Rating: 
Summary: A great novel
Review: I read The Feast of All Saints shortly after discovering Anne Rice (about 4 years ago). It is one of the most well written novels as far as: 1. Pure writing. Reading this book, to me, was like reading prose. Her descriptions are clear and concise, her words are well chosen, and her characters are real. 2. Characters. Although I have not picked up this book for several years, I still feel as if I know the characters and their stories. 3. Originality. I enjoy all of her writing, but this creole story is not like others I've read by her or anyone else. I would recommend this anyone who appreciates historical literature (or just great literature). I don't want to see anyone miss out on this story just because her other books are not her style.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps my favorite novel.
Review: Anne Rice is one of the most talented authors writing fiction today. In this, the best novel she's written that I've read, she takes us on the journey of a young man, Marcel, into adulthood, a journey not unlike that taken by Dickens's Pip. At once a fascinating story and a poignant view of American history. This is a must read
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: This book is less of a departure from her best known works than one assumes at first glance. Anne Rice is a master at illuminating the nature of her characters relative to his or her physical and emotional setting. The Feast of All Saints is no different. Here, Rice brilliantly describes a time period of American history that is nearly excluded from standard issue texts. Describing the life of the Gens de Couleur libre during a most transitional period by parellelling the story of the entire culture with that of an individual who is undergoing a personal paradigm shift was a most brilliant way to make this story come alive. Only a New Orleans native could have treated the subject with such sensitivity and still manage to show us both the most humiliating and triumphant times in lives of these oft-forgotten people. Thank you, Anne Rice
Rating:
Summary: This may be Rice's finest work!
Review: Unlike most of Anne Rice's other works, this one deals with a period and region in American history that has been little explored in popular fiction. The setting, in just post-Louisiana Purchase New Orleans, is perfect. The period and historical facts have been meticulously well researched and should be an eye-opener for most Americans, who tend to be woefully ignorant about their country's past. Her development of the characters, their attitudes, hopes and fears, is skillfully done. Altogether, this book is a great read that also imparts knowledge at the same time
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening and Erotic
Review: In this novel, Anne Rice gets inside of the mindset of the people of color in 19th-Century New Orleans and Louisiana. She lets us in on the passions and despair of a people who are misunderstood and glamorized to this day. She is also careful to differentiate between the southern Louisiana creoles and the northern Louisiana mulattoes. I found this book fascinating, enlightening, and charged with the unique eroticism that only Rice can illuminate
Rating: 
Summary: No vampires no witches no sex...
Review: I'm surprised that Anne Rice fans like this book at all; about all it has in common with her other books is New Orleans & purple prose. Which is precisely why I like it! "The Feast of All Saints" was Rice's first published novel. The setting & theme set it smack dab in the historicals market, altho the lack of graphic sex & bodice ripping probably disappointed those early readers. It wasn't until Rice hit the jackpot with her Vampire Chronicles that "Feast..." was reprinted & became a steady seller. It still ranks (along with "Cry to Heaven") as a curiousity to those fans. However, this is a review of this book. How does "Feast of All Saints" stand up as a story? Pretty well. The first half of the book is slooowww, mainly alot of introspection, descriptions & general atmosphere. The plot itself (what there is of one) doesn't really get going until page 300 or so. Even then the reader spends more time inside the heads of the characters rather than observing events. What sets this book apart is the depiction of New Orleans in the antebellum period, & Rice's ability to recreate the life of the quadroons, octoroons & others who were considered "colored" even tho they may only have been 1/16th African! It is almost impossible to imagine what these "gens de colour" felt as they were discriminated against by their own relations while still owning slaves themselves & continuing the racial divide that created them. Rice does a marvelous job of bringing their day to day life to a modern world.
Rating:
Summary: No vampires. A tale of New Orleans Creoles
Review: When I visited New Orleans for the first time a few years ago, I took a walking tour of the Garden District that included Ann Rice's house (complete with black limo outside). I also noticed small outbuildings that were referred to as 'garconierres.' When I questioned their purpose, I was told that boys were housed away from the main house in order to sow their wild oats in private. They were encouraged to eat, drink, be merry, take mistresses, and generally get the devilment out of their systems before adulthood and the need to marry, begin a family, and take over their fathers' businesses became expected of them.
The Creoles played a large part in this aspect of New Orleans society, and our tour guide said the best novel detailing all the permutations of Creole life was this one, Ann Rice's The Feast of all Saints. So I bought it.
Like all of Rice's books, it's overly long and wordy: I understand it's part of her contract with her publishing house that they will not edit out or change one single word of her manuscript as submitted. That's a shame, because I feel this would have been a better book if it had been a shorter book. I found myself skimming whole pages in places.
Nonetheless, it's a terrific 19th Century story of the gens de couleur libre, or the Free People of Color who were destined to be a distinct race caught between two worlds: slaves and owners. It was the Creole women who frequently became the mistresses of the white men. Descended from a mixture of races including African, French, and Spanish, they played (and continue to play) a unique role in the history of New Orleans.
At its heart, The Feast of All Saints is a coming-of-age story of Marcel, the child of a Creole woman and a wealthy, white plantation owner who has promised to send him to Paris to complete his education when he comes of age. It's also the story of Marcel's younger sister, who could pass for white; his mentor Christophe, another free person of color, and a few others of his friends. It's a story of struggle against alienation and of complex, intertwined relationships.
It deserves slow and careful reading, for it's rich with detail and passion - but man, it sure is loooong and repetitive in many places.
Rating:
Summary: Showtime adapted "Feast" into a film
Review: Just wanted to let fans know I have recently discovered that "Feast" was adapted into a 2 part film by Showtime in 2001. I have never seen the DVD's available in stores but found them by surprise on the shelf at my library. I was unaware of this adaptation. Amazon does have the DVD for sale for anyone who is interested.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I had fallen in love with the Vampire chronicles, so "Feast" was a unexpected, but a very pleasant surprise. J'aime beaucoup! I could not put this book down. Rice is always very educational, but this story made me feel transported back to antebellum New Orleans and the description of the Saint Domingue (Haitian) revolution is fantastic. Rice does a wonderful job of describing these gens de couleur libre (free people of color) who are coince entre deux chaises (caught between two worlds). As a Trinidadian I can identify a lot with this Creole history.
Do read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great reading for long winter nights
Review: Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice has almost too much descriptive detail, and made the beginning slow reading, yet it was these details that made me feel I was actually there in the story. The character's physical descriptions were so vivid I could see them in my mind. Their thoughts and emotions were so well described I felt their dreams, their triumphs and their despair as my own. This book was written so that I lived through each of the characters. This book is written about the "gens de colour" in New Orleans before the Civil War. Though descended from African slaves, they were also descended from the French and Spanish who enslaved them and then set them free. They could own property and pay taxes but couldn`t vote. The laws made them inferior to the whites but they could and did own slaves. They were considered socially inferior by their own relations yet in turn they felt superior to the slaves. It was a complex world and Anne Rice lets us see it through the eyes of the people living it. Through her characters I also learned to look at things differently. Through Jean Jacques, who taught himself everything he knew, the term "self made man" has more meaning to me now. When Marcel explains the spiritual and material, how he felt all things are alive, I look at material things differently. I enjoyed this book and while at times it seemed wordy and hard to read it was this wordiness that made it worthwhile. I could read it a second time and get even more out of it. This is what I consider a good book. Every time you read it you learn something new from it.
| 
