Vampires Anonymous [Paperback]

Jeffrey McMahan (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Alyson Books; 1st edition (May 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555831834
• ISBN-13: 978-1555831837
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #628,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloodsuckers unite!, November 23, 1998

By 

H. Wills "H. Wills" (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vampires Anonymous (Paperback)

I read "Vampires Anonymous" for the first time about four years ago, and it spoiled me for just about every other vampire story. I have never laughed so much in all my life! Andrew is utterly impossible to describe - for a character who should, in the normal order of things, be the disfunctional misfit in society, you simply cannot help wondering how he retains his sanity as friends, enemies and acquaintances around him redefine what "abnormality" really means. And yet he somehow manages to remain perfectly debonair and beautifully dressed, with ready and acid wit to hand, as his colleagues (sometimes literally) lose their heads. You don't have to be gay to read this book, and you can't help but love this vampire. My only question, which I have been asking for the past four years - where's the sequel, Mr. McMahan? Please?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Rice, eat your heart out, April 25, 2000

By 

croll (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vampires Anonymous (Paperback)

Better yet, let Andrew do it for you. Not knowing exactly what to expect, I bought this book just looking for an entertaining read and a few laughs. What I found was so much more engrossing, and I'm now well into reading the book for a third time.

VA picks up where McMahan's last book leaves off. Previously we had only seen glimpses of Andrew (the book's anti-hero) through short stories, little more than an introduction. But in VA, we get to explore Andrew's existence eight years after having been brought into the vampiric fold... and never was Lestat half as sharp with his tongue.

I hesitate to compare McMahan's style with Rice's, but it's the most commonly known reference I can think of. The prose in VA isn't as "pretty" as Rice's, instead it tends towards relatively clipped phrases, both harsh and poignant. Yet it's meant to be. Coming from a 1st person perspective, one is immersed not only in Andrew's world, but in his mind (as messed up and twisted as it might be.)

Additionally, the story provides an interesting metaphore for the so called Ex-Gay movement and conversion efforts through exploring the attempts of the Vampire's Anonymous "twelve-step" group to lead vampires back to a more "normal" unlife. McMahan doesn't allow himself to get caught up in a political statement, but the effect is still there, lurking in the background.

The book is an engrossing read, and I highly recommend it to fans of the vampire genre, whether the reader is gay or not.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book puts the life back in death!, March 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Mike McCarthy) (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vampires Anonymous (Paperback)

If you squint your third eye a little bit, you can read this book as using "vampire" as a metaphor for "gay." Andrew, our undead hero, is unabashedly both of these, and takes us on a romp through his 'unlife' -- not as sensual as Lestat's merry band of neck-biters, and a little more disco. Nevertheless, the characters are well drawn--and you'll laugh, cry, fly and die with them. Great fun and highly recommended!