FICTION: Vittorio, The Vampire by Anne Rice

 STORYTELLING: 4/5 

WRITING STYLE: 5/5

THEMES/MESSAGE: 3/5

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 4/5

IMPACT/ENGAGEMENT: 2/5

Total Grade: C- (72%)

If Twilight didn’t present enough of a moral crisis as you hope to find in vampire novels that contemplate eternal damnation, then give this book a try! Vittorio, The Vampire by Anne Rice was the only vampire book I’ve read that wasn’t written by Stephanie Myers, or Bram Stoker, for that matter, and it’s safe to say she created her own particular brand of vampire that had me using my flashlight for late night trips to the bathroom lest Ursula, Godric, or some other courtier of The Ruby Grail came up and turned me into a midnight snack. NOTE: reading spooky books at night is not for the weak. 

“Can the devil come back to God?” (215).

Despite the less than desirable grade I gave, this book leaves a lot to be admired, foremost the writing style. It’s full of the richest descriptions, something lacking in most contemporary fiction nowadays. The reader is placed into the luscious Golden Age of Florence, with constant reference to the Medici family and artists and intellectuals that would go on to establish Florence as a cultural pillar of western civilization. The narrator, Vittorio, for the book is written in the first person, is smitten, besotted, with the work of Fra Filippo Lippi–a monk who was mad for women and eventually ran away with the beautiful nun, Lucrezia Buti. Reading this book was like turning over a gemstone in one’s hand–every facet of it glowed with some sort of moral crisis. Perhaps that’s too shiny of a description for what actually took place in this novel. Still, the language was intentional, carefully edited, detailed, and rich. Each chapter ended with that essential tension a book requires to retain the reader’s attention. Anne Rice is definitely a good writer, there’s no question about that. 

“‘Your soul?’ asked the Lord. ‘What is your soul that it does not want to travel centuries under the inscrutable stars, rather than a few short years? What is your soul that it will not seek for truth forever, rather than for one paltry common lifetime?’”(130).

There is a clearly defined line between good and evil in this book, and a Biblical depiction of how the two are always at war. Rice’s vampires, as opposed to the ones in The Vampire Diaries or Twilight, are genuinely evil and demonic, and that’s emphasized the clearest in the scene of The Court of the Ruby Grail. Our main character (I purposefully refrain from using the word protagonist), is eventually kidnapped by the vampires (yes, the ones who killed his ENTIRE family right in front of him) and taken to their French style castle in the woods, where they partake in their Satanic rituals (I also use the word Satanic intentionally–there were upside down crosses, a statue of the devil, the whole nine yards, it was horrible). Vittorio is what I’d call a semi-devout Catholic, constantly rebuking the vampires for the demons they are. It was some truly disturbing material, especially the scenes involving “the coop” – a courtyard where the vamps hold their human victims, all of whom are either weak, disabled, old, children, or rejected members of society. Prior to being eaten, they’re all induced into a zombie-like stupor reminiscent of fentanyl addicts seen standing and folded over in the middle of sidewalks and on buses. That’s what seemed to be the most demonic feature of the vampires–the fact that they prey on the meek. It was all really awful to read about but, then again, I understand and appreciate the fact that Rice chose to write about the vampires in this way. The concept of choosing eternal life in a world that, in many ways, belongs to the devil rather than one with God in heaven is entirely anti-Christian. It would only make sense that a vampire’s actions would be as heretical as the concept of the creature itself. In this book, and in my opinion, demons are real and so are angels. 

“And I? What am I? Do I live? Or am I walking always in death, forever in love with time?” (203).

The angels, including the appearance of one ARCHANGEL MICHAEL, was my favorite part of this book. I loved their descriptions and the way they brought light back into this story. The idea of guardian angels have always enchanted me and the way they interacted with the living in this story was intriguing and familiar to me. Rice knows (knew, rather) her Bible. My problem with this book, though, has a bit to do with the angels but mainly with how the book ended. Endings, as we know, can make or break a story. The ability to write a sufficient and fulfilling ending is the real test of an author’s skill and vision. So, that being said, if you’re averse to spoilers, I suggest you stop reading here. 

Okay, so, there’s a point at the end where Vittorio turns his back on the angels and the help they’ve lent him, only to get tricked by his demon girlfriend and turned into a vampire himself. Right when you think the angels would have nothing to do with him, they come back and “curse” him, so to speak; Archangel Michael makes it so that every time Vittorio looks at a human being, he’ll see a golden glow shining from their heart and illuminating their whole being. Every person would shine like a candle, and whenever Vittorio killed any human being for his own sake, he’d have to watch that light flicker out. While he’s a strong believer in his faith, he’s rather morally gray by the end of the book, and finishes his autobiography by saying, “Behold, I tell you, the light is there in you. I see it. I see it in each and every one of us, and will always. I see it when I hunger, when I struggle, when I slaughter…Pray it never takes a slaughter or rape for you to see the light in those around you. God forbid it that it should demand such a price. Let me pay the price for you instead,” (288). 

In recent weeks, I’ve started shadowing a middle school teacher whose job I’ll be stealing for the whole of her maternity leave. I can’t express how easy it has been to identify that glowing light in the kids I'm about to teach. It’s their souls, that slice of heaven, that fingerprint from God, that I see so clearly in all of their beautiful little faces. And call me serious or sensitive, but I don’t need a fickle-ass vampire to tell me about the light that lives in all human beings. It’s a small thing but I found it irritating, nonetheless. Like, who needs advice from a demon? Not me! Also, I think I was annoyed with Vittorio by that point because he pulled a real Bella Swan–I mean, it takes a particular type of person to hand over one’s soul for a hot, ancient skank they’ve known for about two seconds.