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Hannibal

Hannibal

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not as good as I thought it would be
Review: Several subplots blur the true story of Hannibals continous run from the FBI and his interest in Clarice Starling. The ending did not seem to leave much room for another Hannibal novel.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Ridiculous
Review: The only reason I'm giving this book two stars instead of one is that I was able to finish it, which I suppose counts for something. But I'm really begrudging Harris that star, because this book was simply awful. It's difficult even to begin describing what's wrong with this book, there are so many things. First of all, the writing is clumsy and pedestrian. Second of all, the characters and dialogue are wooden and ridiculous. The "explanation" for why Lector is the way he is, is sentimental kitsch. Harris has turned Lector from a credible anti-hero to some sort of ridiculous combination of Superman and Thurston Howell III. I particularly like the part where the scholars are "wowed" by Lector's ridiculous lecture about Dante, which shows less scholarship than the introduction for a cheap paperback edition of the Inferno. Really the biggest reason to read this book is if you have a healthy taste for the absurd and you like to pick apart bad writing. My advice is to read Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs and steer clear of this stinker! It will destroy any respect you might have had for Harris! (By the way, Martin Amis wrote a wonderfully scathing review of this book in the premiere edition of Talk - I'm glad I had read Hannibal simply so I could fully savor Amis's attack.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Different
Review: Thomas Harris has written someting completely different from Silence, and maybe that's what has put everybody off. I am very happy Mr. Harris did not "give the public what they want"; once an author begins to do that s/he has run out of ideas.

The ending, while fantastacal, is obviously imaginative nonetheless, and for me, haunting.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Exciting book expanding the characters of previous novels...
Review: Harris continues to excite readers with his journey into the mind of a psychopath. The characters Hannibal and Clarice flow from the page into the imagination. Thomas Harris finds new and original ways to detail the actions of my favorite fictional (?) characters.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One final word
Review: First of all, I must say that I have read every review I could put my hands on. Believe or not, there are some great reviews. The bad reviews have in no way changed my opinion of the book.

Here are my thoughts:

THE PACE: The most incomprehensible criticism I've read is that this novel is boring. I thought it was a really smooth ride. In fact, it was the most gripping book I've read in quite a while.

THE WRITING: I don't want to put myself on a pedestal, but as an English Literature student I have a chance to come across a lot of "great writing". Without a doubt this novel is written with style and a great sense of imagery (only a talented author could do so).

EVERYTHING ELSE: I enjoyed the things that many of you hate about the book. I loved the graphic, sadistic, and twisted passages that define the story. It's good sometimes to read something that shakes our mind.

Note: Thomas Harris would not have taken about 11 years to write a novel, nor would he have written such a weird book, if he only wanted the "big bucks" (as some of you have proclaimed).

Finally, I respect other people's opinions. But I deserve myself the right to love this book. I think it's a great book. Case closed.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: T. Harris needs to see a doctor.
Review: WHAT!? If i had roughly 80-100 pages left in Hannibal, i would of given the book probably four stars b/c of Harris' beautiful writing. His eleborate descriptions and images he conjures up are only paralled by a few authors. After that, he was lucky that 0 stars wasn't an option on this review! Cutting someone's brain while he is singing nursury rhymes with Starling? Give me a friggin' break! The fact that she ends up with Hannibal is disgusting in itself. Obviously Harris didn't read his psych books too well. Hannibal is not normal! He eats people! Throughout the whole book, Harris makes Hannibal to be the good guy, while the FBI are only cramping his style. The FBI hates Clarice. The man whose face was ripped off by Hannibal (and at first seen as a 'victim')is a down-right dirty man. Where's the hero? Hannibal is. Disgusting, grotesqe, and i'm sorry for the people who spent thrity bucks on that garbage.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Invisible Classic
Review: I completely understand most people's disappointment with this book, yet do not hold sympathy for their lack of understanding. America serves as a nation of expectations; people have grown to expect Hollywood love stories that follow a certain formula. Or, if it's a horror story, or comedy, etc., there must be something tangible to grab onto. This book floats above that plane, surreal and classic in the same breath. Harris's language is exquisite, his details immaculate. It is refreshing to see a writer take his time with a novel, putting intense effort into understanding the true nature of his characters. Lecter's mind rooms were amazingly intriguing, and the conclusions reached unmatched. It is one of the few attempts in recent literature at seriously looking into the oppression of women in the twentieth century in an intelligent and artistic fashion. His dialogues between characters were both amusing and biting, and their development left you unaware of who you're really rooting for. This book will be considered a classic of American literature in another century; it's only unfortunate that so many now refuse to take the time and effort in understanding why that is.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you liked Red Dragon & Silence...
Review: you'll be VERY disappointed!!! Very big letdown - the ending must have been written by someone who didn't read the first 2 in the Hannibal Lecter series!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Debunks the Lecter Myth
Review: This was a really funny book. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't howl through this. It starts off as vintage Harris (although having an opening shootout was a hackneyed idea--I think really good stories open quietly and then build), becomes an Elmore Leonard caper, and ends up ludicrous and unbelievable, like Brett Easton Ellis. The plot, like Silence and Red Dragon, is magnificently crafted but I think that with Hannibal, Harris has properly debunked the Lecter myth. It is, like its predecessors, just a story, you know.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I was horrified... but for all the wrong reasons
Review: Why it took Harris so long to complete this crappy book, I have no idea. All he did was throw a rough plot outline and a treatise on abnormal psychology to a ghost writer with the command: "Fill in the blanks. And make sure it can be adapted to film, cuz that's where the big bucks are." I was horrified by the result. Other than than the typically overblown narrative, it didn't even read like a Thomas Harris novel. Maybe he and Caleb Carr could get together and produce something worth reading that comes close to their initial successes.


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