Hannibal

Rating:
Summary: The most vile book I've ever read.
Review: I had been eagerly awaiting the sequel to Harris' Silence of the Lambs. Unfortunately, magic doesn't strike twice. Hannibal is a vile, disturbing sequel with gruesome plots of revenge at the heart of the plot. I also had trouble with the depiction of several characters, who were extremely over the top in their characterizations. Finally, without revealing the ending, it simply did not ring true in any way, shape or form. Clarice becomes unrecognizable, and thus unbelievable. Boo hiss to the author for letting us down.

Rating:
Summary: Not worth reading.
Review: Harris should have quit with Silence Of The Lambs. Hannibal is very poorly done, the writing of substandard quality, the characters just not credible. Starling comes off as an incompetent nitwit, Lecter is not credible in any sense of the word, the plodding quality of the book is unbearable. The ending is just juvenile, in fact, the whole book seems like one that would cater to a juvenile audience. After reading 100 pages I skipped to the last chapter to end the agony, but it didn't.

Rating:
Summary: Hey, I really liked it!
Review: Okay, I'll jump in and be the first Thomas Harris fan to really enjoy his latest work. I do believe that the fact that there was such a lull between projects and the film version of "silence of the Lambs" contributed to the overall lukewarm critical response of Hannibal. His books have taken on almost mythic perportions in the eyes of readers and for those who's only exposure to Lector is the silver voiced Anthony Hopkins in the the movie, it's completely understandable that the new book has a certain "gross out factor". Not to give any plots away, but does anyone remember the Garage scene in Red Dragon? Personally, I think that ranks right up there with some of the stuff in Hannibal. I for one aplaud Mr. Harris for not mellowing out his character for mass market movie adeptations; He even goes back to the old roots of Dr. lector when he referrs to him looking like a ferrett or an animal, even bringing back those freaky physical attributes that were lost in Lambs. As for Clarice, I was happy with the direction her character took insofar as it was *realistic* and all the more unerving. She didn't ride off into the sunset after the last book, but had to endure some heavy ordeals in this one. Finally, as for the ending of Hannibal, having read both the other books way too many times, I can honestly see the final chapter in a saga that started in the second chapter of Silence of the Lambs; the book I mean. Of course, this is all opinion. I for one was delighfully grossed out and happier for it. Thomas Harris definately hasn't lost that writing style that not only grabbs you out of your seat by your shirt collar, but shakes you around a bit as well.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing short of a literary masterpiece...
Review: "Hannibal" is a brilliant piece of writing that cannot simply be classified as a "Thriller". This work is at once spellbinding, horrifying, beautiful, and infinitely cruel. The imagery evoked by Thomas Harris' masterful writing will remain in my memory palace for a very long time. Bravo Mr Harris, your ending was more than I could have hoped for.

Rating:
Summary: Great comic novel "beyond good and evil."
Review: Thomas Harris has the ability to say terrible things and present horrific images with a verbal delivery so "deadpan" and swift (in its economy) that for the reader it is like being raped before we realize any of our buttons have been undone. The author's "neutral" stance on inter-species and human cannabalism, for example, can only be seen as a great comic vision that "this too does not really matter." Harris, the ironist, identifies God (p.256) as the great sadistic ironist whose games of human cruelty pale into insignificance Hannibal's own little predations. This realization comes to Dr. Lecter as a six year old, after seeing the baby teeth of his cannabilized sister in the stinking feces of her anonymous human predators. The final "dining scene," so finely wrought with its elegance and utter sophistication, once again is best understood as comic -- given the incongruity of the highest "cuisine aesthetic" juxtaposed with the gentle feeding on a living human brain. Dr. Lecter's ruthless and powerful seduction of "goodness" (Starling) is greatly aided by the ever-presented documentation that the universe is unbelievably cruel, arbitrary, or at least profoundly uncaring. That the fully trained and brilliant psychiatrist, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, knows this (as does the author) is his only redemption. The refined feast of evil presented to us in such an orderly and dispassionate fashion in this novel is the comic cover for the dark, limitless, and terrifying process of entropy that we as readers are allowed to apprehend only from a distance.

Rating:
Summary: Well done.
Review: Harris ties up all sorts of loose ends in this frightening, satisfying, and surprising work. Of course we want to know what went into the making of the demented genius, Hannibal the Cannibal. How could we leave him, and Clarice, without knowing what is to become of them? Therapy for the therapist, release of the true personality, removal of masks both perceived and hidden, true heroism... Harris is excellent at developing characters according to their own inner truths. I wish he would write more ordinary mysteries, however, with tidy little murders in them. Sometimes the "ick" factor gets to me.

Rating:
Summary: Farfetched and disappointing
Review: Perhaps the screen play will be void of the lackluster plots Harris has used in this novel. I must admit that I was a true fan of the Silence of the Lambs piece and was expecting much more with Hannibal. For me, it was not near as appetizing!

Rating:
Summary: tame after red dragon and silence of lambs
Review: liked the pigs thought that was unusually well done. I'm also a writer and wish I was as good at narratve and dialogue as he is. But EXCUSE ME, the ending was ridiculous!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, however deeply, deeply disturbing.
Review: The characters draw you right in. Dr. Lecter becomes our anti-hero evoking abhorrence and sympathy at the same time. On the surface this tale can seem highly improbable but considering all the facts behind Lecter and Starlings lives It becomes all too believeable. I had my doubts about the authors being able to top his last tale of Dr. Lecter or even being able to equal it but I think he has succeded. A very compelling read.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Harris, you don't disappoint!
Review: It's 1:00 a.m. and I just finished Hannibal. Without a doubt it is absolutely the best book I have ever read in my 20 years of avid crime and thriller reading. I waited for years for this book to come out and every minute was well spent! My only big disappointment is that I can't wake my husband up to put the fire out! Thank you so much for your excellent craft. Sincerely, amateur writer and Avid Fan...