry for so long and he couldn't resist. But he didn't drain her till she was at the point of death. Lestat found Louis in the act, and after seeing how bad Louis felt for almost taking the child’s life. Lestat gave the child a new life, an eternal life as a vampire. Claudia was to be their child and the three were to be a family.
The main point of the story about Louis, is learning for himself what it means to be a vampire, by learning from his experiences with being with Lest at, Claudia, and ending with Armand. Also knowing the suffering he faced from Claudia's death, of losing someone he cared about (to him she was like a daughter and he cared for her). In the end he didn't need anyone to teach him anymore. He learned on his own and didn't need a companion like the others. He got the answers that he wanted to get and saw nothing else that he desired. Maybe the reason why he wanted to tell the boy reporter about his life was because he wanted to share what he has seen and maybe this information could be useful to some other new vampire. But the boy reporter wanted to know more, and not just what Louie has told him, but also about all the negative sides of being immortal. The boy reporter was now fascinated in know more, and wanted to experience it just like Louie. He thought that there had to be more. The ending of this book leaves us with the reporter replaying his tape recorder and getting the location of Lestat and finding him. Maybe Lestat will turn him into a vampire, and the boy can be his new companion.
Interview With The Vampire is a classic vampire novel that's just as great as the story of Dracula. The story doesn't leave the reader bored with just talk between characters. Anne Rice uses her words to create a new look on vampires and the world they are surrounded in and to watch it change, but never they. It was an addicting story that made me crave to see what was going to happen next, like Lestat craving for blood. I was moved by the words of Louis when he would say that even though he's a vampire he appreciates life, even when his life had ended.
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