Memnoch the Devil (Vampire Chronicles, No 5) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Anne Rice (Author) "I SAW HIM when he came through the front doors..." (more)
Key Phrases: insatiable personality, sleepless mind, granite statue, New York, New Orleans, God Incarnate (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
The fifth volume of Rice's Vampire Chronicles is one of her most controversial books. The tale begins in New York, where Lestat, the coolest of Rice's vampire heroes, is stalking a big-time cocaine dealer and religious-art smuggler--this guy should get it in the neck. Lestat is also growing fascinated with the dealer's lovely daughter, a TV evangelist who's not a fraud.

Lestat is also being stalked himself, by some shadowy guy who turns out to be Memnoch, the devil, who spirits him away. From here on, the book might have been called Interview with the Devil (by a Vampire). It's a rousing story interrupted by a long debate with the devil. Memnoch isn't the devil as ordinarily conceived: he got the boot from God because he objected to God's heartless indifference to human misery. Memnoch takes Lestat to heaven, hell, and throughout history.

Some readers are appalled by the scene in which Lestat sinks his fangs into the throat of Christ on the cross, but the scene is not a mere shock tactic: Jesus is giving Lestat a bloody taste in order to win him over to God's side, and Rice is dead serious about the battle for his soul. Rice is really doing what she did as a devout young Catholic girl asked to imagine in detail what Christ's suffering felt like--it's just that her imagination ran away with her.

If you like straight-ahead fanged adventure, you'll likely enjoy the first third; if you like Job-like arguments with God, you'll prefer the Memnoch chapters. --Tim Appelo

From Publishers Weekly
Rice has made a career out of humanizing creatures of supernatural horror, and in this fifth book of her Vampire Chronicles she requests sympathy for the Devil. Having survived his near-fatal reacquaintance with human mortality in The Tale of the Body Thief (1992), the world-weary vampire Lestat is recruited by the biblical Devil, Memnoch, to help fight a cruel and negligent God. The bulk of the novel is a retelling of the Creation story from the point of view of the fallen angel, who blames his damnation on his refusal to accept human suffering as part of God's divine plan. Rice grapples valiantly with weighty questions regarding the justification of God's ways to man, but their vast scope overwhelms the novel's human dimensions. God and the Devil periodically put on the flesh of mortals, and too often end up sounding like arguing philosophy majors. Meanwhile, the ever-fascinating Lestat, whose poignant personal crisis of faith is mirrored in Memnoch's travails, becomes a passive observer, dragged along on trips to Heaven and Hell before being returned to Earth to relate what he has witnessed. Though Rice boldly probes the significance of death, belief in the afterlife and other spiritual matters, one wishes that she had found a way to address them through the experiences of human and near-human characters, as she has done so brilliantly in the past. One million first printing; BOMC and QPB main selections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345409671
• ISBN-13: 978-0345409676
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (473 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #12,691 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 5 in The Vampire Chronicles Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

168 of 190 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars i think everyone missed the point, November 2, 1999

By	c. piana ([e-mail]) (usa) - See all my reviews

while reading the various reviews of this book I realized that everyone, whether they hated or loved it, may have missed the point. this book is pure genius but not for the reasons many stated. anne rice is not trying to let us in on her personal religious beliefs or use the vampire chronicles as her personal soapbox as one review would suggest. The point isn't that god is bad or memnoch is bad or god is good. She does not contradict anything set forth in interview. she is not attempting to shock us with her visions of heaven and hell. not to say that the visions of these places were not magnificent and perfectly written, which they were and any intelligent and unbiased reader would have to admit that the visions of these places were at least intriguing. the purpose of this book was to show that it is impossible to ever know the real truth about these things (god, creation, the devil, etc.). lestat himself was there firsthand and presented directly with all the answers, all the visions, and then had them yanked out from under him and left to wonder if this was real or that was real or if the whole story was just a flat-out lie and some game the devil was playing to amuse himself or toy with what may be his only worthy adversary (did anybody realize that memnoch did not like the title "devil" yet he signed the note "memnoch the devil"). the purpose of this book was to show how eager we all are to believe in something, as was lestat, even if it's coming from the devils mouth. I'm sure I'm not the only one who found himself riveted by memnoch's story and believing in his words (even though I generally do not believe in religion and god). then at the end we are left wondering what is real and what is lies. the best line of the book is when maharet says "its not all lies, not all of it, that's the age old dilemma". In other words, even ones as old as these ancient vampires will never know the truth, rice is just reminding us. either way, the reader was presented with a tale of creation, god, and the devil, one that was presented as truth, and then was left at the end (by something as cheap and inarticulate as that note) saying to himself, "wait a second, this is a novel, this is anne rice, this isn't the truth, memnoch doesn't exist, this is fiction." that is the true genius of the book. at the end you feel betrayed by memnoch, you feel lied to and tricked, you feel stupid for almost believing his story. in other words, you feel exactly how lestat feels. you are the main character and your memnoch is anne rice and she tricked us all. I understand how some may be put off by that but I have never read a book where I knew exactly how the main character felt, exactly how he felt. that is the genius of the book, the emotion that it stirs, not all the religion. if you want religion read the bible, if you want an amazing story read memnoch the devil.

im eager to hear what you think of this.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't put it down, page turner delight!, December 5, 2004

By	MovieMom46 "Lola" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

I have not yet finished this book but my neck hurts and my shoulder from not being able to put this book down. I have never had a book take me away into the other realms and have creation theorized in a different outlook, via Memnoch the former angel. It reminded me that nobody has questioned the bible as literature and history enough. Maybe this is a fable from Anne Rice, but it stops to make anyone think that there are many ways of viewing creation, evolution, and what could have happened afterwards to the spiritual war going on when humans keep evolving. I hope her other novels are as good as this one, I intend to keep reading after finishing the first 4 in the Vampire Chronicles series. One starts to believe these creatures really do exist.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars I stopped reading Anne Rice for six years after this one, July 7, 2003

By	C. Allison (Reno, NV USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Rarely have I ever been so disappointed with a book. Anne Rice has a rare talent, and it was not apparent here. I fell in love with the earlier Vampire Chronicles, eagerly read this one when it came out, and felt cheated after completing it. It felt as though she just blurbed it out onto her computer and sent it straight to her publisher. It lacks her fantastic descriptive prose; there is far too much dialogue (and inane dialogue it is). Also, it's too short. After reading The Vampire Lestat, which Anne clearly put her heart, soul, and a great deal of time into, this one is rushed, choppy, and irritating. And, I admit, I didn't quite give up on her; when The Vampire Armand came out, I purchased it in hardback and read about 100 pages. I actually stopped after that, it was so lackluster. This is very rare for me. For some odd reason, I decided to give her a try last week. I read Blackwood Farm, and I was incredibly pleased. If you haven't read her works, be sure to read The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned; they're both fantastic. The Tale of the Body Thief was not quite as good, but was still engaging. Skip Memnoch and Armand. Read Blackwood Farm. I'm just starting Merrick, and I'll backtrack to Blood and Gold. Truly, this is one of the only series I've ever read that actually calls for skipping books. It really is possible, and it won't leave you as frustrated. After the first four, others can be skipped, as they are the personal stories of vampires other than Lestat. Even the Interview with the Vampire can be read out of order. So, if you've just finished the first four and you're ready to continue, skip this one. You won't regret it.