Rating: 
Summary: Nonstop horror and thrills! Hated for it to end!
Review: Continues the excitement of Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs with new horrors and thrills! As we've learned from previous works, Hannibal isn't two demensional--he is horrible, has no guilt or remorse, he's sadistic, but he's also sensitive, highly intelligent, and has a soft spot for Clarise--he also tends to punish the pure sociopaths and egocentrics! I enjoyed it from cover to cover--hated to put it down and hated for it to end!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, to very good. Ghoulish and gratuitous. Great ending.
Review: I bought this with great anticipation, and was disappointed at times. It is certainly a very good read. The ghoulish gore is sometimes overdone. It seems like it is done in the vein of "Well, how can I shock them after 'Silence'?". My least favorite thing Harris does in this book is to insert the narrator function randomly, e.g. "Let us look into Hannibal's mind now" sort of thing.However,.... however... it is still well-written, still moves along nicely, creating the appropriate amount of stomach-butterflies. The middle is better than the beginning and, a great finale. Not everyone will like the ending, but I certainly did.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read but disappointing for this Harris fan.
Review: Harris can't write a bad book, but this one strains my loyalty. "Lambs" was horrifying and credible and all of the characters worked. In this sequel, he humanizes Hannibal, writes of sadism without purpose, and fashions a totally unbelievable and hokey finale. What a waste!
Rating: 
Summary: Famished
Review: Whereas "Silence of the Lambs" gave me that comfortably, but not too, full feeling, Harris' latest leaves me hungry. Pass the Chianti!
Rating:
Summary: Give me a break!
Review: All I can say is this book was a bitter disappointment. The villian (no, not Lecter but Mason Verger) was straight out of a DC comic book, our heroin Clarice Starling (which the average American equates with Jody Foster, whether they want to or not) turns out to be a total flake. And, poor Jack Crawford is dismissed with quite the whimper. After about chapter 65, I actually grew weary with Hannibal Lecter and really didn't care what was on his mind anymore. When I put this book down, I sat for a minute wondering what was Harris thinking. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this book. I suggest you don't either.
Rating:
Summary: Harris trades pop for punch
Review: In a nutshell, if you read Silence of the Lambs and wondered afterwards about things in the book - is there a god; if so why does god let awful things happen; can we truly heal our emotional wounds; is every human life equally sacred and if not, how are some more than others - you will like "Hannibal." Stop here and buy the book or keep reading... I read "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs" and thought they were good and very good, respectively. Both developed well-rounded characters, especially Starling and Lecter. Clarice Starling was, I thought (I'm a guy, so take this with a bit of salt) one of the best- developed female characters I've ever read. She wasn't just a skirt with a gun and she makes no stupid choices. Lecter went from being a very well developed but rather one-sided pure evil force to being someone one could have a short but interesting conversation with. Both characters THINK. How often do we see this? Not often enough (IMHO). In this, the final (?) book, Thomas Harris has chosen to take the high road - light on the formulaic thriller plot twists or ending. True to form, people do get hurt and die and are sometimes eaten. The audience (again) sympathizes with both Lecter and Starling. BUT THEN Mr. Harris takes the world apart, literally, by focusing on where the characters came from and are going to, rather than simple chase-kill-chase-kill-capture. It doesn't surprise me many people don't like the book. When it does "go popular", "Hannibal" is so over the top it is almost funny - for example, Mason Verger, a Lecter Victim from pre-Red Dragon days, is pathetically one-dimensional. It is when we spend time with Starling, most of the Italian cast members and Lecter that the book is best, and the ending is so appropriate. I was impressed that Mr. Harris would "de-Hollywoodize" the story in favor of aesthetics. Too bad Hollywood will never make "Hannibal" into the movie it deserves to be. If your idea of great thriller fiction is "Eyes of Prey" or other such like, you'll hate this book. If you liked SOTL and have a taste for aesthetics over formula, you'll like the book. It wasn't perfect, but it was well worth the price of the hardcover. Mr. Harris, if you read this, thank you very much.
Rating:
Summary: Essentially Flawed Book
Review: My main problem with the story is that the characters here bear little resemblance to the characters in the previous book in the beginning, and become even more strange as the book progresses. The ending is just bizarre. Had I not read The Silence of the Lambs, I may have enjoyed this book for what it is, a simple, though grotesque, description of one psychopath and the people he's contacted. However, in the framework of the previous book, this story becomes stupid, contrived, and disappointing. Anyone who'd read the Silence of the Lambs will probably feel the need to read this book; just be prepared for disappointment, and the urge to say "WHAT??" at the end.
Rating:
Summary: Very satisfying...thoroughly horrifying
Review: In contrast to "Silence.." and "Red Dragon" which kept me breathless, I found this sequel very thought provoking and find myself having trouble with the fact that I like Hannibal Lecter. The conclusion left me pondering the horrors of our world and people in it and smiling at a seemingly unlikely conclusion to a relationship. I recommend the book - either purchased or from your local library. The experience is worth the trip through the pages.
Rating: 
Summary: Very sloppy ending...
Review: I admit the major portion of this book was engaging and extremely well written. I felt the last three or four chapters were thrown together and felt very cheated in the ending of this book. If you have not read it yet, my advice is to pick another book and save your memories of Hannibal and Clarice. I wish now I had not read it and I agree with the others who say if this is the way the screen-play ends, the movie should never be made and I will be very surprised if Sir Anthony Hopkins or Jodie Foster either one sign on.
Rating:
Summary: Dissappointing.
Review: Initially, this is pretty scary stuff, but the ending is a complete cop-out and very dissappointing. There were so many ways to go that would have been better. There's no way that Starling and Lechter could come to this end.
|
