The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne RiceMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
My last reading session was 61 minutes. I finished reading this book for the second time in my life on Monday, January 30, 2023 at ~ 4:30 p.m.
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I got this used book online. It was very loved!
The inside has a beautiful drawing of the Park Central hotel in Miami where part of this book takes place. Sadly, this cardstock is disattached from the book, so it just lays there in the pages. This is a 1993 mass market paperback edition.
“Read this tale, and I will give you all you need to know about us as you turn the pages. And by the way, lots of things do happen! I’m a man of action as I said—the James Bond of the vampires, if you will—called the Brat Prince, and the Damnedest Creature, and ‘you monster’ by various and sundry other immortals” (4).
?
“Now we are truly ready to begin. Let’s turn the page, shall we?” (6).
<3 I love when Lestat speaks to the reader! It is really engaging! 😍
“The thin membrane between fantasy and reality was breaking” (14).
“Such drugstores can keep me enthralled for hours on end. Sometimes I become spellbound in the middle of Wal-Mart” (15).
Lol forreal? Forreal tho? XD OMG Same! XDXDDD
“And now to this she added, with obvious glee, a paperback novel from the rack, which she had read before, but fondled lovingly, dreaming of reading it again, like visiting with old acquaintances. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Yes, I loved it too” (16).
<3 Wow! Me too! So cool! I love this oh so very much!! :)
“In a maple rocking chair with hideous plaid upholstery, she sat composed, a tiny but dignified figure, open paperback novel in hand. What happiness to be once more with Francie Nolan” (17).
I think it’s so cool to see a character reading a book that I have read before! I also love how Lestat describes reading this book. It’s so cool to think about how Lestat has read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! I think it does indeed bring such happiness to be once more with Francie Nolan! <3 Awwwww… 🥹
“Joan Fontaine thinks Cary Grant is trying to kill her” (17).
“She didn’t need to hear their words; she had seen this movie, by her careful count, some thirteen times. She had read this novel in her lap only twice, and so it will be with very special pleasure that she revisits these paragraphs, which she does not know yet by heart” (17-18).
“I picked up the envelope, and saw that it was blank and unsealed. Inside, I found, of all things, a printed short story clipped apparently from a paperback book.
It made a small thick wad of pulp pages, stapled together in the upper-left-hand corner. No personal note at all. The author of the story was a lovable creature I knew well, H. P. Lovecraft by name, a writer of the supernatural and the macabre. In fact, I knew the story, too, and could never forget its title: ‘The Thing on the Doorstep.’ It had made me laugh.
‘The Thing on the Doorstep.’ I was smiling now. Yes, I remembered the story, that it was clever, that it had been fun” (26).
I read The Thing on the Doorstep in 75 minutes. I borrowed the Ebook on Hoopla through my local library. I wanted to read this because it was mentioned in this book. I thought that this short story fit well with that book because it was about switching bodies and a random mortal gave this short story to Lestat, and Lestat said that he read this story before and this story is perfect for foreshadowing what goes on later in this book.
“Then off he went to browse in the bookseller's, where he bought a paperback translation in English of Goethe's Faust. Then he dined alone in a small Indonesian restaurant, with Faust propped before him, eyes racing over the pages, as he consumed his spicy feast.
As he was busy with his knife and fork, I went back to the bookstore and bought a copy of the very same book. What a bizarre piece of work!
I can't claim to have understood it, or why David was reading it. Indeed it frightened me that the reason might be obvious and perhaps I rejected the idea at once.
Nevertheless I rather loved it, especially the ending, where Faust went to heaven, of course. I don't think that happened in the older legends. Faust always went to hell. I wrote it off to Goethe's Romantic optimism, and the fact that he had been so old by the time he wrote the end. The work of the very old is always extremely powerful and intriguing, and infinitely worth pondering, and all the more perhaps because creative stamina deserts so many artists before they are truly old” (32).
I think Anne Rice is making connections with other books to her own book. David Talbot reads Faust and Lestat is familiar with this play. Then Lestat makes a connection with Faust being a story of selling your soul to the Devil and Lestat theorizing that Rembrandt sold his soul to the Devil because he made such beautiful paintings. This is just a connection I noticed and wanted to write down.
“I wandered through the enormous Rijksmuseum, perusing the paintings of Rembrandt,
whom I had always loved.
…
Finally, a week after my arrival, I found David in the empty Rijksmuseum, just after sunset, sitting on the bench before the great Rembrandt portrait of the Members of the Drapers' Guild” (32-33).
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“He understood the capacity for compassion and for wisdom which resides in every soul” (36).
“Trembling with annoyance, I forced myself to scan this story, which was only a few pages in length. ‘Eyes of the Mummy’ was the title, author Robert Bloch. A clever little tale, but what could it possibly mean to me? I thought of the Lovecraft, which had been much longer and seemed wholly different. What on earth could all this signify? The seeming idiocy of it further maddened me” (83).
I just finished reading that short story and it also has a connection and a foreshadowing effect. It features a mummy switching bodies with a young man and the young man crumbled into pieces as he was typing said story because he looked into the jeweled eyes of the mummy and his soul was in the mummy and the mummy was resurrected in his young body.
“I saw that, indeed, it was a videotape of a recent film. Vice Versa was the title. What on earth . . . ? I flipped it over, and scanned the advertisement. A comic piece.
I returned to the hotel. There was yet another package waiting for me. Another videotape. All of Me was the name of it, and once again, the description on the back of the plastic case gave a fair idea of what it was about” (91).
“But again, I think he wanted me to do something about it. It's amazing how often he came to visit me in my overheated and brilliantly illuminated rooms downtown. There he watched my giant television screen for hours. Sometimes he brought his own films for it on disk or tape. The Company of Wolves, that was one which he watched over and over. Beauty and the Beast, a French film by Jean Cocteau, also pleased him mightily. Then there was The Dead, a film made by John Huston from a story by James Joyce” (105).
“He grew reflective again and very sad. It almost hurt me to look at him. I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, but that would only have made him furious.
‘I love you,’ he said softly.
I was amazed” (110).
💓💓💓💓💓💓
And with this I left” (112).
“But why think of it now? He had loved me then whether or not he knew it; of my love for him and for that wretched angry child, I had never the slightest doubt.
He had grieved for me, I'll give him that much. But then he is so good at grieving! He wears woe as others wear velvet; sorrow flatters him like the light of candles; tears become him like jewels.
Well, none of that trash works with me” (113).
“Before he reached the corner nearest the river, he turned around. He gave a little wave to me, and in that gesture there was more affection than in anything he had said” (118).
💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓
My heart filled up as I read this! *cries in loustat* ♥️
“...and a full reiteration of instructions in my own hand, and with the signature of Lestan Gregor, which for various reasons, was the best name to be used for the entire affair” (139).
Lestan! I thought that name looked familiar! Lestan was supposed to be Lestat’s name, based on or inspired by Anne Rice’s husband’s name of Stan Rice. I remember that from watching an interview with Mrs. Rice. Also, Sam Reid (who plays Lestat on the new 2022 AMC series called Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire) said it in an interview. He said, “Lestat was meant to be called Lestan.”
“Numerous paintings on the walls—Picasso, de Kooning, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol” (150).
“I must have been there with the dog perhaps three minutes before my hand discovered the round silver disk dangling from his chain-link collar, and finally I gathered this up and held it to the light.
Mojo. Ah, I knew this word. Mojo. It had to do with voodoo, gris-gris, charms. Mojo was a good charm, a protective charm. I approved of it as a name for a dog; it was splendid, in fact, and when I called him Mojo he became faintly excited and once again stroked me slowly with his big eager paw.
‘Mojo, is it?’ I said again. ‘That's very beautiful.’ I kissed him and felt the leathery black tip of his nose. There was something else written on the disk, however. It was the address of this house” (153).
So this is what Sam was referring to when he said Mojo on reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/ysga56/were_jacob_anderson_and_sam_reid_and_we_play/).
I’ve read this book once before, but I did not remember Mojo the dog. I thought this was so cute, sweet, and so wholesome of a scene and moment! Maybe Mojo can see Lestat’s fast movements because people say that dogs and children can see spirits while adults cannot.
Lestat was depicted with dogs in the AMC show!
The real Mojo! Source: https://i-want-my-iwtv.tumblr.com/post/160635996442/mojo-as-a-german-shepherd-my-heart-but-i
This is such a cute fanart! Source: https://www.deviantart.com/florbe/art/MOJO-255624308
“So we reach into the raging chaos, and we pluck some small glittering thing, and we cling to it, and tell ourselves it has meaning, and that the world is good, and we are not evil, and we will all go home in the end” (155).
“I turned and entered the cramped little bathroom, quickly finding the light. I had to piss, I simply had to, and I had not done this in over two hundred years.
I unzipped these modern pants, and removed my organ, which immediately astonished me by its limpness and size. The size was fine, of course. Who doesn't want these organs to be large? And it was circumcised, which was a nice touch. But this limpness, it felt remarkably repulsive to me, and I didn't want to touch the thing. I had to remind myself, this organ happens to be mine. Jolly!
And what about the smell coming from it, and the smell rising from the hair around it? Ah, that's yours too, baby! Now make it work” (171).
Oh dear! 🤭
“‘Mon Dieu, look at it, Mojo,’ I whispered, throwing back the covers and rushing to the window and shoving it all the way up. The cold air hit me, but what did it matter? Look at the deep color of the sky, look at the high white clouds traveling to the west, look at the rich and beautiful green of the tall pine tree in the neighboring yard.
Suddenly I was weeping uncontrollably, and coughing painfully once more.
‘This is the miracle,’ I whispered. Mojo nudged me, giving a little high-pitched moan. The mortal aches and pains didn't matter. This was the biblical promise which had gone unfulfilled for two hundred years” (195).
I really like how Simon Vance said, « Mon Dieu. » ;)
Track 55
1:30
I also thought that it was so dramatic and right for Lestat to weep as he saw sunlight after two hundred years. I mean I would too!
* I have to say that after reading chapter eleven I was really enjoying myself. I was quite disgusted by Lestat’s relieving himself, but I did like his fascination by everything mortal. After I read the short chapter of ten I really wanted to read the next chapter! I was so excited to read more! God I love this book so much! I sometimes want to weep this book is so good. I have to put this book in my favorites shelf on Goodreads. I’m just thinking about how the sound of the violin makes Lestat weep and I can completely understand him there because I am listening to “Adoration” by Randall Goosby, which is from a playlist created by Jacob Anderson who plays Louis de Pointe du Lac on AMC’s “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire.” That song is pure adoration in music and it can make me weep and comprehend Lestat’s wild violin dancing.
“Many, many tourists braved the cold as I did to see the famous sights. I reveled silently in their enthusiasm, realizing that all of these beings were affected by the broad open vistas of the capital city as I was affected by them—that it gladdened them and transformed them to see the vast blue sky overhead, and the many spectacular stone memorials to the accomplishments of humankind” (197).
“Her lids were heavy and smooth over her downcast eyes. Like a Grecian woman painted by Picasso, so simple she seemed, large-boned and fine and strong” (215).
“‘Ah, but our fantasies are like our dreams,’ she said with a serious little frown. ‘They have meaning’” (223).
“...and a statue of the Virgin Mary atop a small bookcase—the old familiar image of the Mediatrix of All Graces, with her bowed head and outstretched hands. Was that Saint Rita there with the red wound in her forehead?” (225).
“‘Ah, you've killed me! That's what you've done. You think I believe all your lies! You've condemned me to this rotting, Stinking, aching body, that's what you've done! You think I don't know the depth of hatred in you, the true face of retribution when I see it! For the love of God, speak the truth.’
‘It isn't the truth. I love you” (267).
<3 Louis says I love you! I may be wrong, but this could be the first time he’s actually said the three words directly to Lestat! 💓
“‘No, no, please.’ I came towards him, only this time not in anger. I approached slowly, until I could lay my hands on his shoulders and smell the faint fragrance of dust and the grave that clung to his clothes. Lord God, what was our skin that it drew the light to itself so exquisitely? And our eyes. Ah, to look into his eyes.
‘Louis,’ I said. ‘I want you to take me. Please, do as I ask you. Leave the interpretations of all my tales to me. Take me, Louis, look at me.’ I snatched up his cold, lifeless hand and laid it on my face. ‘Feel the blood in me, feel the heat. You want me, Louis, you know you do. You want me, you want me in your power the way I had you in my power so long, long ago. I'll be your fledgling, your child, Louis. Please, do this. Don't make me beg you on my knees.’
I could sense the change in him, the sudden predatory glaze that covered his eyes. But what was stronger than his thirst? His will.
‘No, Lestat,’ he whispered. ‘I can't do it. Even if I'm wrong and you are right, and all your metaphors are meaningless, I can't do it.’
I took him in my arms, oh, so cold, so unyielding, this monster which I had made out of human flesh. I pressed my lips against his cheek, shuddering as I did so, my fingers sliding around his neck.
He didn't move away from me. He couldn't bring himself to do it. I felt the slow silent heave of his chest against mine.
‘Do it to me, please, beautiful one,’ I whispered in his ear. ‘Take this heat into your veins, and give me back all the power that I once gave to you.’ I pressed my lips to his cold, colorless mouth. ‘Give me the future, Louis. Give me eternity. Take me off this cross.’
In the corner of my eye, I saw his hand rise. Then I felt the satin fingers against my cheek. I felt him stroke my neck. ‘I can't do it, Lestat.’
‘You can, you know you can,’ I whispered, kissing his ear as I spoke to him, choking back the tears, my left arm slipping around his waist. ‘Oh, don't leave me in this misery, don't do it.’
‘Don't beg me anymore,’ he said sorrowfully. ‘It's useless. I'm going now. You won't see me again.’
‘Louis!’ I held fast to him. ‘You can't refuse me.’
‘Ah, but I can and I have.’
I could feel him stiffening, trying to withdraw without bruising me. I held him ever more tightly, refusing to back away.
‘You won't find me again here. But you know where to find her. She's waiting for you. Don't you see your own victory? Mortal again, and so very, very young. Mortal again, and so very, very beautiful. Mortal again, with all your knowledge and with the same indomitable will.’
Firmly and easily he removed my arms and pushed me back, closing his hands over mine as he held me away from him.
‘Good-bye, Lestat,’ he said. ‘Perhaps the others will come to you. In time, when they feel you've paid enough.’
I gave one last cry, trying to free my hands, trying to fix upon him, for I knew full well what he meant to do.
In a dark flash of movement, he was gone, and I was lying on the floor.
The candle had fallen over on the desk and had gone out. Only the light of the dying fire filled the little room. And the shutters of the door stood open, and the rain was falling, thin and quiet, yet steady. And I knew I was completely alone.
I had fallen to one side, my hands out before me to break the fall. And as I rose now, I cried out to him, praying that somehow he could hear me, no matter how far away he'd gone.
‘Louis, help me. I don't want to be alive. I don't want to be mortal! Louis, don't leave me here! I can't bear it! I don't want it! I don't want to save my soul!’” (268-269).
I love this loustat scene! ♥️! It was so hot and desperate :( Sad and hot 😭 I fucking love that Lestat was trying to seduce Louis into biting him *melts* I wanted to tear up reading how Louis told Lestat that he won’t see him again. :’’’’(
“How weary I was; how seared from my own anger; how close to despair.
Had I ever in all my misery been this completely without hope?” (269-270).
“And then the sun was coming hi a few hours, wasn't it? Ah, this my lovely city, beneath the warm light of the sun.
For God's sake, don't start weeping again” (270).
<3 I was so excited and also wanted to weep imagining Lestat experiencing his city of NOLA in the daylight *tears*
“But first, before you go, why don't you burn down his house! Let the big Victorian alone. He doesn't love it. But burn his little shack!
I could feel myself breaking into an irresistible and malicious smile, even as the tears still hovered in my eyes.
Yes, burn it down! He deserves it. And of course he's taken his writings with him, yes, indeed he has, but all his books will go up in smoke! And that's exactly what he deserves.
…
‘Oh, you deserve this, you treacherous ungrateful bastard!’” (270).
So this is Lestat getting back at Louis for burning down their plantation all those years ago! XD And Lestat called Louis a bastard! Is that why Sam always seems to call Jacob that too? To be truly possessed by Lestat? Hmmm. XDXDXD What a though! XD lol
“‘Yes, yes, burn!’ I shouted, the rain pelting my face, my eyelids. I was practically jumping up and down with joy. Mojo backed towards the darkened mansion, lowering his head. ‘Burn, burn,’ I declared. ‘Louis, I wish I could burn you! I'd do it! Oh, if only I knew where you lie by day!’
But even in my glee I realized I was weeping. I was wiping at my mouth with the back of my hand, and crying. ‘How could you leave me like this! How could you do it! I curse you.’ And dissolving into tears, I went down on my knees again against the rainy earth.
I sank back on my heels, hands folded in front of me, beaten and miserable and staring at the great fire” (271).
This was such a dramatic thing to see! When Lestat said that he would burn Louis I was shocked, but then I believed he would, with all his rage, but then I think he would regret that very much afterwards. I imagined this scene as a very cinematic image in my head. There would probably be a close up of Lestat’s eyes and you could see the reflection of the fire in his eyes.
“He swung the gate back for me, and then opened his arms.
Our embrace was long and warm and silent, and I fought furiously not to give way to tears. Only very seldom in all this time had I ever actually touched this being. And the moment was charged with an emotion which caught me somewhat off guard. The drowsy warmth of my embraces with Gretchen came back to me. I felt safe. And just for an instant, perhaps, I did not feel so utterly alone” (278).
This was so sweet! 🥹
“At once David stammered an apology. He hadn't even checked into his hotel, so anxious was he to find me. He'd come here direct from the airport, and only gone out for a few little provisions so that he might spend a comfortable night keeping watch that I might come or think to call.
‘Wonderful, very glad that you did,’ I said, a little amused by his British politeness. I was so glad to see him, and here he was apologizing for making himself at home” (279).
I love that David didn’t give up on Lestat! I love their relationship ♥️♥️ I was like awwww David was waiting for Lestat and wanted to make sure he was safe 🥺
“‘Here, I can't tie this tie with mortal fingers,’ I declared. ‘But why am I dressing up like this, David? Don't you ever go around in anything casual, as the expression goes? Good Lord, we look like we're going to a funeral. Why must I wear this noose around my neck?’
‘Because you'll look foolish in a tweed suit without it,’ he answered in a slightly distracted voice. ‘Here, let me help you.’ Once again, he had that shy look about him as he drew close to me. I realized that he was powerfully drawn to this body. In the old one, I had amazed him; but this body truly ignited his passion. And as I studied him closely, as I felt the busy work of his fingers on the knot of the tie—that keen little pressure—I realized that I was powerfully attracted to him.
I thought of all the times I'd wanted to take him, enfold him in my arms, and sink my teeth slowly and tenderly into his neck, and drink his blood. Ah, now I might have him in a sense without having him—in the mere human tangling with his limbs, in whatever combination of intimate gestures and delectable little embraces he might like. And I might like.
The idea paralyzed me. It sent a soft chill over the surface of my human skin. I felt connected to him, connected as I had been to the sad unfortunate young woman whom I'd raped, to the wandering tourists of the snow-covered capital city, my brothers and sisters—connected as I had been to my beloved Gretchen.
Indeed so strong was this awareness—of being human and being with a human—that I feared it suddenly in all its beauty. And I saw that the fear was part of the beauty.
Ah, yes, I was mortal now as he was. I flexed my fingers, and slowly straightened my back, letting the chill become a deep erotic sensation.
He broke away from me abruptly, alarmed and vaguely determined, picked up the jacket from the chair, and helped me to put it on.
‘You have to tell me all that's happened to you,’ he said. ‘And within an hour or so we may have news from London, that is, if the bastard has struck again.’
I reached out and clamped my weak, mortal hand on his shoulder, drew him to me, and kissed him softly on the side of his face. Once again, he backed away.
‘Stop all this nonsense,’ he said, as if reproving a child. ‘I want to know everything. Now, have you had breakfast? You need a handkerchief. Here’” (282-283).
“‘He's had breakfast. He'll be happy in the roof garden. You're very anxious to be out of these rooms, aren't you? Why don't we simply get into bed together? I don't understand.’
‘You're serious?’
I shrugged. ‘Of course.’ Serious! I was beginning to be obsessed with this simple little possibility. Making love before anything else happened. Seemed like a perfectly marvelous idea!
Again, he fell to staring at me in maddening trancelike silence.
‘You do realize,’ he said, ‘that this is an absolutely magnificent body, don't you? I mean, you aren't insensible to the fact that you've been deposited in a … a most impressive piece of young male flesh.’
‘I looked it over well before the switch, remember? Why is it you don't want to . . .’
‘You've been with a woman, haven't you?’
‘I wish you wouldn't read my mind. It's rude. Besides, what does that matter to you?’
‘A woman you loved.’
‘I have always loved both men and women.’
‘That's a slightly different use of the word “love.” Listen, we simply can't do it now. So behave yourself. I must hear everything about this creature James. It's going to take us time to make a plan.’
‘A plan. You really think we can stop him?’
‘Of course I do!’ He beckoned for me to come.
‘But how?’ I asked. We were going out the door.
‘We must look at the creature's behavior. We must assess his weaknesses and his strengths. And remember there are two of us against him. And we have a powerful advantage.’
‘But what advantage?’
‘Lestat, clear your mortal brain of all these rampant erotic images and come. I can't think on an empty stomach, and obviously you're not thinking straight at all’” (284).
Lol! Lestat is all like “Fuck me!” XDXDXD OMG Even David can see in his mind what he wants to do with him XD ;) <3
“Oh, and I've selected our names already. Afraid I had to do it. I do hope you don't mind. You're an American named Sheridan Blackwood. And I'm a retired English surgeon named Alexander Stoker. It's always best to pose as a doctor on these little missions. You'll see what I mean.’
‘I'm thankful you didn't pick H. P. Lovecraft,’ I said with an exaggerated sigh of relief. ‘Do we have to leave now?’
‘Yes, we do. I've already called the taxi. We must get some tropical clothing before we go, or we'll look perfectly ridiculous. There isn't a moment to lose. Now, if you will use those strong young arms of yours to help me with this suitcase, I shall be forever obliged.’
‘I'm disappointed.’
‘In what?’ He stopped, stared at me, and then almost blushed as he had earlier that day. ‘Lestat, there is no time for that sort of thing.’
‘David, assuming we succeed, it may be our last chance.’
‘All right,’ he said, ‘there is plenty of time to discuss it at the beachside hotel in Grenada tonight. Depending of course on how quick you are with your lessons in astral projection” (299).
Sheridan Blackwood reminds me of Anne Rice’s book called “Blackwood Farm.” And of course Alexander Stoker must be a nod to Bram Stoker from Mrs. Rice. I was like Eeeeeeek here cuz Lestat still be trying to “get his dick wet!” XD If I may quote the AMC series here.
“But I was softened and saddened by his words of feeling, and plunged into a series of fragmentary images of all the little things we might have done in the large soft bed in the other room.
And what if the Body Thief had jumped ship already? Or been destroyed this very
morning—after Marius had looked upon me with such disdain?
‘Then we'll go on to Rio,’ said David, leading the way to the gate. ‘We'll be in time for the carnival. Nice vacation for us both.’
‘I'll die if I have to live that long!’ I said, taking the lead down the stairs. ‘Trouble with you is you've gotten used to being human because you've done it for so damned long.’
‘I was used to it by the time I was two years old,’ he said dryly.
‘I don't believe you. I've watched two-year-old humans with interest for centuries. They're miserable. They rush about, fall down, and scream almost constantly. They hate being human! They know already that it's some sort of dirty trick.’
He laughed to himself but didn't answer me” (300).
The underlined portion made me lol XD And of course Lestat daydreaming of ravaging David in his big bed! XD OMG XDXD
I was just thinking that if Lestat was truly stuck in that mortal body and they did go to Rio for their vacation people would think that Lestat is David’s rentboy considering their outward age gap! XDDXDDDXXXXD
“I was reflecting upon it, trying not to go mad with impatience, and attempting in fact to see it from the point of view of James, when I was distracted by the distant appearance, in the far corridor, of a magnificently handsome blond-haired young man. He was dressed all in evening clothes, except for an incongruous pair of violet-tinted glasses, and I was drinking up his appearance in characteristic fashion when I suddenly realized with stultifying horror that I was gazing at myself!
It was James in his black dinner jacket and boiled shirt, scanning the place from behind those fashionable lenses, and making his way slowly to this lounge.
…
He moved his head gently with the rhythm of the slow, woozy music. And a lovely pride emanated from him, a sublime contentment in what and where he was.
…
Thank God, he had seen the monster, who must have looked to all the world as completely normal now—except for his excessive and flashy beauty—as he did to me” (333).
<3 lol Lestat loves himself XD
“He loves it here, I thought. These public rooms with their plastic and tinsel represent some pinnacle of elegance, and he is silently thrilled merely to be here. He does not even need to be noticed. He takes no notice of anyone who might notice. He is a little world unto himself as this snip is such a world, speeding along so very fast through the warm seas.
Even in my fear, I found it heartbreaking suddenly and tragic. And I wondered had I not seemed the very same tiresome failure to others when I was in that shape? Had I not seemed just as sad?
Trembling violently, I picked up the glass and downed the drink as if it were medicine, receding behind those contrived images again, cloaking my fear with them, and even humming a little with the music, watching almost absently the play of the soft-colored lights on that lovely head of golden hair.
Suddenly he slipped off the stool and, turning to the left, walked very slowly through the dark bar, and past me without seeing me, and into the brighter lights around the enclosed pool. His chin was lifted; his steps so slow and careful as to seem painful, his head turning from right to left as he surveyed the space through which he passed. Then with the same careful manner, indeed a manner more indicative of weakness than strength, he pushed open the glass door to the outer deck and slipped into the night.
I had to follow him! I shouldn't and I knew it, but I was on my feet before I could stop myself, my head thick with the same cloud of false identity as I moved after him, and then stopped inside the door. I could see him very far away at the very end of the deck itself, arms leaning on the railing, wind blowing hard through his loose hair. He was looking heavenward as he stood there, and once again he seemed lost in pride and in contentment, loving the wind and the darkness, perhaps, and swaying just a little, as blind musicians sway when they play their music, as if he relished every ticking second in that body, simply swimming in pure happiness as he stood on that spot.
The heartbreaking sense of recognition passed over me again. Did I seem the same wasteful fool to those who had known me and condemned me? Oh, pitiful, pitiful creature to have spent his preternatural life in this of all places, so painfully artificial, with its old and sad passengers, in unremarkable chambers of tawdry finery, insulated from the great universe of true splendours that lay beyond.
Only after a great while did he bow his head just a little, and run the fingers of his right hand slowly down his jacket lapel. A cat licking its own fur had never looked more relaxed or self-indulgent. How lovingly he stroked this bit of unimportant cloth! It was more eloquent of the whole tragedy than any other single thing he had done.
Then, rolling his head to one side and then the other, and seeing only a couple of passengers to his far right, who were facing an entirely different direction, he suddenly rose off the boards and immediately disappeared!” (334-335).
“‘No need, old boy. Just three more hours. Tell me the plot of that old film, Body and Soul, you remember it, the one about the boxer, and isn't there a line in it about the tyger from Blake?’” (337).
“I was so thrilled to feel the old physical lightness, the sense of dexterity and grace, that I wanted to start dancing. Indeed, it would be lovely to do a little tap dance up one side the ship and down the other, snapping my fingers and singing songs all the while” (342).
lol
“Beauty is beauty where you find it” (348).
“How pretty the deep porches of the little bungalows, with their scattering of painted wooden swings and benches and chairs. The screens over the windows give the rooms a soft drowsy prettiness, for they make a tiny tight grid of fine lines over the many colors and shapes and thereby somehow sharpen them and render them more visible and vibrant, and make them look more deliberate—like the interiors in an Edward Hopper painting, or in a child's bright picture book” (349).
An Edward Hopper painting. Chop Suey, 1929, oil on canvas, Collection of Barney A. Ebsworth.
“‘Body and soul,’ said the smooth-skinned, poised young man opposite. He removed the seersucker jacket, tossing it on the nearby chair, and sat back again, folding his arms across his chest. The fabric of the turtleneck shirt showed his muscles to great advantage, and the clean white cotton made his skin seem all the more richly colored, almost a dark golden brown.
‘Yes, I know,’ he said, the lovely British voice flowing naturally. ‘It's quite shocking” (373).
Lol David’s all like, “I know I’m hot” ;) XD
“‘You think James is still in the body?’ he asked, the eyebrows lifting again, precisely as David always lifted them when he spoke, the head tipping forward ever so slightly, and the mouth on the edge of a smile.
David in that face! The timbre of the voice was almost exactly the same.
‘Ah … what … oh, yes, James. Yes, James is in the body!” (373).
Lestat’s practically drooling over him XD <3 Oh so distracted by his beauty, Lestat? LOL XD
I just wanna say that Simon Vance really stepped it up here because his voice for David changed and it fits him perfectly! In this charming young voice I picture David to have the spirit of Colin Firth with his lips always on the edge of a smile, similar to Will Herondale, and devilishly handsome. Though his new body is Anglo-Indian now I’m not sure what actor I imagine his body to be, but one thing’s for sure: he’s got beauty! XD 😍
I also liked the scene where Simon voiced Lestat while he was thinking about finally getting to drink from David and turn him over to him in the Dark Gift. His voice sounded so desperate and sensual!
“The night was waiting for me as always. And my thirst could wait no longer. I stood for a moment, head thrown back, eyes closed, and mouth open, feeling the thirst, and wanting to roar like a hungry beast. Yes, blood again when there is nothing else. When the world seems in all its beauty to be empty and heartless and I myself am utterly lost. Give me my old friend, death, and the blood that rushes with it. The Vampire Lestat is here, and he thirsts, and tonight of all nights, he will not be denied” (391-392).
“‘You must find a Greek vase, no, a reproduction will not do, and it must be this high and have upon it dancing figures.’ Ah, wasn't it the ode by Keats which had inspired that long-ago purchase?” (396).
A vase by John Keats from the 19th century.
“But I would soon be sitting out here as I did now and then in the old days, watching the passersby on the other side of the street.
Of course the faithful and zealous readers of my books would spot me here now and then. The readers of Louis's memoir, come to find the flat where we had lived, would surely recognize the house.
No matter. They believed in it, but that's different from believing it. And what was another young blond-faced man, smiling at them from a high balcony, his arms resting on the rail? I should never feed upon those tender, innocent ones—even when they bare their throats at me and say, ‘Lestat, right here!’ (This has happened, reader, in Jackson Square, and more than once.)” (397-398).
lol, really? Hehehehehe XD The, “Lestat, right here!” would be me XD fr XD
“Oh, my darling, wish you were here!” (398).
Is Lestat talking to us? The readers? Or to Claudia because she is the last person he referred to? I’m not sure here, but if I had to guess I would say that he is talking to the readers.
“I'd been playing cat and mouse with him since.
Tonight, I'd let him see me near the old French Market. And what a start it gave him, to actually lay eyes upon me, and to see Mojo with me, to realize as I gave him a little wink that it was truly Lestat whom he saw” (403).
“I turned and gave him my prettiest, most malignant smile.
He was far too wise to fall for it. He gave a long near-silent sigh, his lids lowered for a moment, and then he looked at me again.
‘Only you could have gone there,’ he said. ‘And come back’” (406-407).
Lol Louis is like, “I’m done with this shit.” 😑
“‘Have you suffered in my absence?’ I asked, looking back at the altar.
Very soberly he answered, ‘It was pure hell.’
I didn't reply.
‘Each risk you take hurts me,’ he said. ‘But that is my concern and my fault.’
‘Why do you love me?’ I asked.
‘You know, you've always known. I wish I could be you. I wish I could know the joy you know all the time.’
‘And the pain, you want that as well?’
‘Your pain?’ He smiled. ‘Certainly. I'll take your brand of pain anytime, as they say.’
‘You smug, cynical lying bastard,’ I whispered, the anger cresting in me suddenly, the blood even rushing into my face” (407).
When Louis said it was pure hell in Lestat’s absence I scoffed and thought Louis was being sarcastic! XD And it seems I was right! Ha!
“‘It was David Talbot, your mortal friend, who helped you, wasn't it?’ he asked.
I nodded.
But at the mere mention of the name, it was as if all my nerves had been touched by the tip of a heated bit of wire. There was enough suffering here as it was. I couldn't speak anymore of David. I wouldn't speak of Gretchen. And I suddenly realized that what I wanted to do most in the world was to turn to him and put my arms around him and weep on his shoulder as I'd never done.
How shameful. How predictable! How insipid. And how sweet.
I didn't do it” (407-408).
Awwww… 😭
“Then he leant forward, closing the distance between us, and pressed his smooth silken lips against the side of my face. I meant to pull away, but he used all his strength to hold me still, and I allowed it, this cold, passionless kiss, and he was the one who finally drew back like a collection of shadows collapsing into one another, with only his hand still on my shoulder, as I sat with my eyes on the altar still” (409).
♥️ 💋 xXx
“‘Don't start weeping again.’
‘I like to weep. I must. Why else would I do it so much?’
‘Well, stop!’” (431).
lol XD David’s all like, “please, stop. Get some help.” :) XD
*Lestat whenever he weeps* XDDDDD
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