Rating: 
Summary: "The Devil is the father of all misunderstood geniuses"
Review: The quote above is taken from a book on Satan by Paul Carus. With "Hannibal", Thomas Harris has proved that, like John Milton, he is of the devil's party. And having read the reviews of "Hannibal" in NY Times (not the one by Stephen King), and on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble, I can only think of the reviews that the film "The Godfather" received in 1972. Vogue wrote that the film was "overblown, pretentious, slow and ultimately tedious" and NY Post wrote "The Godfather will be as quickly forgotten as it deserves to be". Look up the various lists for the "greatest films ever made" and you will find "The Godfather" among the top five. The point I'm trying to make here is that "Hannibal" has been misunderstood (yes, it has) and I am positive that it will be regarded as a classic in the future. I am a "avid fan" of Harris's novels and "Red Dragon" was probably my all-time favorite horror-novel until now. But before judging my taste in literature, take a look at how Harris has developed as an author. "Red Dragon" is written as a hard and fast-paced thriller, the style of the novel is not unlike the style of early Elmore Leonard. "The Silence of the Lambs" is a more poetic novel, beautifully written and well-balanced. Only Stephen King writes horror as well as Harris. But with "Hannibal", Harris has surpassed every writer of horror I can think of, past and present. The third novel on Hannibal Lecter is not only horrific, ambitious and poetic but it is philosophical as well - even more well-thought than the novels by Peter Hoeg. I know that I may be out of line here, but I believe Thomas Harris has written the greatest American horror-novel since Herman Melville's "Moby Dick". Only Melville has treated subjects of horror with the same sense of poetry and philosophy as Harris. (JD Salinger used to claim that Melville was the last great American writer - I do not claim Harris is, but he sure comes close)."Hannibal" is truly original and I really look forward to reading it again, because something new will be discovered at every re-reading. By the way did I mention that it is one of the most romantic novels I have read?
Rating: 
Summary: Silence Of The Lambs 5 Hannibal 4
Review: Well.....Ok read it in 48 houers. The end..well it works(had to sleep on it)
Rating:
Summary: Hannibal (and ending) worked for me. I couldn't put it down!
Review: Yes the soon to be infamous ending threw me for a loop, but I laughed and nodded. Throughout the book I had to wonder who I was rooting for, and I was satisfied to feel my empathy was justified.
Rating: 
Summary: this book rides in the middle
Review: i'm torn about this book. it's definitely a fun read; however, that's all it is. much like Harris's other books, HANNIBAL maintains massive elements of suspense and highly psychotic violence. and when you add an eloquent delivery to this equation, HANNIBAL becomes a number you immerse yourself in. but this book, is by no means, Harris's finest work. HANNIBAL is inferior to RED DRAGON and, especially, SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. the sad fact is this: it's too hard to say if this book is really good or bad . . . it's basically a judgement call. and a judgement call always must be made from the middle of the road.
Rating: 
Summary: A regrettable and major disappointment
Review: A significant let-down. Rather like Stanley Kubrick filming THE SHINING; except here an author has taken an intellectual wrecking-ball to his own creation. Thomas Harris seems to have decided that he's above his earlier thrillers and that this time he would do something not only Daring but Deep. The resulting mess, HANNIBAL, seems to be more of a collection of tics, mannerisms, and twitches than a novel -- the literary equivalent, perhaps, of Hannibal Lecter's "collecting" of church collapses and other such disasters. There are a few interesting and well-done scenes, but the author seems to have completely lost his grip on his characters. (Lecter is by this point not only a doctor and a musician, but a Dante expert, a theoretical physicist, etc. In the next book he will presumably be revealed as a ballet dancer; a brilliant programmer in UNIX, Java, and COBOL; and quite possibly the next Pope) The last third of the novel is an astonishing, utterly unbelievable, shambles. The storyline begun by breathing human beings in RED DRAGON and SILENCE is completed here by shabby, ill-conceived automatons.
Rating:
Summary: Just Want To Warn Those Who Still Hopes For A Good Read
Review: Pure trash, seriously, listen to the other reviews, don't even bother....those bad reviews posted above and below this one will prove to be more interesting and intriguing than the actual novel which is a disgrace to the publisher, the reader, and ultimately the writer himself.....
Rating:
Summary: Starlings and Lecter, we hardly knew ye!
Review: Apparently Mr. Harris needs to reread the first two brilliant installments of his trilogy. Hannibal takes two characters previously well developed and morphs them into entirely different beings. Clarice straying from her firm belief in law and order, regardless of the political climate of the FBI? Dr.Lecter delving in the psychobabble he so detested in the prequels and showing a human compassionate side? I think not! I finished the book this morning and immediately began calling all those I knew to be fans of the trilogy to warn them to save their money on this terribly disappointing "sequel".
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant - I can't get the ending out of my head...
Review: Harris has created not one, but TWO villians of the most brutal and relentless sort.
Rating:
Summary: TERRIBLE!!!!! WAS NOT WORTH THE WAIT!
Review: I like all Harris fans could not wait for this book. I never could have imagined it like this. I am lost for words to express my feelings at how bad this was.
Rating:
Summary: WoW....what a book!
Review: Having read "Red Dragon" and "Silence of the Lambs", I was totally unprepared for "Hannibal". The book was a definite surprise. Harris has only gotten better. I couldn't put the book down until I had read it through the first time and re-read the last 50 or so pages. There had been an attachment to Clarice Starling by Dr. Lecter since the "Lambs" book, and Harris played on that with a masterful touch. Even though the above-mentioned books were excellent suspense, I anticipated the endings long before the end. With Hannibal, I had no idea what to expect. I was blown away...and that isn't easy for a seasoned reader of fiction such as I. Kudos to Mr. Harris. Please say that there will be more!
|
