The Vampire Armand

favorite A Rice book but unabridged audio awful

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend only as a shadow of the book, as the unabridged audio is so wrong,

What did you like best about this story?

Far Too much to get into in such a short space here.

What does Alfred Molina bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

A wish that he, Simon Vance or any of the other A Rice audiobook readers would read the unabridged version of The Vampire Armand,

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

I never bother with abridged books. When I was still able to read, this was by far my favorite Anne Rice book - one of my favorite books, period. However, while all the other vampire books are read by very talented readers, the reader of unabridged The Vampyre Armand was awful. There was no evidence of eternal youth or need or abandonment. He could have read a good older vampyre with no wit quite well, but not the man-child seeking love and redemption, feeling unlovable but needing love so much. So I not only bought hardcover and softcover copies of this book (2 softcover, as I marked up the first so much, rereading it often) and the unabridged audiobook, but I did what I never did before - I bought the abridged audiobook. Alfred Molina was still not Armand as I heard him in my head, but he was good. Unfortuneately, so much of Anne's poetry of words and deep struggles, moral conflicts and conflicting needs, sensuality and sexuality were lost in the abridgement of the prose and story. For such an incredible book and study in opposing moralities and exploration of emotions, I wish this masterpiece was given a great reader who could capture the essence of Armand in the unabridged version of The Vampire Armand.

6 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

The best available audio version but only slightly

If you do not need every tiny detail or would prefer brief and fewer depictions of sex scenes and just the essentials then the abridged version is what you are looking for. Molina as Armand is fantastic and easy on the ears even if he does not sound like a 17 year old boy from Kiev. Unfortunately, the other characters are not very distinct as he has little vocal variation. Molina's pronunciation of many words is also grating, for instance he pronounces Lestat as "Leshtaht". Quite annoying.

If you absolutely need to experience every detail try the only unabridged audio option available. The narrator (Jonathan Marosz) is terrible as Armand and harsh on the ears although every other character is pretty good and decently distinct. Marosz's pronunciation of many words leaves much to be desired. Overall Marosz' narration is passible at best. The story is decent but be warned it spends much time on many sex scenes (most involving one or more young boys) that do nothing to really serve the story and could ultimately be skipped and nothing would be missed.

Ultimately a new recording with a new narrator would better serve this story. Hopefully some day we will get one.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Not really an in depth story

Wish it had been more in depth. More of a short story than a novel

Armand is one of my favorite vampires

I love audiobooks and I love Alfred Molina's performance. The only reason I didn't give a 5 star review is because this is an abridged audiobook. I could have listened to a fully narrated audiobook, but I loved the sound of Mr. Molina's voice and the other performer left me uninterested. Mr. Molina completely captured the essence of each character and I was completely immersed in the story. As I mentioned in the title, Armand is one of my favorite characters. I enjoyed following his story from his mortal life to the time after Memnoch the Devil. This book had very little to do with Lestat, as Armand and Marius are the focal characters. David Talbot (who is becoming a favorite) encourages Armand to open up about who he was before he became a vampire, his relationship to Marius (his Master), and his evolution to the vampire he eventually became. Armand is such a complex character. As I have stated in previous reviews, I prefer audiobooks because of my vision. I'm sure reading The Vampire Armand in book form is just as enjoyable. However for absolute "ear-candy" - Alfred Molina is pure honey.