Called Out of Darkness, Anne Rice
Called Out of Darkness, Anne Rice
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Called Out of Darkness
A Spiritual Confession

Author: Anne Rice

Narrator: Kirsten Potter

Unabridged: 7 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/07/2008


Synopsis

In 2005, Anne Rice startled her readers with her novel Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt, and by revealing that, after years as an atheist, she had returned to her Catholic faith.

And now, in her powerful memoir, Rice tells the story of the spiritual transformation that produced a complete change in her literary goals. She begins with her girlhood in New Orleans as the devout child in a deeply religious family. She writes about her years in Berkeley, where her career as a novelist began with the publication of Interview with the Vampire. She writes about loss and tragedy (her mother’s drinking; the death of her daughter and, later, her beloved husband); about new joys; about the birth of her son. She tells how after an adult lifetime of questioning, she experienced the intense conversion and consecration to Christ that lie behind her most recent novels.

About Anne Rice

It seems pretty ironic for an author to change from Gothic fiction, erotica, then to Christian literature, but American author, Anne Rice did just that. She was born Howard Allen Frances O'Brian in 1941 in New Orleans. Somehow, being born in New Orleans seems fitting for an author most famous for her popular series of novels entitled, The Vampire Chronicles.

Rice was raised in a Catholic family, but chose to be an agnostic as a young adult. She was very successful coming right out with her first novel......Interview with the Vampire. With that success, she began writing sequels to that novel in the 1980's. In the mid- 2000's, she returned to Catholicism and published novels that were fiction about some happenings in the life of Jesus. She distanced herself several years later from organized religion, siting disagreement with their position on social issues, but vowed her lasting faith in God.

Rice's books have sold over 100 million copies......thus, her immense popularity as an American author. She was married to her husband, Stan Rice, for 41 years until he passed from brain cancer in 2002. They had two children, one who died of leukemia at fie years old, and a son Christopher, who is also an author. Several of her novels have been adapted to film. Many ask about her strange given name...... Howard Allen Frances O'Brien. She answers with......her father's name was Howard, and her mother thought that giving her a man's name would give her advantages in the world as she grew up. On her first day of Catholic School, when the Nun asked her name, she just said Anne because she thought it was a pretty name. The name has served her well.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Jamieson on February 04, 2009

In 2005, I witnessed one of the greatest changes in literary history. Anne Rice, the woman known for writing about vampires, witches, mummies and spirits announced she was going to write books about the life of Jesus Christ. I remember thinking that this was someone’s really great idea of a joke. But......more

Goodreads review by David on February 15, 2009

Memoir of the author's growing up in a devout Catholic family in New Orleans, then drifting away from the church as a young adult in the 60's over her social views at odds with the church's teachings, then dramatically returning ("converting" as she says) to Catholicism after a 38-year hiatus. The U......more

Goodreads review by Cristine Braddy on December 22, 2017

I love hearing others stories and journeys. I found her voice is to be incredibly powerful.......more

Goodreads review by Patty on April 19, 2009

Anne Rice recalls the sights and sounds of the Catholicism of her youth with such vivid images that I was singing "Tan tum ergo, sacramentum..." along with her. Warning: If you aren't a 50 something Catholic, (or recovering Catholic) you might not "get it". I completed the book in a weekend and was f......more


Quotes

“[A] very affecting story of a well-known prodigal’s return. . . . Called Out of Darkness is the vivid, engaging tale of the journey of a soul into light.” —Chicago Sun-Times

“Rice couples her writing talents with the zeal of a recent convert.” —Christianity Today
  
“Rice could rival C.S. Lewis as a popular apologist for the faith.” —Time

“Rice’s memoir shows what true belief really involves. It exacts a price. James Agee had a lovely term for this. He called it ‘cruel radiance.’” —Los Angeles Times
 
“Anne Rice is not a convert but a revert. . . . A loving reconstruction of the pre–Vatican II Church of the 1940s and 1950s. . . . [After] twenty-five years and twenty-one books . . . Rice entrusts both herself and the people she loves to God.” —First Things
 
Called Out of Darkness is rich in both poetic simplicity and liberating confessionals. This memoir is not to be missed.” —East Bay Literary Examiner
 
“I am not a Christian and I normally don’t read what I would call Christian books. They don’t appeal to me, they don’t interest me and I normally pass them by in the bookstore. . . . [But] I picked up [Called Out of Darkness] up this afternoon and it’s beyond wonderful.” —Jamieson Wolf
 
“As a long-time reader of Anne Rice’s, the impetus she presents here makes me want to re-read many of her prior works. I highly recommend this book to anyone who seeks the inspiration and motivation behind the bestselling novels they’ve read.”—BookReporter.com

“Nothing short of magnificent. . . . What a real blessing, what a vulnerable sharing.” —Flos Carmeli

“A lovely, intelligent book.” —PopMatters

“Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a religious person—even if you are not a Christian—read this book. Anyone can appreciate the message contained in Called Out of Darkness. . . . It is a thinking person’s approach to faith.” —Edge (Provincetown, MA)