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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First vampire book I ever read...,
By Melody of your Demise (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Vampyre (Fleshcreepers) (Paperback)
Well i must say that this book was given to me when i was like 8 yrs old, i read the book and have been hooked ever since on horror books especially vampire books and it's more than 10 yrs later and i still read this book! I give it 5 stars because this is a great book for young readers that want to start reading horror or vampire books..
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From a great mind not truly appreciated,
By
This review is from: The Vampyre (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)
Probably more legend surrounds the writing of this novella than the actual story itself. Polidori never received more than a few pounds, but the Vampire was translated into over seven languages and adapted for a play on the continent. Goethe cheekily says that it was the best thing Byron ever wrote!However much this might be based on Byron's fragment, Polidori wrote it at the behest of a patroness after leaving Byron's service. Polidori had been teased and ostracised by Byron and the Shelleys. He himself was volatile and had probably had enough of being called Pollydolly. The Vampire was published without poor Polly's permission, and under Byron's name. It sold like hotcakes. The mixture of melodrama and intrigue delighted the public and began our modern obsession with vampires which just won't die. Yes, there's the cliche of the innocent woman, Ianthe, getting seduced by the mysterious stranger, and her relation's slow unravelling of the danger. But it was Polidori's modelling of the Vampire on his ex-employer that has given this book longevity and made it a genre setter. The Vampire is written quite well - the prose may be over-flowery but Mary Shelley's Frankenstein suffers from the same. The unravelling of the story as Lord Ruthven (pronounced Riven) takes the protganists further into his confidences, and the amusing ending, make it worth a read.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Destruction of innocence,
This review is from: The Vampyre (Forgotten Books) (Paperback)
"The Vampyre" has a pretty impressive pedigree -- it was first dreamed up on the same legendary night as Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" and the title character is based on Lord Byron (who actually got credited for the story). In fact, the history of Dr. John Polidori's short story is more fascinating than the story itself, a brief purple-prosed tale of innocence destroyed and a sinister aristocratic vampire.A very naive, romantic young man named Aubrey becomes acquainted with a mysterious aristocrat named Lord Ruthven, and decides to go on a tour of Europe with him. But he soon discovers that Ruthven isn't the idealized romantic figure he thought -- he's cruel, depraved and has a corrupting influence on everyone he gets involved with. Aubrey soon abandons Ruthven and flees to Greece, where he falls in love with a beautiful peasant girl -- only to have her die from a vampiric attack, followed by Ruthven being killed by bandits. Even more shocking, Ruthven reappears in London -- alive and well -- when Aubrey returns, and he has some spectacularly sinister plans in mind for Aubrey's sister. The main character may be a vampire, but Polidori's story is less of a horror story and more of a study of innocence's destruction. Not only does Ruthven apparently wreck the morals of everyone he becomes close to (although we're never told how), but even the pure-hearted Aubrey turns into a glassy-eyed crazy wreck because of Ruthven. Writingwise, I hope Polidori was a better doctor than he was a writer. His writing isn't BAD, but he tends to ramble in a purple, prim, distant style -- it feels like the entire story is a summary of someone else's novel, and he skims over the most interesting stuff like Ruthven's actual cruelty or his wooing of Aubrey's sister. But he does give the story an atmosphere of taut suspense especially when Aubrey is trying to escape Ruthven. Ruthven (based on Byron) is a fairly fascinating character since he was the first aristocratic, elegant, attractive vampire that anybody knows of -- he's not just a monster, but a smart one who manipulates others to get the prize. We don't know whether he corrupts and murders because he's a vampire or whether he's just an evil manipulator, but strangely it makes him all the more fascinating. "The Vampyre" has the distinction of being the first story involving an aristocratic, attractive vampire, and Lord Ruthven is a fascinating villain despite Polidori's clunky writing. Worth a read, if nothing else for the insights.
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