I read and enjoyed Orson Scott Card’s book Sarah. In fact, that book sparked an interest in me to find out more about what exactly we knew of ancient times, both New and Old World.
Now Anne Rice, of vampire fame, has a book (the first of several) coming out on the life of Christ. She apparently has recently returned to her Catholic faith and is trying to write something a little more uplifting. Says she, “I promised that from now on I would write only for the Lord.” Wow. As the journalist put it, this is the biggest shock since Dylan converted. I’ve never read Anne’s works, but I bet some of you have. Is she a good writer or a mass-market pulpist? What are the chances this book is any good?
I’ve never read any Anne Rice, but I really enjoyed the movie version of Interview with the Vampire, FWIW.
I’ve been a fan of Anne Rice for years. She tends to be wordy in her descriptions, which drives my wife nuts, but I love.
Frank, earlier this afternoon you weren’t interested in the opinions of other Christians. What changed?
I think she’s a good writer, although her books are too gruesome for me, usually. I will be interested to read this book.
I’ve read 2 or 3 of Rice’s (before the movies). Very good, but a little too creepy in parts. Kind of a shock that she might turn to the life of Christ. Maybe Gibson inspired her. Maybe she thinks there is enough voilence, evil, pain and supernatural material for her to write about.
Bill,
Did you really think that meant I didn’t care about other Christian’s views about anything? I am not interested in using the views of other denominations about the proper role of priesthood and its relation to gender to tell me what the proper LDS view is. I am more than happy, on the other hand, to read the Screwtape Letters!
Anne Rice is a great writer. Unfortunately, I found I never wanted to spend anytime in the amoral worlds she created. It wasn’t just the characters – her entire fictional world was one without redemption or any possibility of redemption – there was only ugliness and despair.
But it was well crafted amorality.
“Frank, earlier this afternoon you weren’t interested in the opinions of other Christians. What changed?”
Frank doesn’t mind asking us our opinions on Anne Rice because he knows we aren’t Christian.
So now that she’s writing for the Lord, is she going to give back all the money she made writing for that other guy?
I read a couple of chapters of one of her books once in a bookstore and didn’t like it. It left a bad taste in my mind. But then I’ve never particularly liked horror, suspense, thrillers, vampires, etc. I sincerely dislike Orson Scott Card’s horror books as well. That may be one reason why I didn’t like Anne Rice’s writing. But also it seemed to me (from those few chapters) that she had surface appeal but lacked any real substance. So I doubt I’ll be interested in her future writings either. A snap judgement, perhaps, but there are too many good books I know I’ll love, that I haven’t yet read, for me to risk time on something without much chance of suiting my tastes. I wish her luck with her new undertakings, though.
I love her books, but I really enjoy the horror genre (and am especially fond of vampires), so I’m an easy audience for her stuff. She does get a bit wordy sometimes, but I’m willing to overlook it for the good story. It’s very interesting that she is returning to Catholicism and changing her writing genre; I wish her well (though I enjoy reading horror books, writing them would be so much darker, having to live in that world in your mind as you create the story). I’ll probably wait and see what reviewers say about her life of Christ books, but there’s a good chance I’ll give them a shot. It could be interesting, and I’m kind of curious what her take on things will be.
Anne Rice writing about religion? Oh the posibilities! I guess her first novel could be Interview with an Angel followed by Jean the Angel and culminating with Queen of the Blessed: A study of the Virgin Mary. I read the altenatives to those books, and liked them. Writing about the life of Christ could be interesting, maybe it would be in the lines of Kazantzakis’ Last Temptation of Christ or more in a mellower tone. In any case, I would like to see what she has to say about it.