VAMPIRE WEEKEND - Mike Chen

VAMPIRE WEEK


There really isn't anything glamorous about being a vampire. There's no flying, there's no changing forms, the vampire community frowns on actual killing, and there's no 'converting' anyone else into a vampire. Being a vampire really only entails late nights and stealing blood bags for sustenance. 

Louise Chao finds being a vampire a lonely existence. She's been estranged from her family for years and she's yet to make any close friends.  A long-time attendee of punk rock music concerts, Louise discovered she'd been 'turned' into a vampire after attending a concert, but no one was there to explain what had happened or to guide her through the experience. But that was decades ago.  Now she's just trying to find her groove and get into a band so that she can play the music she enjoys. And playing night gigs would fit nicely into her routine.  

An old friend, Ian, reconnects with Louise and despite the care she takes to keep her condition a secret, he discovers the truth about her and asks for a favor - to become what she is.  But it's a favor she cannot grant and she's not sure she would even if she could.

First off I want to say that I'm really glad that there's a strong music connection to this book, given that one of my favorite music groups from the last couple of decades is Vampire Weekend (whom I first heard on MPR's The Current).

Interest in vampires waxes and wains, usually dependent on a very popular vampire either in literature (ie Interview With a Vampire) or in film/television (ie True Blood) or even comics (Vampirella). I don't know what the 'big' vampire is today, but I have suddenly seen a number of books recently with vampires as characters. Typically, the books try to 're-imagine' the vampire - to give them new rules as to what they can and cannot do.  Mike Chen's Vampire Weekend probably changes it the most.  That's neither good nor bad (unless you are a purist) - it just is.

The odd thing about this book, though, is that while being a vampire, with all the new rules regarding vampirism, defines who Louise Chao is, we also sense that Louise's isolation and introverted personality goes well beyond her vampirism.

And we don't really care.

The book spends way too much time following Louise's lonely existence and struggles to make friends and to join a band.  As readers, we hoped it would all go somewhere, but it takes so long to get there that we lose interest.

There's hint of a huge vampire conspiracy and the book picks up interest once we get out of Louise's life, but this happens very late in the book. The book is about Louise, but the interesting things that happen are well beyond Louise.

I enjoyed the read but I was always waiting for something to actually happen, which makes for frustration when the book is done.

Looking for a good book? Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen takes a new look at a classic 'monster' by focusing on a rather dull character.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Vampire Weekend

author: Mike Chen

publisher: MIRA

ISBN: 9780778386964

paperback, 368 pages

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