Hannibal

Rating:
Summary: utterly disappointing
Review: I must say, considering the circumstances, this is the most utterly disappointing novel of the decade. Harris wrote one of the most interesting suspense novels ever with "The Silence of the Lambs," which was turned into an equally compelling movie. He has worked on "Hannibal" for 11 years and this is what he has come up with? "Hannibal" starts off as an average book and ends up terrible. By the end, Harris ruins everything he has built up. Even Lecter, one of the most evil villains of our time, ends up degraded beyond repair, as he is given a history and morals. He is best suited as a minot character; his presence wears thin as he is in the spotlight. Need I mention how ludicrous the plot is? I pray that Harris brings his next novel out much faster and that he sticks to what he does best, creating a compelling serial killer and having Lecter help track him down. This will be a bestseller, but Harris may not be so fortunate next time.

Rating:
Summary: Shocking.
Review: Not as good as Silence of the Lambs or Red Dragon. Starts out slow but then gets exciting. More violent than the previous books. Surprise twisted ending.

Rating:
Summary: Prediction: It'll never be a film without huge revisions
Review: Tom, Tom, Tom, you've been grotesque before, but there was always something stimulating about the resolution of your tales. Not this time. We liked and rooted for the tortured Jack Crawford in "The Red Dragon," and we loved and cheered on the vulnerable Clarice Starling in "Silence of the Lambs." But there is nothing to like in this book. It's almost as if you decided to write something so throughly grotestque and depressing that Hollywood wouldn't dare touch your book. Hannibal Lecter was only interesting because he inspired the best from Jack and Clarice in their effort to outsmart him. Watching Lecter gobble up his adversaries is about as exciting as watching fishing - no matter how beautiful the setting and how exquisitely you describe the taste of the bait, it's still fishing. I am a huge fan of your other books, but this one fails so miserably, I was compelled to write.

Rating:
Summary: Made for the movie.
Review: What a disappointment. This could easily have been one of those books written as a tie in product after the movie's been produced. The psychological suspense and terror of Harris' previous books have been replaced with gore. The mysteries to be solved have been replaced by a prolonged chase. Fully a third of the book is spent on a character who is undeveloped and uninteresting. His only purpose seems to be to provide a cinematically shocking demise. Hannibal, who had tremendous power as an archtype, is analyzed and defanged. In dealing with Clarice, Harris' miscogeny finally comes full blown. Regarding Foster and Hopkins reprising their roles, their talent would be wasted. Resurrect the case from "Scream."

Rating:
Summary: This took 11 years?
Review: As a big fan of Harris, I bought this the first day it came out. It kept me interested, though it also kept me confused, with the jumping between continents. I was looking for the solidarity of writing that he gave us in "Silence". My first impression upon finishing was that he had secretly finished this a year after the movie to "Silence" came out and kept it, because it felt rushed. Clarice isn't really developed, Crawford is thrown away, etc..It seems like he tries to shock us on every page, and it doesn't work. For me, "Silence" worked because it was a quiet book. This book practically screams at you. The writing is different, a different style that seems to work here, though the narrator pops in and out and makes it rather annoying since we don't know who it is.

Rating:
Summary: It's all coming back to me . . .
Review: After reading THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS back in the late 80's, I waited with eagerness for the film to come out. It was a bit like Christmas arriving for a six year old.

That wait was nothing compared to the long seasons anticipating the SILENCE sequel. But here it is, over a decade later, and I realized while reading it how much I still cared about these characters even after all this time.

One of the nice features of HANNIBAL is that is doesn't have to waste alot of time introducing the main characters. We already know them and Harris knows that those who liked SILENCE have re-read it or skimmed through it a few times in the last decade. Dr. Lecter was interesting enough the first couple of times around so that it's no gamble to give him center stage. I admire Harris for not doing what some writers would have done in his situation, which would have been to either stoically ignore the public begging for more Lecter or cash in and throw cheap meat to starving dogs. Instead, he let the stew simmer for ten years and served up cuisine worthy of even Lecter's urbane palate.

And all those nightmarishes images and gothic passages don't hurt either.

It's a great book and the blurb on the jacket could easily have read, "Hannibal - 'nuff said".

Rating:
Summary: Preposterous, False Ending Destroys "Hannibal"
Review: Like many fans of "The Silence of the Lambs", and especially its masterful reincarnation on screen, I have been eagerly awaiting this next installment in the saga of Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling. So I was in a mood to be wowed by this book, and the opening does not disappoint. There is a particularly fine scene, very early in the novel, where Starling receives a letter from Lecter. As my mind read the letter in Anthony Hopkins' inimitable cadences, I was hooked. To be sure, there were some weak points in the plot, and some of the characters were somewhat unbelievable, but carried along by the powerful draw of Lecter and Starling, I gamely cast aside any doubts and forged ahead.

And then, the book comes to a ludicrous ending that will make the reader scream louder in agony than any of the characters brutally murdered in this tale. Don't worry, no spoilers here. But the ending is so unsatisfying, so untrue to what we have come to learn about Lecter and our heroine, that it completely and utterly ruins the book. The ending diminishes everything that comes before it (even, I fear, "The Silence of the Lambs", though I hardly thought that possible) and left me feeling as if had lost a dear friend. Starling is so poorly treated by the finale that I suspect (or, shall I say, hope) that Jodie Foster will never reprise her role in anything approaching a close adaptation of this book. Disappointed does not even come close to describing the disullisionment brought on by the conclusion. I can hardly believe Harris took so many years to compose this disastrous sequel.

Rating:
Summary: Oh, the irony!
Review: I'm one of those people who dislike surprises, so when I had the opportunity to read the Salon Magazine's synopsis of Hannibal I decided to read it.

I was amused by the little PS that it wasn't a parody, because that was what the synopsis felt like. I was skeptical about the novel going into it. I expected not to like it because it seemed so silly.

I was wrong.

This book is rich in detail and its complex works are really impossible to capture in a synopsis. One can write about the actions of the characters, but what is really excellent is the development of the characters' psyche. To get into their brains and find out what makes them tick. What drives them. This book peers into the workings of Dr. Hannibal Lecter and explores the circumstances of what made him the way he is.

Fascinating.

The book is filled with delicious irony as our favorite monster is presented as a refined, respected gentleman. The hero of the tale. He rescues the damsel in distress, an ousted-from-the-FBI Clarice Starling. The bad guys are the ones who want to capture the intellectual Lecter and bring down the idealistic Starling. The complex relationships that the characters share with each other makes the book delightfully rich, a definite pageturner.

Yes, the Salon Magazine synopsis is accurate, but it doesn't capture Harris' excellent writing and the depths that it explores. I recommend it to anyone, with the warning that it is far more brutal than The Silence of the Lambs or The Red Dragon. Far more maddening. But it was still a joy to read and an excellent dive into the madman's mind.

Rating:
Summary: DISAPPOINTING FROM BEGINNING TO END!
Review: I'VE READ ALL HARRIS' PREVIOUS BOOKS AND FOUND HANNIBAL BORING AND DULL. I WAS VERY DISAPPOINTED. READING THIS BOOK LEFT ME FEELING THAT HARRIS HAD TAKEN A TRIP TO ITALY AND WANTED TO SHOW OFF WHAT HE HAD LEARNED ABOUT THE COUNTRY AT THE EXPENSE OF TELLING WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD STORY. I FEEL SORY IF SOMEONE IS READING HANNIBAL AS A FIRST-TIME EXPERIENCE BECAUSE THEY WON'T KNOW HOW GOOD HARRIS CAN BE.

Rating:
Summary: One of the silliest endings I've ever read
Review: With his three previous novels, Harris had impressed me with his intelligent and genuinely scary stories. This one, however, disappointed me greatly. I won't give away the ending, but I have to say it was completely unbelievable, disappointing, and--I thought--insulting to readers who have been following some of these characters since Red Dragon. Maybe, it wasn't possible to out do Silence of the Lambs and remain plausible. Then why bother? The book starts and develops well, but fans of intelligent plotting and character development will feel cheated by the time they finish the book. I was also put off by Harris's playing with second person passages, which were too cute for a thriller. I regret the money I spent on this one.