Hannibal

Rating:
Summary: not as good as Silence of the Lambs.
Review: If one has been to Florence, then he/she can almost smell the city; the imagery is that strong. As for the rest, well it did not hold together nearly as well as Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs. It is quite apparent that the ending is a set up for another book and another film, assuming this one is purchased by a studio. I did enjoy the book, but it is not the best thing I've read in the last two weeks.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed in the end
Review: Why the author spent so much time detailing Italian history and over looked the successful qualities included in his prior novels, was a mystery to me regarding this book. Where were the overviews of the technologies available for crime fighting as in the Red Dragon? Where was our protagonist? The author spent too much time trying to disgust me instead of working on an engaging story. Yes, the book kept me absorbed, but only to make me feel I had wasted my time reading it in the end.

Rating:
Summary: gruesome
Review: An incredibly long, wordy, disgusting story with no real plot. All the characters, except Clarice, were horrible people who committed unbelievably revolting acts that could only have been included for the shock value (and "make me want to vomit" value). In the end, even Clarice dissapoints. I found it hard, despite (or perhaps because of) the detail, to actually follow some of the actions. It was somewhat interesting to learn more about Hannibal's motivations, but I would have preferred hearing those parts from someone who had read the book rather than subjecting myself to the entire story.

Rating:
Summary: A big letdown
Review: Harris got all the hype and then left us holding the bag. Characters are unbelievable and the ending out of this world. To wait so long for the sequal to Silence of the Lambs is a big letdown. Book could be half its size and tell twice the story. Gore is in with Harris.

Rating:
Summary: love thomas harris, this was a BIG let down
Review: thomas harris must have gotten tired while writing Hanibal. Well written but poor imagination throughout and especially toward the end. let us hope that he can redeme himself with his next book .

Rating:
Summary: Great book, but I need help with the ending.....HELP ME!!!!!
Review: The book was a great read considering the nasty content in some of the scenes.....but all that is for naught because our office is in total controversy over the ending. My question is this, very simple, was Clarice all drugged out for the remained of her life or did she actually fall in love with Hannibal? I say she was drugged every day, that's the only way she would stay with Hannibal. My manager says she was drugged at first, but then fell under his spell. We have gone back and reread it several times, each stressing our point and finding passages to back up our claims. Who is right? My e-mail is [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Please tell me I dreamt that inane ending.
Review: How discouraging to have read the entire literary work, riveted to each word, only to discover that I had exhausted hours of my precious time for nothing. The ending left me unsure just where Mr. Thomas Harris will commence with his next novel. I have no doubt that he clearly has his work cut out for him.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing to the max!!!!
Review: I waited for this book with more anticipation than probably any other book I have ever read. The need for Harris to provide details that got more graphic as the story progressed is nothing but a shock ploy. While I loved his other books this offering has poor character development and worse plot flow. If this is what takes him all these years to produce I for one will not be anxiously awaiting another.

Rating:
Summary: averge, just average
Review: after all that hype, I'm just glad I bought it through amazon and saved some $$. Until the creepy but totally unbelievable ending, the plot was predictable, and the writing pretentious. But I felt compelled to keep reading, just like rubberneckers feel compelled to watch a gory traffic accident, wondering what gross and disgusting thing will happen next.

True the ending is creepy, and it caught me by surprise, but the reason why it did was because the characters did not act "in character"-- Harris created these people and gave them personalities and motivations, and they just did not act true to form here. The other characters (including Clarice!) were 2-dimensional comic book stereotypes; shallow at best-- racist, sexist, and homophobic at worst. I just couldn't get interested in them.

And unlike SOTL or Red Dragon, no real deep themes here. To paraphrase another reviewer: Man-eating PIGS???!!! Oh please...

Rating:
Summary: A New Lecter-Starling Book
Review: Perhaps potential readers who are only familiar with the characters of Lecter and Starling from the movie, should wait for the movie of "Hannibal".

Since Thomas Harris' defined the "serial-killer" thriller genre with "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs", readers (and movie audiences) have been deluged with a glut of inferior rip-offs ("Seven", Patricia Cornwell, Chris Carter, etc., etc.). So much so that the Creator of the trend, Harris himself, probably decided 'enough was enough'.

"Hannibal" is first and foremost a comment by Harris on the phenomenon of "serial killer as celebrity". And a very darkly comic one, it is. If you don't have a sense of humor (and irony) don't read "Hannibal".

If you are literal-minded, don't read "Hannibal", you'll be tortured forever by the ending!

If you wonder whatever happened to the great tradition of Southern Gothic storytelling where tall tales and nightmares collide to produce a combustible comic vision: welcome to the world of Thomas Harris (heir to Flannery O'Connor and Carson McCullers).