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Rice wrote Interview with the Vampire, she said later, "without ever realizing I was writing about loss. I was writing about my daughter's loss [Rice's daughter died in 1972]. And I was writing about my loss of Catholic faith long before that, because I had lost my faith in the year 1960, when I first went to college."
After her first book, Rice continued to write about loss -- and about vampires, witches and demons -- for more than 25 years. She also wrote, under the pen name A.N. Roquelaure, the Beauty series, an erotic retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty; writing as Anne Rampling, she published two other novels, Exit to Eden and Belinda.
But it is as the queen of gothic fiction that Anne Rice's fans know her best. Her fans are passionate about her, and she returns the sentiment, e-mailing tirelessly with them and occasionally posting on their blogs. She also adores communing with them in person on book tours: "They give me personal, priceless and unforgettable feedback and verification of what I have achieved for them in my books," she once explained in a Salon interview.
After Blood Canticle was released in 1993, her readers, accustomed to an output of one book a year, kept asking her what was coming next. "And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'," she said in a Newsweek interview.
They were in for a surprise. In 1998, Rice had returned to the Roman Catholic Church, and in 2005 she published Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, a novel about the childhood of Jesus, narrated by himself.
"It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming announced that he'd been born again," wrote David Gates in Newsweek.
But as Rice sees it, Christ the Lord represents the fulfillment of a longing that has been in her books, and in her soul, all along.
"This subject is in no way a departure from that of my previous works; no one who knows my work could possibly think so," she said in a Q&A on her publisher's Web site. "The whole theme of Interview with the Vampire was Louis's quest for meaning in a godless world. He searched to find the oldest existing ‘immortal' simply to ask ‘What is the meaning of what we are?' I was always compelled to seek the ‘big answers.'"
Christ the Lord received mixed reviews, but many critics were as impressed with the book's style as its ambitious subject matter. "Rice's book is a triumph of tone -- her prose lean, lyrical, vivid -- and character," noted Kirkus Reviews. Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times Book Review: "Even in biblical times and in the Holy Land, Rice retains her obsessions with ritual and purification, with lavish detail and gaudy decor. But she writes this book in a simpler, leaner style, giving it the slow but inexorable rhythm of an incantation. The restraint and prayerful beauty of Christ the Lord is apt to surprise her usual readers and attract new ones."
Some of those usual readers, of course, are now wondering whether she will write any more vampire novels. Will the vampire Lestat ever return?
Anne's response, from her publisher's Web site: "I can't see myself doing that. My vampires were metaphors for the outsiders, the lost, the wanderers in the darkness who remembered the warmth of God's light but couldn't find it. My wish to explore that is gone now. I want to meet a much bigger challenge."
"My first job was as a cafeteria waitress at a Walgreen's cafeteria over the drugstore on Canal and Baronne Street in New Orleans when I was sixteen years old. What a plunge into reality. Canal Street was then the only downtown in town. And I was in fact a boarding school student and unbeknownst to the principal, Sr. Felix, took this job on weekends. When she found out, she did not approve of a St. Joseph's Academy girl being a waitress. I was undeterred. I had discovered that I could turn time into money. I never forgot that lesson. The crashing boredom of childhood was over!"
"I was employed from then on a shocking variety of low level jobs, including grill cook at a huge downtown cafeteria in San Francisco. I had to be there at 5:00 a.m., and once while I was en route on a bus, a drunken man fell asleep against me. The conductor had to wake him up for me to get off, poor guy. I think he'd staggered out of an after hours club. I was a crack waitress, a receptionist, a claims examiner, a theatre usherette in a big Cinerama house, and must have seen It's Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World over one hundred times while standing there with a flashlight. My last job in the straight world -- after motherhood -- was that of proofreader for a law book company. I hated it. Then my devoted husband Stan, who was already teaching and had been for some time, said, 'Stay home and write, I believe in you.' And I wrote Interview with the Vampire."
"I was a painfully slow reader. Never really read a novel for pure pleasure until I was 35. It was Ordinary People by Judith Guest. Thought it very good."
"How do I unwind? There are different levels to unwind. The primo way for me is to read history or some form of involving scholarship. A good book on an obscure subject. The recent bestseller Krakatoa by Simon Winchester was a wonderful example! That's a delicious unwind book. And there are others out there like that. The British writers seem especially good at it. But I can't get enough on how or why the Roman Empire fell. That's my idea of a good evening. To be in Florida with the deck door open to the roar of the waves, and a good book open to pages on the decline of paganism."
"But! There is another kind of unwind. The gripping fiction bestseller that takes two days. The Da Vinci Code is a good example. Every now and then I have time for that. I was smiling all the way through it. At one time in my life, I had read everything I could find on the Knights Templar (see First Way to Unwind, above), and on Opus Dei, and Holy Blood, Holy Grail, and so I was just tickled by what the author did with the material. And of course, I couldn't stop reading. Such cleverness, such a puzzle and right up to the last page."
"Interest and hobbies: well, my interests are pretty much literary, except for maintaining two pre-Civil War houses in New Orleans (both family homes, one used for Mardi Gras season entertaining), and then I do devote some attention to my doll collection, which includes a small assortment of French antique dolls -- but this part of my life is drawing to a close. I am divesting myself of possessions rather than acquiring them. I am decorating, yes, and redecorating, but cutting down on the area, and the amount of things I have to maintain. I've let go of my huge property, St. Elizabeth's Orphanage -- a monster building which used to house my doll collection and so many other things. It was the fulfillment of dreams for about 10 years for me and so many other people. Weddings, book signings, book parties, benefits, fundraisers -- all kinds of events were held there. We even hosted President Clinton there. But that chapter of my life is over. For those ten years I asked 'what if?' many times. And I found out and as the result I am a satisfied person and a happy one. But it's over."
"I guess you could call my cats a hobby. I have five of them, all Siberians and very lovable and demanding and sweet. They are keepers certainly. Other than that, I don't know that I have hobbies so much as passions, and my passions center around my writing."
"My only other diversion of late is seeing that The Witching Hour will soon be made into a television limited series -- that is, a mini-series that will extend over 10 hours. The scripts that have been written by writer-producer John Wilder are very simply wonderful -- profoundly faithful to the material and the characters. Our producer, Mark Wolper, is extraordinarily dedicated and we have the network behind us. It looks very good."
"Other news looming is that Elton John and Rob Roth are making a musical based on the Vampire Chronicles for Broadway. I've talked to Elton John several times. He's absolutely charming. I've heard the first five songs, performed by him, and they were great. Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics, and will write the lyrics for all. The other people involved have top credits. The treatment I read was a wonder -- very true to the books, quite terrific. My conversation with Rob Roth was very exciting."
"What I've learned from both these experiences so far -- the television series and the Broadway production -- is that the passion of people makes all the difference in the world. And sometimes it is the passion of a few key people that moves a project forward. Sometimes one person alone goes to the hard work of getting everybody else together, and making the studio that owns the underlying rights respond. People who love the work, who want to make something of it, can be brought together by that one key person. That one key person has to believe that past disappointments or failed connections don't mean anything. When you have that sort of person, something can happen."
"I've also learned that the author of the books usually can't do it. Not unless she wants to stop being an author altogether and move to L.A. or N.Y. and become a producer."
1) Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is told in Jesus’ voice. What advantages does the first-person narration offer the author? How does it contribute to the novel’s emotional resonance? How does it influence the way the novel unfolds?
2) What other literary devices does Rice use to bring the story to life for the contemporary reader? Discuss, for example, her use of imagined conversations and her descriptions of the family’s interactions.
3) The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke recount the story of Jesus’ birth, the flight to Egypt, and the family’s return to Israel. Does Rice take liberties with these biblical versions in her retelling? To what extent does her account echo the Gospels in both content and tone?
4) Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt focuses on a period in Jesus’ life not described in the New Testament. How realistic is Rice’s portrait of Jesus as a young boy? How do the miracles he performs – killing and reviving Eleazer; alleviating Cleopas’ pain and rescuing him from death; and restoring sight to the blind man – reflect feelings and wishes typical of a seven-year-old?
5) Throughout the book, Jesus questions Mary and Joseph, Cleopas, and rabbis and scholars in hopes of discovering the secret of his birth. What do the answers he receives from the various adults reflect about their relationship with Jesus, their understanding of the truth, and their own self-interests and philosophies?
6) What role does Cleopas play in his nephew’s life? Why does he defy Mary and Joseph and reveal what he knows about Jesus’ conception and birth? What other function does heserve in the plot? What insights do his opinions give into the political situation in Israel? Is his point of view understandable in light of the history of the Jews as it is presented in the novel?
7) What makes Rice’s portraits of Mary and Joseph effective? What did you admire most each of them? Are there flaws in the decisions they make?
8) Discuss the internal conflicts Jesus experiences as he pieces together the stories he hears and tries to reconcile them with his own his unsettling thoughts and fears. Do they make you feel differently about Jesus’ humanity? His divinity?
9) Jesus’ immersion in Jewish culture and traditions is an important aspect of the novel. What is the significance of Rice’s focus on Jesus as a Jew? What insights does it give into Jesus’ teachings and his ultimate mission on earth? Is the message relevant to the religious tensions in the world today?
10) Did reading Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt deepen your understanding of the origins of Christianity? Do you think readers’ reactions to Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt are inevitably influenced by their personal religious beliefs and heritage?
11) In the author’s note, Rice discusses her extensive research and offers a critique of recent New Testament scholarship. Do you agree with her criticism of the current “fashionable notions about Jesus?” Have you read articles or books that support her argument that many writers “scholars who have apparently devoted their life to New Testament scholarship, disliked Jesus Christ?” Do you think that Rice’s background and her strong Catholic faith affect the conclusions she draws?
12) Rice, who is best known for her books about vampires, expresses the hope that “Jesus will be as real to you as any other character I’ve ever launched into the world we share.” If you have read her other books, do you think that she succeeded in this goal? Whether or not you are familiar with her previous works, discuss your reactions to the following quotation: “After all, is Christ Our Lord not the ultimate supernatural hero, the ultimate outsider, the ultimate immortal of them all?.”
1. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt is told in Jesus’ voice. What advantages does the first-person narration offer the author? How does it contribute to the novel’s emotional resonance? How does it influence the way the novel unfolds?
2. What other literary devices does Rice use to bring the story to life for the contemporary reader? Discuss, for example, her use of imagined conversations and her descriptions of the family’s interactions.
3. The Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke recount the story of Jesus’ birth, the flight to Egypt, and the family’s return to Israel. Does Rice take liberties with these biblical versions in her retelling? To what extent does her account echo the Gospels in both content and tone?
4. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt focuses on a period in Jesus’ life not described in the New Testament. How realistic is Rice’s portrait of Jesus as a young boy? How do the miracles he performs–killing and reviving Eleazer [pp. 4—7]; alleviating Cleopas’ pain [p. 48] and rescuing him from death [p. 99]; and restoring sight to the blind man [pp. 279—80] –reflect feelings and wishes typical of a seven-year-old?
5. Throughout the book, Jesus questions Mary and Joseph, Cleopas, and rabbis and scholars in hopes of discovering the secret of his birth. What do the answers he receives from the various adults reflect about their relationship with Jesus, their understanding of the truth, and their own self-interests and philosophies?
6. What role does Cleopas play in his nephew’s life? Why does he defy Mary and Joseph and reveal what he knows about Jesus’ conception and birth [p. 45—47]? What other function does he serve in the plot? What insights do his opinions [p. 68, p.74, and p. 211, for example] give into the political situation in Israel? Is his point of view understandable in light of the history of the Jews as it is presented in the novel?
7. What makes Rice’s portraits of Mary and Joseph effective? What did you admire most each of them? Are there flaws in the decisions they make?
8. Discuss the internal conflicts Jesus experiences as he pieces together the stories he hears and tries to reconcile them with his own his unsettling thoughts and fears. Do they make you feel differently about Jesus’ humanity? His divinity?
9. Jesus’ immersion in Jewish culture and traditions is an important aspect of the novel. What is the significance of Rice’s focus on Jesus as a Jew? What insights does it give into Jesus’ teachings and his ultimate mission on earth? Is the message relevant to the religious tensions in the world today?
10. Did reading Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt deepen your understanding of the origins of Christianity? Do you think readers’ reactions to Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt are inevitably influenced by their personal religious beliefs and heritage?
11. In the author’s note, Rice discusses her extensive research and offers a critique of recent New Testament scholarship. Do you agree with her criticism of the current “fashionable notions about Jesus” [p. 309]? Have you read articles or books that support her argument that many writers “scholars who have apparently devoted their life to New Testament scholarship, disliked Jesus Christ” [p.314]? Do you think that Rice’s background and her strong Catholic faith affect the conclusions she draws?
12. Rice, who is best known for her books about vampires, expresses the hope that “Jesus will be as real to you as any other character I’ve ever launched into the world we share” [p. 321]. If you have read her other books, do you think that she succeeded in this goal? Whether or not you are familiar with her previous works, discuss your reactions to the following quotation: “After all, is Christ Our Lord not the ultimate supernatural hero, the ultimate outsider, the ultimate immortal of them all?” [p. 321].
Anonymous
Posted July 30, 2007
truth is, like everyone else, i was skeptical at first to find out that anne rice of all people, would write a book about the early life of jesus. So I read the book out of curiosity, and found it dull. Couple of months later, I tried reading it again and loved it. It is an incredible book and one that I somehow felt, sooner or later, anne rice would write. And to those who didn't like it because it portrayed as 'sinful' jesus (which is a stupid thing to say, for in the book Jesus is a child and killed the boy by accident, not intentionally) or because 'it was a complete turn from her vampire books', I can just say that they are being very closeminded. Anne Rice does not say this is a true story, she says it a fictionalized account of all her research on the early life of jesus (which in itself is very scarce). And just because she wrote books about witches and vampires and sadomasochism doesn't mean she shouldn't have written a book about Jesus. If you read all the vampire chronicles, in every book of the vampires, there is an underlying message that anne rice is telling that somehow God, or something, exists, that we are not alone in the world, despite everything. Somehow she had always believed in God, wheter or not she was conscious of it, and that showed a lot in her previous books. Catholic saints, a divinine comedy-like journey from heaven to hell? No one should be surprised Anne Rice would return to Christianity. I'm not christian myself, but I did enjoy this book so much it is my favorite. It was a bit slow at times, and not as descriptive and detailed as her previous books, but it was amazingly written. It is a work of art, and I hope that everyone reads this books at least once.
8 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 4, 2008
I enjoy fiction as much as the next person. I am a sinner just like the rest of us. However, I am a Christian and have to write to the non Christians that read this book. Jesus is God in man form. He was, and still is, without sin. This book leads people to think of him as sinful in an innocent way which would never happen. This is deceiving if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Please understand that this is only a fiction book. If you want to know about Jesus Christ this is not the book to read.
3 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 16, 2007
I have read just about every Anne Rice book, and while this was quite a departure for her, I found the book to be quite good. Reading about Jesus as a young boy and what sorts of things he might have done is fascinating, as well as timely for me. I could see the young Jesus through my own son. A very touching book from a solid author. I can't wait to read the next...
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 26, 2007
I found the book painfully slow and not Annes' best work. The idea was good, but it lacked the excitment that her readers are use to. I think that new readers to Anne should start with a different set of her books.
2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 4, 2006
I admire Anne Rice for returning to the Catholic Church but I feel I should warn folks about this book. While it has some interesting ideas about the humanity of the young Jesus which one may take to meditation, there are some very troublesome notions in the book as well. Just as the DaVinci code is an injustice to all of Christianity, there are some quite liberal ideas included in the 'Christ the Lord out of Egypt' book. Premier among these notions (though there are many more) is that Joseph and his brothers murder a man and Jesus himself murders a young boy who was bullying him (rest assured Jesus returns the boy to life afterward!) I'm sorry, but these are situations I can not imagine nor do I think they will lead a soul forward! We must be VERY careful to explain that this book is a piece of FICTION for fear of misleading any faithful person's heart away from our Lord in any small way! Instead of proclaiming this book as some new gospel account of our dear Lord's early childhood, and that its scholarship is without question, I think we should first probe its accounts which can NOT be found in sacred scripture.
2 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.At seven years of age Jesus was living on the Street of Carpenters in Alexandria Egypt, an ordinary child who played and learned the studies all Jewish boys must know. The fact that he turned clay pigeons into real birds and that he struck dead a child who bullied him and then brought him back to life didn¿t really impinge on his consciousness although Mary and Joseph know who he is and why he was born to the Virgin Mary. An angel tells Joseph it is time for them to return to Israel so they travel to their homeland. They stop at the Temple in Jerusalem but a riot breaks out between the rebels and Herod¿s troops. They journey to Nazareth, but on the way Jesus stops to heal his Uncle in the river Jordan. A curious child, he listens to the hints about his birth and wants to know what was so special about it. Neither Mary nor Joseph feel he is ready to know these things but when Jesus heals a blind man, he knows he must find out the truth including why his mother says he was born not of man. --- Anne Rice¿s portrayal of Jesus as a young child shows him as both divine and human though he is not aware yet of his origins or his purpose in life. The character gradually comes to realize he is not like other children and wants to know why, something any curious seven-year old would try and find out if they were in his shoes. Perhaps the most beautiful trait Anne Rice¿s Jesus possesses is a wisdom that belies his years and comes out at the most inopportune times. Though well-written, reader bias will either laud Ms. Rice¿s latest work or condemn her interpretation of the boy destined to become the Savior.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted September 17, 2008
All I have to say is this book was boring, I forced myself to finish it hoping it would get good.
1 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 3, 2007
Christ all mighty it was, slow and awful. I am an avid reader and I put it down. Stay away from this one. Save your money.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 2, 2006
Anne Rice is one of my favorite writers and I waited a VERY long time to read this book and was EXTREMELY disappointed. There was no plot and very repetitive........read to the end hoping something would happen - not so. I wouldn't buy this book if you're hoping for anything that will keep you awake. Good alternative to a sleep aide!
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted March 27, 2006
I was looking forward to reading this book. It sounded like a great idea for a story. But, it turned out to be a very boring read. She was very repetative. No real plot, just too many detailed descriptions of random characters, things, and events. I kept reading and finished the book. I even read the author's notes as other reviewers had suggested. But it never got any better.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 24, 2005
ok i bought it thinking it'd have a nice new view on it , and idk be intresting like her other books. this book is so boring i'm STILL not done with it and i bought it the day after it came out. all it is , is jesus as a child following his family on their trip i mean i dont get the point of the book or anything all they do is journey to their family. Nothing else, only crying and young jesus , saying he's scared/crying/praying. this is one of the few anne rice books i wouldn't recommend to anyone.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 25, 2005
I thought the premise of this book sounded really interesting, but in reading it found that it never got past that point. The writing was as if reading a first draft, sentences repeating or starting mid-thought. The story plodded along and there were far too many characters that really had nothing to do with the story. The end had a good point but was not enough to turn this book around.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 8, 2005
The book is mediocre. The best part of it is the Author's Notes at the end of the story.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 16, 2005
I had high hopes for this book. The premise seemed great but it never got past that point. If this is how Anne Rice writes, it's beyond me how she has succeeded as this book read more like a rough draft. Sentences that repeated, others that started as if they were in mid-sentence. Very poor. The story itself was flat, the characters never really stood out and there were way too many. Details were odd, and repetitive. As you read you keep thinking that things would liven up a bit, but no, it just continued to drag on. Only minor bit that was decent was the very last two chapters, bringing up a point I had not considered before, but even then I don't think it was enough to want to buy the next volumes in this series.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 1, 2005
This is a weird book. Told in the first person by a seven year old boy, it recounts the return to Nazareth of the young Jesus and his family after their sojourn in Egypt. Ms. Rice's research is remarkable and obviously painstaking. In her notes she states that she has returned to her original faith after many years being married to an atheist. In light of what is happening in the Catholic Church today I find that pretty amazing. But - what the hey - to each his/her own. Based on the author's previous works, this will no doubt be a best seller - it just doesn't deserve to be.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 9, 2012
TS 5/9/12
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Posted April 29, 2012
Who Jesus was as a child and how the people who knew him and watched him grow into adulthood saw him has long intrigued me. Anne Rice's story of his childhood, though fiction, makes it so believable that I found it hard not to believe it was an actual account -- not unlike immersing myself in her Vampire Chronicles. All I can say is "Anne Rice has done it again in yet another venue".
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Posted April 10, 2012
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Anonymous
Posted March 22, 2012
A book well worth reading. A book for anyone and also good f or discussion
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Posted February 1, 2012
From the perspective of Christ as a little boy. Wonderfully written. Really takes a seasoned author to pull this off and Anne Rice must have been hand picked by the Lord Himself. Must also read Out of Cana
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Overview
Having completed the two cycles of legend to which she has devoted her career so far, Anne Rice gives us now her most ambitious and courageous book, a novel about the early years of CHRIST THE LORD, based on the Gospels and on the most respected New Testament scholarship.The book’s power derives from the passion its author brings to the writing and the way in which she summons up the voice, the presence, the words of Jesus who tells the story.
From the Hardcover edition.