interview with the vampire by anne rice

if we can’t have another twilight saga novel, we can at least have the next best thing (as voted by our listeners). this episode we’re reading and discussing interview with the vampire by the mother of gothic, erotic fiction, anne rice. we discuss our vampires louis and lestat, who are surely the blueprint for all modern vampires to follow thereafter (edward cullen, we’re looking at you). we also chat about the gay of it all, the novels at times questionable undertones and try to answer the question “why the hell was sting so obsessed with this book”?

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Transcript

Laura 0:01

Hello and welcome to Talk Lit Get Hit, a podcast where we read viral books the internet won't shut up about and rate them lit or shit.

Bridget 0:09

We're your hosts Bridget and Laura, lovers of sad girl fiction and tragic endings, fearers of smart, urban fantasy, and the Who Did This To You trope. Join us as we pick apart all the books the internet loves and embark on a journey to figure out why.

Laura 0:24

While we eagerly await the day, Stephanie Meyer gifts us with another Twilight Saga novel, we're chasing the high of the next best thing. This episode, we're reading a book frequently touted as sexy, gay, and the origins of the emo vampire novel. We are, of course, discussing Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Bridget, hello, hello.

Bridget 0:43

Hello, hello. I have to tell you something about hello, hello. Oh. Maddie heard someone at her work say hello, hello, so I think it's catching. Influences. I think you're the first person that's ever said it. I believe so. And now there's many other people saying it purely because of you.

Laura 1:01

I am gonna tell myself this every day. Yeah. I've been thinking about it every day since Maddie told me. I've been like, I must remember to tell Laura. Thanks. That's an unnecessary ego boost for me, but I appreciate it all the same. Good way to start the podcast. Well, I have something to tell you. Oh my god. And um, oh my god, I can't believe we're here already. But I just yesterday I was thinking, like, am I in love with Bridget? Because I was listening to our Eat Prey Love episode. I so often listen to our older episodes. And like, I just found myself thinking, oh my god, I love the way she says that. Or like, oh, it just makes me feel so good hearing Bridget talk and like this and that. I'm blushing. I was like, is this normal? Is this love? Oh my god, am I in love with Bridget?

Bridget 1:59

You're gonna have to get divorced first.

Laura 2:01

Yeah. I'll wait for you. Oh, that's great.

Bridget 2:09

How has your month been? It's been good. I haven't really done very much. I've been on holidays, that's been lovely. It's been the Carnival of Flowers, uh, where I live in Toomba, and that has been really nice, very busy in the parks. There's lots of people. I just look at them and I think, where have you come from? How are you getting home? It's just crazy how many people there are in one place. Just looking at some flowers. So that's been really nice. The weather's been nice, not too hot, not too cold. We did have a rapture party in the park. We were waiting to be raptured. That didn't happen. So that was a bit disappointing. Yesterday, Taleswift's new album came out, so that was very exciting. I felt exhausted at the end of it. It's only like 45 minutes long, but I was like, oh, that was that was a it really took it out of me. So I'm a bit a bit sleepy this morning.

Laura 2:57

From such great highs to such low lows.

Bridget 3:00

Something that's been on my mind a lot lately, it's really been bringing me down. Uh, is cling wrap. So I don't really use cling wrap, like I try not to use single-use plastics very much, but like at work a few times lately I've had to use it quite a bit. And last week I made these like little mousse things and they were in tiny little bowls, and I didn't have like a silicon cover to put over the top, so I use cling wrap, and I'm so bad at cling wrap. And I just don't understand why it's so hard to use it, why the box falls apart. Why? I I was hoping you might have some tips for me because I just can't use them. I miss the days of working in hospitality when you got the big one, the bulk one, and it has the sturdy box and the little slidey uh knife.

Laura 3:47

Yeah, the slide here is the best case scenario.

Bridget 3:49

So good, but I can't do it, and it's really embarrassing at work because like everyone I work with is like older than me by quite a few years, and they're all very well-versed in the cling wrap, and I'm like balling it up and chucking it out and starting again. Do you have any helpful tips for cling wrap?

Laura 4:04

No, unfortunately, I have all the same struggles as you. And I think something that adds to it is I always buy the cheapest one possible, which I think is not very clingy or wrappy. So unfortunately, I can't help you there. People are such masters. It's like a plastic fan's version of pegging out a tent, I feel. Like when you get the tension right, it's a thing of beauty, but it's hard to get there. It's a skill.

Bridget 4:29

It's really hard. And so this is a call out for any listeners. Do you have any tips? Is there like a YouTube series I could watch? Like something on SBS Undermand. Four-part series. Anyway, that's feels good to get that off my chest because I've been thinking about that for the last few weeks, and hopefully I'll have some answers soon.

Laura 4:48

How's your month been? My month's been good. I did my usual trick of looking through my camera roll, and it is more barren than ever. Um, but I did manage to go camping, so it was my first and only camping trip of the year.

Bridget 5:03

Um, which is crazy because like this time last year, you were like, I've been camping like 17 times. I think it was only twice, but it did feel like a lot more.

Laura 5:12

Was it only twice? I think maybe three times total. Wow, I've really built that up. Yeah. Camping's her thing. Um, and look, the camping trip was pretty good. There was some pretty average weather in that it was like freezing cold.

Bridget 5:28

Oh god.

Laura 5:29

Very windy on one of the days. Probably why pegging out the tent is fresh in my mind. Um, because we went with four of our friends, two couples, and um, yeah, one of the couples had bought the same new tent as us. And so I was feeling like a lot of responsibility because initially we had camped like quite close to some gum trees, and it was very windy, and I was very stressed. And so then we moved camp, which I felt hugely responsible for because I had been like airing my anxieties. But then the new camp spot was not sheltered whatsoever from the wind. So then unfortunately, we had a new devil to deal with. We got there in the end, but it was a bit touch and go for a while. But there was something slightly traumatic that happened when we were camping, and it's something that I've seen people talking about on TikTok, where they get used to participating in these little echo chambers where everybody's having minor leagues discourse and pulling apart like criticisms of authors and things and looking at situations through certain lenses and blah blah blah. And like someone will say to you, Oh, do you use cling wrap? And you'll say, Nope. Um no, actually, I don't use cling wrap because of the cultural climate and the climate catastrophe and the society in which and the paradigm and blah blah blah blah. And I'm very guilty of this often, but when we went camping, one of my friends said, I saw you reviewed Fourth Wing on your podcast, and my mind went straight to suspicion and panic because I was like, What's the angle? Like, is it trying to catch me out? Like, is this because of what Rebecca Garros is accused of? Is this because of her pro-war stance? Is this because she's a military wife? And I rapidly crumbled and I went on some sort of meltdown about like, oh yeah, like we did enjoy it at the time, but um, you know, like there was a lot in that episode that we cut out because it was early days of the podcast, and we were just really freaking out, and we could we did this and that, and it was actually really valid. And I was just just word vomit, so much word vomit. And then I finished, and he was like, Oh yeah, I don't really know about all of that, but did you enjoy it? And I had to be like, Oh, kinda, yeah. I was like, oh Jesus, that's so embarrassing.

Bridget 7:50

Why did I say so much nothing? I find that even when it's like nothing to be panicked about, like someone says, Oh, I listened to your podcast the other day. I'm like, oh, oh my god, like, oh we we we don't even like take it seriously as like even though we really do. But did you like it? Anyway, what did you do yesterday? Don't talk to me.

Laura 8:13

Oh embarrassing. The only other major thing that's happened in my month is that I did conduct some independent investigative journalism where I went out, not sponsored, by the way. Not yet, anyway, and I purchased the Colgate Rainbow Fresh toothpaste.

Bridget 8:32

Amazing.

Laura 8:33

That we have discussed a surprising amount of times on the show. And on Instagram. Yeah. I know you're a big fan. I know you've even influenced some of our listeners to purchase this toothpaste, and they are in turn big fans. And so I had high hopes. And imagine my shock and imagine my distress when not one, not two, not three, but four squeezes of the toothpaste across consecutive nights yielded zero heart. Jesus Christ.

Bridget 9:04

Nothing but sad clear gel. That is very sad. Because if you take away the hearts, there's not much else. Going for it.

Laura 9:12

No, at least the main feature for me. Clean my teeth better somehow. They're like an abrasive thing. Yes. And so every night I was like, oh, I've got to record it. And I kept forgetting first taste videos. Yeah. No, like a look what you look how you've set me up for disappointment. Maybe spent four dollars. I think it was like two dollars on sale. That's good. And yeah, the one night that I recorded it, like three hearts came out. Indicated. And they've been flowing free ever since.

Bridget 9:45

That's good. I finally finished the watermelon one and have to say, not that good. But I mean, if you are following us on Instagram, then you will already know it does rate higher than the peach one. That was foul. Rainbow Hearts is still number one. But I haven't tried the Lime Fresh, whatever that one's called yet. It sounds a bit weird. Um, have heard people say it's like a Calippo. Okay. Or I don't know, a lime milkshake, I think, which doesn't sound gorgeous.

Laura 10:14

Those two things don't taste the same though, do they?

Bridget 10:16

And I could be getting that wrong. I could be misremembering that. I don't know. But that'll be next. I I had to go back to like normal toothpaste for a bit because I feel like I was getting a bit loopy.

Laura 10:26

Cavities. Yeah.

Bridget 10:27

Yeah, I'm going to the dentist soon for my like six monthly checkup, and I was like, I'll be too embarrassed to tell them what toothpaste I've been using if they ask. They never do, but I'm happy that you finally got some hearts.

Laura 10:39

Yeah. Me too.

Bridget 10:40

What about books? What have you been reading since we were last recorded?

Laura 10:43

I have sadly been in like a flat-out reading slump since we last recorded. I honestly don't know what I've been doing, but I've only read three books apart from the two podcast books. And they've all been okay.

Bridget 10:57

That's a shame. Yeah.

Laura 10:58

It would be good if like it was three books and they were all great.

Bridget 11:01

Yeah. But yeah.

Laura 11:02

And also they were all audiobooks. So I read Long Bright River by Liz Moore, which I did actually really enjoy. She's the author of The God of the Woods, which I read at the start of the year and really enjoyed. I liked it enough to think, oh, okay, I could be on to a winner here. I'm gonna keep reading what Liz Moore writes. Um, because I really like her style. I read Loved One by Aisha Maha, and this was really good. I think it was a lot better than I expected it to be, but maybe not quite as good for me as the hype I've been seeing. I listened to this as an audiobook, and I do think that it would have been better for me if I had read it, just because um the narrator was good, but it was still just that kind of undeniably American flair and emphasis that uh isn't always the way that I like to interpret a story. Still good. And then the last one was Favourite Daughter by Morgan Dick, which I think would be a solid 100% fine for me. Three stars. I feel like this book couldn't really decide what genre it was trying to be. And again, I think this is a downside of some audiobooks to me because I think the narrator obviously puts their flair and their own tone on the story, and I maybe could have gotten a bit more out of it if I didn't feel like the narrator was being like peppy or quippy with some of her delivery. Still good, not great. I'm reading Betty by Tiffany McDaniel, which I sense is gonna destroy me. I may have been reading that at our last recording as well, but one day I'm gonna finish that thing and it's gonna be glorious. And I am currently reading Catabases, which I am also enjoying, and I'm intrigued in advance to find out where I land at the end.

Bridget 12:44

How about you? I haven't been reading too much either. All that time looking at flowers has really limited my reading time. Also, if I'm being honest, I have been playing a lot of The Sims, so that's also taking a lot of my reading time. But I've put myself on a band, I haven't played for about a week. I'm a week clean and it needed to happen. I think the two best books that I read since we last recorded were probably The Wedding People by Alison S. Patch. I'm not really sure if that's how you say her name, but in my mind that's how you say it. And that was fantastic. I didn't read it for ages because I saw so many people reading it, and I just thought, can't be that good if everybody likes it. And also the cover was really good, and I was like, oh, I don't want to read it if it's gonna be bad, and the cover will be wrecked, but happy to report. It was enjoyable, unexpectedly moving. I didn't think it was gonna be that moving, and it was just funny and I liked it a lot. It was a vibe. The second book that I really enjoyed this month was a complete shock to me, and it was You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogel. This has like an awful cartoon cover, it's a romance, for some reason, loved it. It's like a tug of war between two people that are engaged to be married, um, who don't really love each other anymore, but it's like if we pull that now, I'm gonna have to pay or you're gonna have to pay all the money. It's lovers to enemies to lovers. And uh that was something a bit unique, and I liked that a lot. It was funny, I didn't think it was too serious, and really shocked myself with how much I liked it. So that sounds good. Yeah. Sometimes you just need something silly, I think. Especially if you're in a reading slump. Yeah. Yeah. I am also listening to Catabasis, but my loan has lapsed, and I wasn't too upset about that because while I'm enjoying the characters and the writing, the setting and the themes and the plot isn't that interesting to me. Like I spoke a lot about this in the Song of Achilles episode. I'm just not into mythology or hell or any of that, so I'm reading it, I'm enjoying the writing, but I'm like, I really wish we weren't talking about this. So I'm not too sad about the whole lapsing. When it comes back around, I'll I'll keep going. Like, I it's not like I was excited for it and I've been let down. Like when it was announced, I was like, cool.

Laura 15:01

Yay, it's great. Yeah, we both had the same sort of response. I think we both said, Oh, we probably won't read it, but then with greed in our hearts, give me, gimme.

Bridget 15:12

Free book, please. I placed a hold on both the ebook and the audiobook, so I don't know who the hell I thought I was, but this is the greed they speak of in the Bible. At least I'm not buying it, at least I'm supporting my libraries. I'm also still trying to read through the Book of Prize long list. Unfortunately, none of them have made it to the short list that I've read so far. So it's gonna be a long slog for me. Um, none of them have lived up to the lofty heights of love forms. Don't even talk to me about one boat. I hated that book so much, it was so boring. But I'm listening to Flashlight by Susan Choi. That is great so far. It seems to be an intergenerational family saga. My fave. I know. Feeling like Pachinko, not gonna lie.

Laura 15:56

Well, that's a bit of me. Yeah.

Bridget 15:59

Unfortunately, I haven't read too much this month because I have been playing The Sims so do you listen to audiobooks when you play The Sims? No, I can't do anything. Once I tried to watch a movie while I played The Sims, and the movie finished and I was like, huh? What year is it? What happened? I don't blink. I like clench my jaw, my jaw's really sore, my shoulders get really sore. It's really bad. I don't deep freeze for hours. It's so bad. Um, I don't care. I love it. I need someone to impose a like a bedtime on me and like a shot colour. Screen time limits. Yeah, every time I think about The Sims like cognitive behavioral therapy or something. I don't know, I need something. Get Brian to set up your parental controls on you. No, because he's just as bad. He's into World of Warcraft at the moment. So like we're in separate rooms playing separate games, just like staring at the screen, getting that gamer glaze.

Laura 16:51

Hi game. Gamer girl.

Bridget 16:54

Uh, anyway, you always love what kills you.

Laura 17:00

Alright, it's that time of the episode where we must, in fact, talk about the book. So, Bridget, if you could tell me your initial thoughts, expectations, hopes, and dreams heading into reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. I would love to hear them.

Bridget 17:14

I knew really nothing about this story. I hadn't really heard of it. I knew that you had started and then DNF'd another Anne Rice book, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, and the only reason I remembered that it was the same author was because you made a TikTok about it, and for some reason we still get quite a bit of engagement on that every now and then. I was worried that I was going to like it a lot and fall into a twilight-like craze. I was also worried that I was going to like it more than Twilight and have to like, you know, reshuffle my priorities in life. How about you?

Laura 17:44

I was in two minds about this book. I really can't decide how I felt. I didn't think about it a lot, but I kind of thought, on one hand, this could be like a product of its time, and people are saying it's like sexy, it's homoerotic, it's dark, it's moody. But what is dark and moody and gay for like 1970? And is that gonna stack up to dark, moody, and gay in 2025? Probably not. But at the same time, I had read, as you said, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice, which was explicit and bleak and horrific. And so I thought, oh, okay, maybe this could be a bit of a mess. Like maybe this could be a bit of an assault to the senses. So I don't know. I wasn't really expecting to like it. I wasn't really expecting to hate it. I will say there were some intriguing tidbits on my copy. I managed to snag a copy secondhand from World of Books, so it's got a real retro vibe. And this copy was published in 1977, and it has an inscription inside, handwritten, the 11th of February 1991, to Jane, from one creature of the night to another, Alex S. Or maybe Alexis, I can't quite be sure. So charming. I love finding little handwritten inscriptions in books. That made me think, like, oh, okay, is this like a goth girl like um creature of the night? Like, I am the underbelly of society kind of vibe. Um, but something else very intriguing about this copy is on the back where they have the little sort of testimonies. They've got ones from Sunday Times, Chicago Tribune, and the Washington Post, but the one that takes pride and place says one of the most wonderful, erotic, sensual books ever written stings. So I was like, hell yeah. Let's get reading. Did you read in the fields of gold? You bet.

Bridget 19:45

I hate the police.

Laura 19:48

Right. But like also, I haven't thought about this until now, but isn't Don't Stand So Close to Me kind of the vibe of this whole book? You're just too young, girl.

Bridget 20:06

That's so why was he reading this? I don't know. He didn't have much on in that year.

Laura 20:12

And like the book and the movie are both just such products of their time. Like, it's just such a perfect window into the celebrity of the time. And I think this copy, I'm so intrigued. Like, was Sting the big kind of ticket item at this point in time? And they were like, oh, we've got to get this man's thoughts on this book because he's such a fan that he was like sending carrier pigeons to everyone he knows. You've got to read this book, man. It's the most wonderful erotic central book ever written.

Bridget 20:47

As always, our discussion will leave no stone unturned, no coffin unopened, no twilight comparison unmade. If you don't want to have interview with the vampire spoiled for you, pause the episode, hit subscribe, and come back when you're ready.

Laura 21:00

Content warnings for this episode include themes of death and gore, sexual themes, suicidal ideation, and pedophilia.

Bridget 21:08

In a darkened room, a young man sits telling the macabre and eerie story of his life. The story of a vampire, gifted with eternal life, cursed with an exquisite craving for human blood. Here are the confessions of a vampire.

Laura 21:22

Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly erotic, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force. A story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses.

Bridget 21:39

Okay, Laura, I am so excited to hear your post reading feelings of Interview with the Vampire. How did you feel?

Laura 21:45

I don't know how to feel. I think there was something that was really excellent about this book for me, and also something that was not quite right. I think overall I found it pretty boring. Is a shame because I think the elements of the book were so good. I really see how this hit hard at the time, I think. And I was really trying hard to look at it through the lens of like 1976 or whenever it was published. But I think ultimately I could take it or leave it. How about you?

Bridget 22:18

Yeah, I think exactly the same. It was so unbelievably boring. It was like listening to Edward tell Carlisle's story to Bella for the first time for 17 hours. It was so boring. I think there was like a really interesting story and discussion of humanity and grief and love and morality, mortality buried under an absolute mountain of drivel and boredom. It was so boring. I felt betrayed. I felt ripped off. I was like on the front of my book, it says Darkly Brooding, sensually written, a tale of seduction and betrayal, decadence and desire, death and immortality. Like, where was the desire? Where was the seduction? Where was anything exciting happening? The main thing we were hearing about was like how expensive his curtains were and how he had the best clothes. Like I got to the end of the book and the interview went off on his little rant, and I was like, yes, like that's how I feel too. Like he was saying it didn't have to end like that, all those things you felt in Paris. You talk about passion, you talk about longing. You don't understand the meaning of your own story, and I think that's so true. Like it ended in such a disappointing way for me. And I know that this is the start of many, many books, but I think it could have been something really fantastic, but for me it just fell so flat, unfortunately.

Laura 23:41

Same. I did come across a review on Goodreads uh from the 25th of June 2009 by a reviewer called Just C. And it is quite long, but I think it like roughly sums up my journey through the book. So I'm gonna read it out. It's written like a poem. Um, so hopefully we can capture that kind of essence. You begin. It seems like it might be fun. A little bit trashy, but fun. Not so well written, disappointing. Already you know it won't be up to much. You keep reading. Why this way? You read, wondering why. It seems pointless. You are bored, your mind wanders, you keep reading, you cannot stop. It is dark, so dark. The atmosphere, the dark, macabre, gothic, haunting, erotic. You are trapped, trapped in someone's twisted fantasy. Kinky until pain and suffering and anguish and loneliness are beautiful, alluring, seductive. But you know that they are not, and no book will make it so. You keep reading, you are bored, you put the book down, but you have to finish it. You keep reading, you read, you wait for gratification, waiting for something to happen, waiting. You cannot look away. You keep reading, it is a beautiful day outside. You keep reading, so dark, so sensual, so strange. The plot shifts, a small climax, you groan, sigh. A hundred and fifty pages left. You keep reading, repelled, attracted, you shift positions, you ache for more, you keep reading. Blam, Kazam, Kapow, climax, death, destruction, fire, alone, downward spiral, depression, dark, so dark. Come on, suicide. There is no suicide. Wandering, searching, existential angst. Oh, that was all. What a stupid ending. Yeah.

Bridget 25:23

It's good, right? See, amazing.

Laura 25:29

Yeah. Well, before we get into our discussion of the book too much, I'd like to rattle off a few facts about Anne Rice because as I started digging, I uncovered uh some pretty interesting tidbits about her life. So Anne Rice, born Howard Alan Francis O'Brien, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on the 4th of October 1941. Do you think, with the exception of Jane Austen, that's the oldest author that we've read a book from on this podcast?

Bridget 25:55

Yeah, I think so without really thinking about it at all. Thinking about it for more than two seconds. Yeah.

Laura 26:01

It feels right to me, it's not yes. So she gets that if she was in like the UFC or something, that would be her like obscure fighter stat. Touching on her unconventional given name, she said, Well, my birth name is Howard Allen, because apparently my mother thought it was a good idea to name me Howard. My father's name was Howard. She wanted to name me after Howard, and she thought it was a very interesting thing to do. She was a bit of a bohemian, a bit of a mad woman, a bit of a genius, and a great deal of a great teacher. And she had the idea that naming a woman Howard was going to give that woman an unusual advantage in the world.

Bridget 26:38

So this is like the gender-flipped life and death of a boy named Sue.

Laura 26:46

On her first day of school, uh, when asked her name, she blurted out Anne. Um, and eventually her mum let it go, and she changed her name legally to Anne in 1947. Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976, and it was her debut novel. Uh, so this is actually the first part in a 13-part series named to the Vampire by Monik when I read that.

Bridget 27:09

Absolutely insane behaviour from Anne.

Laura 27:13

She married a man named Stan Rice, with whom she had two children, Michelle and Stephen, but sadly her life is filled with a lot of tragedy. Her daughter, Michelle, died of leukemia when she was just shy of six years old. Um, Michelle is often kind of cited as the inspiration for the character of Claudia in Interview with the Vampire. The novel was written in the wake of her death, and I did read a couple of interviews with Anne Rice where she said something to the effect of like, I was quite resistant to this suggestion at first, but the more I think about it, yeah, that makes sense. I guess that was me processing her death. Anne's mum died of alcoholism when Anne was 15, and then Anne herself struggled with alcoholism. She developed OCD after completing interview with a vampire and being rejected by publishers multiple times. In 1989, she fell into a coma and almost died as a result of undiagnosed diabetes. She nearly died again of a bowel obstruction following gastric bypass surgery. She's had a lot of back and forth struggling with her faith. And then despite all that, she died following complications of a stroke on the 11th of December 2021 at the age of 80. So I think knowing that about her life, the themes of the novel, and like the constant search for meaning and all of these big existential questions that the book is sort of trying to ask, make a lot of sense.

Bridget 28:35

So the interview with a vampire has actually been adapted a few times, even though we've never heard of it. Apparently, we don't rule the world. Yeah, what? Uh there was a film adaptation released in 1994 starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, and there was a television series that premiered in 2022. The novel has also been adapted as a comic three times. I am already struggling to differentiate my feelings for the book and the movie, so I think now is a good time to mention that our bonus chapter for this month is going to be covering the 1994 movie with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. So keep your ears and eyes peeled for that. So our main character, our main vampire is Louis de Pontilac, maybe.

Laura 29:17

That sounds right to me.

Bridget 29:19

Yeah, great.

Laura 29:20

That's that's good, that's all I need.

Bridget 29:21

How did you feel about Louis, Laura?

Laura 29:23

I'm not 100% sure how I felt about Louis. I think my overwhelming feeling is although, again, and I'll say it a hundred more times in this episode, probably, although I found the book quite boring, I see why Louis is like this eternal character that stood the test of time. I think there's something really enduring about his personality and the questions that he's asking and his search for meaning and his like inner conflict and all of this kind of stuff. At the same time, I think my overwhelming feeling going through the book was like, holy shit. He's still talking.

Bridget 30:03

He's still talking. It is quite dumb because when I realized that the book was gonna be that interview format throughout the whole thing, I was like, are you for real? But then I was like, it's literally called Interview with the Vampire. What did I think was gonna happen?

Laura 30:17

But he didn't stop every time, every time I saw the quotation marks, it just like yanked me right out of it. I was like, this guy's still going. The audiobook is like 14 hours lost so and sometimes like there was one bit which said something about like the interviewers, he seemed tired, his eyes were red with sleep, and I was like, let him go, Louie. Get in your coffin. He would not stop.

Bridget 30:47

I couldn't imagine being that interviewer, I couldn't imagine sitting there and having to listen to that man talk for that long and just go over the same things again and again and again. But I mean, he's so boring. Yes, obviously, I've said that now about three million times. I do think he was needed in the story. I mean, we'll get to Lestat, but I don't think we could have a story full of Lestats. I think we need to have that like light and dark. He was saying things that are very true and things that needed to be said, and I think he is a good person. But yeah, boring.

Laura 31:19

Yeah. I think probably my overwhelming issue with the book stems from this interview format, which is unfortunate because it's the premise of the whole book. But I do feel like somewhere along the line, someone should have said to Ann Rice, Hey, the story's good, but this might not be the most interesting entry point to the book. Because I just kind of felt like I was at an arm's length from the action at all times. I don't know. It is weird because, like, what difference would it make if it weren't an interview and it was just Louis's first-person recount of events? I don't know. But I think somehow it would still feel more involved and the stakes would feel higher.

Bridget 31:58

Yeah, and also I found myself getting really frustrated with the interviewer. I thought he was a really annoying person, unable to read the room, was just asking dumb questions, and that kept pulling me out of the story as well. Because I was like, just let the vampire tell the story in the way that he wants to tell the story. Like, you can't get your head bitten off. Louis's vibe to me was that he just would stand in the corner of a room and observe things that happened, but he was unable or like unwilling to put himself in the action for most of the book. And so he would just stand frozen watching things happening and feeling a lot of feelings, but never really do anything about them until it was too late. I think that I enjoyed his tr transformation at the end of the book. I liked how he just sort of was just saying what he wanted to say. He was asking the questions that he wanted to have answered. He was no longer this submissive, quiet, polite man. He was just saying, like, no, you killed my daughter, I'm gonna burn your house down, and you're gonna be in there. And Amon, you have betrayed me, so whatever, I'm done with you. So I think he ultimately learned some lessons from Lestat. And even the way he treated Lestat in the end, he was like, nah, sorry, we're not not not hanging around here with you. And I like that he did sort of grow as a vampire to be a bit more like self-sufficient. I don't know if that's the right word, but I was rooting for him to grow a backbone.

Laura 33:28

Yeah, I think self-sufficient is a good word because I think this book is him searching for answers and looking for someone to tell him what to do and like show him the way and tell him how to live and like validate his choices. I really do see how he was the blueprint for the kind of origins of the emo vampire. There were so many points reading Louis where I thought, oh, that's so Edward Cullen.

Bridget 33:52

Yeah.

Laura 33:53

Just the absolute tortured inner monologue about right and wrong and eternal damnation and like the nature of evil. It was, yeah, pure Edward.

Bridget 34:03

And it is funny me saying this because I always say that I love Midnight Sun because I love hearing Edward's tortured inner monologue. So it is quite interesting that I'm like, oh, it was too long. There was too much tortured inner monologue, but maybe it's because I just don't have that connection with Louis. I don't know.

Laura 34:19

I think the best thing about this book for me was probably Ann Rice's writing. Which feels weird to say given that at the same time I'm also saying it's boring. Some of the more emo quotes around Louie's like disillusionment and melancholy and bitterness were so well captured. And I think really beautiful. So I'll read out a couple of my favorites because they're so bleak. He says, It was as if this night were only one of thousands of nights, world without end, night curving into night to make a great arcing line of which I couldn't see the end, a night in which I roamed alone under cold, mindless stars. Another quote says, as if the night had said to me, You are the night, and the night alone understands you and enfolds you in its arms, one with the shadow, without nightmare, an inexplicable peace. After his been turned, there's a quote that says, I was a newborn vampire, weeping at the beauty of the night. And then one last one says, I lived like a man who wanted to die, but who had no courage to do it himself. I agree with you.

Bridget 35:17

I think her writing was the best part of the book. I like a lot of the sentences, the way they were constructed, the description of the setting and like the rooms that they lived in were always so vivid and beautiful. I saw an interesting quote from Anne Rice addressing the accusation that her novels may have needed some tighter editing. And she said, I have no intention of allowing any editor ever to distort, cut, or otherwise mutilate sentences that I have edited and re-edited and organized and polished myself. I fought a great battle to achieve a status where I did not have to put up with editors making demands on me. And I love that, actually. I think obviously editors in the publishing industry have a very important job and I think they are sorely needed and you know, very important. But I also admire an artist's belief in her work. If I were to write a book, I would find it really hard to get those edits back and be like, oh my god, they hate me. But I think she's coming at it more of like, this is my art. I have done the work, this is how I want it to be presented to the world. So that's quite admirable. I think she was a bit of a crazy character.

Laura 36:29

What about our sort of antagonist, Lestat de Lioncourt?

Bridget 36:34

I am obsessed with Lestat. Same. He is the best part of the book for me. I had some free credits on Audible left over from whenever I had the thing. Yeah, I had two left, and I was like, well, I'm gonna use one. I bought the audiobook, Interview with the Vampire. When you finish the audiobook on Audible, you get a little preview of another book at the end. And I was driving home and the preview for the second book came on, and I was like, oh my god. Because I had heard that he starts a rock band in later books. But this was the start of a second book. He was like, My name's Lestat, I'm hot, I've got long hair. If you look at me into fluorescent, it's white, and then he's talking about his beautiful nails, and he's and then I'm in a rock band, I'm on MTV, and like I was like, Am I gonna read a 13-book series based on this one character? I think I might.

Laura 37:36

That is a crazy turnaround because like at the end of this book, wasn't he like decrepit and scared of loud noises?

Bridget 37:42

Yeah, but I don't, I think this might be. I don't I don't know what happened to him.

Laura 37:45

Maybe they're not chronological.

Bridget 37:47

No, I think it is because it's in like the 80s. He's on TV. True. So I just I don't really know what happened, but I'm happy to just go along for the ride. I think he's got mysteries untold. Oh, I'm obsessed with him. I think he is so funny. He's such a brat.

Laura 38:04

Yes, that is the word that kept springing into my mind too. And I'm so glad you're obsessed with him because he was just such a relentless menace in this book. And I really think, like, to me, his whole personality was that TikTok audio that's like, I don't give a fuck what a telltale little rat thinks about me, and or like just whatever, I'm over it.

Bridget 38:28

Like, he's always just uh so bratty. I love him. I it's so funny. He doesn't seem very smart, like he's constantly being like out smarted, outwitted, outplayed by everyone around him. He just he's just tried his best and he doesn't give a shit.

Laura 38:49

I love it, and he just loves Louie, yeah. He's so he's so repressed as well. The funniest thing is when he pulls the like uh there's only one carpet.

Bridget 38:59

Oh my god, actually when I read that, I was like, uh one bed. And then face down, he chose face down. So this is the question I wanted to ask you. If you were turned into a vampire and the sexy vampire that turned you was like, oops, one coffin, we're gonna have to share, would you go face to face? Would you go face to back of the head? Would you go back of the head to the back of the head? How would you uh configure yourself in this common? Because I'm imagining Lestat face up, Louis face down, because that's what it says in the book. What do you think is the best case scenario?

Laura 39:40

I mean, uh in a perfect world where side by side, spooning, sandwiched, wedged in.

Bridget 39:46

It doesn't seem to be that was an option. It seems it has to be one by one. Let me go back to the drawing board.

Laura 39:53

I'd be like. I think probably both face up.

Bridget 39:58

But nose in the back of the head would be but nose to nose, painful. Sweet little neck because. I just don't know you have to like stagger yourself like when you're in a choir. Oh, like maybe how shoes fit in a shoe box. Yeah, top to tail, maybe sort of. And like so interesting.

Laura 40:15

That's good for the toe suckers.

Bridget 40:16

I used I've always got to think of them. We've got the blood suckers and the toe suckers. I stopped reading when I got to that and I I was at the park. I was really thinking about that for a while.

Laura 40:32

It is odd, isn't it?

Bridget 40:34

It is very, very odd. Also, I'm confused about the coffin. So do you think that when the lid gets shut, it's like a countdown to when they're out, or does it take them a while to sleep, or some vampires have insomnia?

Laura 40:48

Like how calculators work. Like when you put your little finger over the bar.

Bridget 40:56

A fridge, like a top load of washing machine when you open up the thing.

Laura 41:00

Yeah, you know what? I don't know, because that's always something I've wondered if that's what puts them to sleep, then how do they wake up?

Bridget 41:06

Yeah, is it their body clock? Is it like they just need a solid eight hours? I really don't know. There's so many questions. Maybe maybe they will be answered in the rest of the books.

Laura 41:16

It was too tricky for Stephanie Meyer. She was like, I don't even know what to make of that. I'm just gonna cut that whole coffin thing out.

Bridget 41:23

Well, it's actually so funny that you bring up Stephanie Meyer because I was thinking like I I feel like Midnight Sun, especially, probably took a lot of inspiration from Anne Rice's work. But as we know, Stephanie doesn't do research. I could say with like 100% certainty that she wouldn't have read it.

Laura 41:40

No, well, when I was digging around, because I was like, you know, interview with the vampire, Twilight Comparisons. And I got onto this Reddit where people were saying, like, oh yeah, I like Stephanie Meyer reckon she's never even heard of it. Maybe. Could be. I mean, I hadn't heard of it. But she's a lot older than me, so yeah, and like you think you would some people would research the law, scope out what's out there, but as we know, unless it's a Confederate army role, she doesn't care.

Bridget 42:11

I found two posts from Anne Rice on Facebook about Twilight. The first one was 2009, November 22nd, 2009, and she says, Armand to Louis, you realize this woman writes that her vampires sparkle in the sun? Louis in reply, Well, that's better than burning up in the sun, isn't it? Okay. Just throwing her a bone. She changed her tune in October of 2011, though. She's made another post and she said, Lestat and Louis feel sorry for vampires that sparkle in the sun. They would never hurt immortals who choose to spend eternity going to high school over and over again in a small town any more than they would hurt the physically disabled or the mentally challenged. My vampires possess gravitas. They can afford to be merciful. She's Your vampires can't even go outside during the day, babe. I know. And it's so funny because then, and I'm gonna show it to you. Somebody made a comment saying that the stat would love to be covered in glitter, and then someone put a gift from what I assume is a television show and said, Yep, he found the glitter guys, and I'll just show it to you.

Laura 43:16

Oh, that's me sold on the show.

Bridget 43:18

Yeah, he is he's got glitter all over like glitter eyeshadow, he's shirtless, he's got a chain on. It's very like I don't want his head back on a microphone.

Laura 43:32

I don't think I've ever wanted to see a vampire in a rock band more.

Bridget 43:35

It's quite mesmerizing.

Laura 43:37

Yeah, that's hot. Yeah. They should glitter.

Bridget 43:39

I saw a post from a Tumblr user, Cesla Toil, and they said back during the time when it was popular to bash Twilight for both legitimate reasons, such as Edward being borderline abusive to Bella, the whole child grooming plot and breaking dawn, etc. And not real vampires don't sparkle, that's gay. I saw this meme on Facebook where it was Lestat from Interview with the Vampire commenting on Edward sparkling and making fun of him for being gay. Like Buddy, my guy, my fair dude, my dear sweet homophobic idiot. Not only are the vampires in Interview with the Vampire super duper gay, you're lying to yourself if you think Lestat wouldn't slam Dunky's entire body into a tub of glitter on any given occasion. You fool, you imbecile. And he really would.

Laura 44:30

He would. He really, really would. Should we talk about the gay of it all while we're here?

Bridget 44:36

I think we should. I think Lestat is a good place to start.

Laura 44:40

He is the place to start.

Bridget 44:42

I have to say, as a sphere of smart approach, I think any sort of intimacy was lacking in this book. I was expecting at least to be a little bit of a kiss. Yeah. Something. But apparently vampires don't have sex.

Laura 44:58

No, they just what is it? Like the blood is like sex for them. That's their little blood swapping kink.

Bridget 45:04

I mean, whatever floats your boat. We don't yuck anybody's yum on this podcast, but I think I was expecting there to be a little bit of action.

Laura 45:13

Yeah, at least a kiss.

Bridget 45:14

Yeah. I was surprised because the one thing I had heard about this book was like, it's so sexy, it's so erotic. You're never gonna be the same after reading it. But I don't know.

Laura 45:24

Yeah, I did see one question on the Goodreads question board that said, How gay does this book gay? And someone said it barely gays. Barely gays. As I said earlier, I was kind of expecting the homo eroticism of 1976 to be pretty different. 2025. I thought it would be a little bit more undercurrent, but yeah, this was like virtually subterranean, like it was so far buried. I have a couple of quotes highlighted from Louis about Lestat that I think do sort of hint at the tortured nature of his feelings towards him. I allowed myself to forget how totally I had fallen in love with Lestat's iridescent eyes, and that I'd sold my soul for a many coloured and luminescent thing, thinking that a highly reflective surface conveyed the power to walk on water. You know, like I think that quote is probably talking a lot about um how he'd been sort of sold this dream of becoming a vampire and like fallen for this promise. But also iridescent eyes. There was another one where he said, it was as if the empty nights were made for thinking of him. And sometimes I found myself so vividly aware of him, it was if he had only just left the room and the ring of his voice was still there. And somehow there was a disturbing comfort in that, and despite myself, I'd envision his face.

Bridget 46:42

When the stat popped up again in Paris and was like, Louis, come back. Like it can be like before. I was like, Yes, please go back. Because that's what I'm always like in these books where like these crazy dramatic things are happening. I'm like, can't we just go back to the start? Like Twilight, can't we just go back to when you were like reading a book on the front lawn and Edward was just coming over and watching Romeo and Juliet with you? Why can't we just go back to the start and not have anything crazy happen? And I loved when he was like, She's gonna be our daughter, and we're gonna be her fathers. We're gonna teach her right from wrong. I want a whole book of their like simple domestic life.

Laura 47:21

It's so funny to me. Too bad, because Claudia Byrne took crisp. Rip porna.

Bridget 47:28

Actually, when Claudia turned up, I was like, Can you not? You're brought in the vibe. Why are you here?

Laura 47:36

Now they're never gonna kiss.

Bridget 47:41

Okay, well, that is a great segue to talking about our girl, Claudia. Claudia, I know this book wasn't written in the 90s, but what a 90s name. Claudia from the Babysitters Club. I love Claudia from the Babysitters Club.

Laura 47:55

It's the only Claudia.

Bridget 47:57

The only one. I mean Claudia Schiffer, I guess, but yeah. Who is she? I don't know. That's just a name. Again, it's a name. Freaky little vampire girl. I guess her equivalent would probably be Decreta Fanning. Yeah. Twilight. Whatever her name was. Jane. Jane, little Jane. Even though I just said that I was a bit disappointed when Claudia turned up, at the same time, I was thinking this is quite slow, and I think something needs to happen quite soon. That part of the story moved quite quickly. I think her growing up and sort of staying in that child body, but turning into a woman and, you know, learning to loathe Lestat and planning to kill him was a really interesting part of the book for me.

Laura 48:38

Yeah, I think I feel similarly. Um there were definitely points where I was like, stop it, Claudia, you're ruining everything. Um, and I think a lot of the time I was really on the edge of discomfort reading her character because obviously, yeah, she is five years old when she's turned into a vampire and her mind matures, but her body stays the same. And so her and Louis have this weird kind of codependent relationship where they're like very touchy-feely, and it is initially in like a father-daughter kind of way, but then as she grows older, she's always like, you know, smooching him and being like, You're my lover, and like we'll go to the ends of the world together, and like you're it for me kind of thing, like you're my guy, uh, in a more eloquent way. Discomfort aside, I did really like that aspect of the plot. I think there was a scene where she had like a real outburst and was like, Who did this to me? Why did you do this to me? I want to grow up, I will never grow up. You have taken this from me. And I found that quite emotional. There were a couple of bits throughout this where I was surprised after being bored for so long to randomly be swept up in emotion. And I think that was one of them. I did have a bit of a look on Reddit to try and get some more perspectives on their dynamic and their relationship because I was trying to decide if it was creepy, how creepy was it. I came across one quote that says, Vampire relationships are completely different from human relations. This is less so for Louis because he clings to humanity more than the average vampire, but even to him the lines blur. He calls Claudia his daughter and his lover in the same breath. He kisses her on the lips and describes her as sensual. Lestat uses the same word later, and I don't know what the hell they mean. More than anything, they are each other's companion, and especially for Louis and Claudia, who have never met another vampire but Lestat, they are an amalgamation of every role another vampire could possibly meet for them. Louis loves her obsessively and resents that he needs to take care of her. Claudia is mentally stunted, doesn't even remember ever being a human, and is treated as a living doll by Louis and Lestat well into her sixties, and feels betrayed by both of them because Louis killed her and Lestat brought her back. Girls a mess. There was also another quote kind of talking about that connection between Claudia and Anne Rice's daughter. And someone says, I also wanted to say a rhetoric of Claudia being unwanted by the world seems to be very telling of what Anne felt like after her own daughter's death. Unwanted by the world, unwanted by her own kind. Maybe even she felt this about her daughter and herself. Part of me thinks that Claudia's end in the book was a way for Anne to at least dim her grief, if not eliminate it. So I don't really know how to sum all that up, but I just think again, like it's another aspect of the story where I'm like, this is so good, like it's so juicy, and I love the idea, Anne, but something about it is just not really connecting with me.

Bridget 51:34

I was a bit confused with it as well, because they don't seem to be sexual beings, but they are describing things in a weird way, like saying how it was I can't remember the word, but like titillating to see the child lounging around in lace pajamas or whatever. And I was like, where are we going with this? Like I had quite an uneasy feeling, and then at some point I thought that she was sort of propositioning Louie, yeah, but that never really went anywhere, and then I was wondering if I had misread that. I wasn't really sure.

Laura 52:06

Yeah, I think I was especially on edge because that sort of dabbling in pedophilia is very much at the forefront of the claiming of sleeping beauty, where in the first chapter, like maybe even the first couple of sentences of the book, Beauty, who is 15, is awoken from her hundred-year slumber, not with a kiss, but with some non-consensual sex from the prince. And then she is, I think, stripped naked, and then he takes her to his kingdom, and she's trained as like a slave and a plaything. Anne Rice also wrote some other books under a pen name. Those were way more explicit erotica and like playing with a lot of taboo, I guess. There was one she wrote called Belinda, which was published in 1986, and apparently this novel explores the relationship between a 44-year-old divorced children's book author and artist, Jeremy Walker, and a 16-year-old runaway who attaches herself to him. This was her first book. I guess she was woman up to it.

Bridget 53:02

Yeah. But what did she say before? She she fought a great battle to achieve a status where she did not have to put up with editors making demands on me. Editors or society, maybe.

Laura 53:12

Interesting. I was a bit confused about this, but I think the introduction of the character Amand continues this discomfort with the potential underagedness of it all. I think in the book he's described as a beautiful adolescent boy with curly auburn hair. I think he's meant to be Russian and described as looking at like um a Cupid or a Botticelli angel. So, I mean, that's a child, uh, and they do end up in a romantic relationship or a, you know, romantic adjacent. Uh yeah. Some sort of companionship. Yeah. The end of the book is where I probably felt most uncomfortable. It's when they go to Armand's theatre troupe. Very Volturi coded. Yes. Also. And they're doing that kind of like live production where they have the audience member who is not really aware that they're in the presence of real vampires and being eaten alive. So there is a child on stage who is slowly getting naked. So Louis is thinking this as he's watching it happen. He says she was languid, her nakedness forgotten, those lids fluttering, a sigh escaping her moist lips. No pain, she accented. I could hardly bear it, the sight of her yearning towards him, seeing her dying now under this vampire's power. I wanted to cry out to her, to break her swoon, and I wanted her, wanted her as he was moving in on her, his hand out now for the drawstring of her skirt as she inclined toward him, her head back, the black cloth slipping over her hips, over the golden gleam of the hair between her legs, a child's down, that delicate curl, the skirt dropping to her feet. Yuck. And then there's a part a couple of pages later where even though vampires don't have sex, he's randomly pretty horny for this kid that he sees, and he says, And through the gloom I saw that mortal boy watching me, and I smelled the hot aroma of his flesh. The vampire's facile hand beckoned him and he came towards me, his eyes fearless and exciting, and he drew up to me in the candlelight and put his arms around my shoulders. Never had I felt this, never had I experienced it, this yielding of a conscious mortal. But before I could push him away for his own sake, I saw the bluish bruise on his tender neck. He was offering it to me. He was pressing the length of his body against me now, and I felt the hard strength of his sex beneath his clothes pressing against my leg. A wretched gasp escaped my lips, but he bent close, his lips on what must have been so cold, so lifeless for him, and I sank my teeth into his skin, my body rigid, that hard sex driving against me, and I lifted him in passion off the floor. So again, read that, thought, oh yeah. Yuck? Yeah. Don't know.

Bridget 56:00

I was thinking, why now? It's very, very strange, Anne.

Laura 56:03

Yeah, I don't like this taste of things to come. Dial it back. Yes. Dial back the pedophilia. Amp up the gay.

Bridget 56:10

It's what the people want. Yes. I think we're nearly at the end of the episode, but I have one thing that I want to say, and it is uh involving two loves of my life. The first one is Lestat.

Laura 56:23

Yeah.

Bridget 56:24

A newly minted love of my life, and Taylor Swift. And they've had a Twitter beef. I don't know if you're aware of this.

Laura 56:30

You're joking. Stop it.

Bridget 56:35

So Lestat Stan tweeted a picture of Lestat next to a still from the Blank Space music video, accompanied by the lyrics, got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane. The Twitter Swifties did not like this. Twitter Swifties are like that freaky uncle that you keep in the back of the room at any family gathering. They're a bit rabid. They're rabid fans. And someone retweeted it and added, Your show will never win an Emmy, by the way, and that man is hideous, and you should be punished for putting him next to Taylor. I long for the day you ugly bitches in the quotes learn to stop speaking on Taylor, especially while hyping up an ugly white man.

Laura 57:15

That is insane. So funny.

Bridget 57:23

Whoa. I will have to say though, Taylor, she came out on top in the end because a few days later, during the acoustic set, one of the era's to her shows, she played I Don't Wanna Live Forever. So that was maybe a little bit of a bit of a slam.

Laura 57:39

I'm nod to that tweet. My own chronically online moment comes from uh an edit that I watch all the time of the movie Sinners. So if you don't want any spoilers for that, maybe skip ahead like 30 seconds. But it's to do with a line in the movie where Michael B. Jordan 1 says, last time I seen my brother, last time I seen the sun. And there's a line in Interview with the Vampire that really evoked that for me, and I thought, hmm, ended at first, because it says that morning I was not yet a vampire, and I saw my last sunrise. I remember it completely, and yet I can't recall any sunrise before it. I watched its whole magnificence for the last time as if it were the first. And then I said farewell to sunlight and set out to become what I became. I like beautiful.

Bridget 58:28

Yeah, I really liked that. And I especially liked I can't recall any sunrise before it. It is lovely. It's like fireworks. I love fireworks, but then do I remember any of the fireworks? No. But I love them.

Laura 58:45

We're on the home stretch, and I don't think we've really left a lot of mystery here in the way that we sometimes have our listeners guessing. Um But Bridget, would you care to let me know your least favourite character from Interview with the Vampire?

Bridget 59:02

I think my least favourite character is either the interviewer or whatever his name was, the buffoon. Santiago, I don't like him. I think he was weird. I don't know why he's following people into tunnels and acting like a mime. Yeah, the mime shit was weird. I mean, I want to really talk about that when we talk about the movie, but anyway. So I think least favorite has to be either the interviewer because uh shut up and Santiago stop doing all of that stuff, please. How about you?

Laura 59:34

Yeah, I think I feel exactly the same. I probably would say Santiago. That's not really anyone else that bothered me. And what about what about your favorite?

Bridget 59:42

Gee, I wonder who it's gonna be. It has to be, let's start. Here is the light of this book. But to be fair, Louie, I'll put you in there too, because what you're saying is true. Everything you're saying is true. You just you need to get a little bit of pizzazz about you. If you want me to listen to your, I don't know, theorizing and philosophizing, I don't know if that's a word, just make it a little bit more interesting. Please!

Laura 1:00:09

Yeah, maybe join a rock band.

Bridget 1:00:11

Yeah, maybe put some glitter on your eye.

Laura 1:00:14

Live a little.

Bridget 1:00:15

Maybe uh just do anything, really. How about you?

Laura 1:00:18

Yeah, mine's a start too. He is incredible, he is messy and petty and just a real force of nature. Love him. You're not that pretty and you're not that bright. So glad we had that dog. Okay, now it's time for the ultimate question. Do you rate Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice, lit or shit?

Bridget 1:00:39

I think it has to be lit. When I finished the book, I was like, nah, shit. That was shit. So boring. But I I've changed my mind. I think this book is one that would benefit from a slow read. I think I read it quite quickly because I was quickly running out of time because of all of you know the Sims and et cetera, et cetera. And I think trying to rush through it isn't gonna be a good thing, but I think a slow read in winter would be great. How about you, lit or shit?

Laura 1:01:06

Yeah, I think it's also lit. I was thinking about how we both landed on lit for the housemaid. I guess I had a kind of similar experience where like I found the housemaid quite smashable and I wanted to see what was happening with the plot. I was like quite bored, and I wasn't really interested in finding out what was happening with the plot, but I liked the writing and I liked the characters, and I liked the questions this book was asking, and I liked everything it represented. So, yeah, confused as I am by my own summation, it's lit. There was one Goodreads review that I came across from someone named Jeffrey that I think offers the clearest perspective of all, and that review said simply, gay, but not gay enough.

Bridget 1:01:48

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