Hannibal

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Summary: Hannibal
Review: I've just started this book and already I'm tired of the endless cliches and movie script like quality. I'm disappointed by the what I felt was the genius of Thomas Harris. With his other books he quickly had me feeling empathy for both the victims and villans. In Hannibal, I can't quite figure out who is worse, the contrived Starling (she didn't seem to be the first person she was in the other novels) or the villans. I was hoping for a page turner...instead I've purchased a page burner! This book is wasting my time, and for my loyalty to the author I will finish it anyway...after all, what's a good movie without a script?

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Summary: Childish
Review: After reading, enjoying and evangelising Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs, this is a huge disappointment. The characterisation plumbs new depths of childishness, the plot (killer pigs) is contrived and the ending just simply beggars the belief that the previous two novels instilled you with that 'this could actually be happening'. Thomas Harris should go away, take stock and reconsider his abilities. Just writing what you can does not a good novel make. It's not a thriller, it's not suspenseful, it's not worth it.

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Summary: Juggernaut of All Books
Review: Thomas Harris' Hannibal is one of the best books I have read lately. I also am amazed by the horribly negative reviews this book has gotten. I read Hannibal first, and then its predecessors, Red Dragon, and Silence of the Lambs. I found that Hannibal held itself on a much higher plane than the first two books. The first book contained parts that seemed to be included simply for their shock factor. While the second book had less random macabre, it still held no comparison to the Olympus of all books, Hannibal. Albeit, I am not very fond of the way Thomas Harris ended his masterpiece. In the way Thomas Harris ends the book, he doesn't allow a fourth sequel to be written. I mean its possible, anything is possible, but the ending leaves a very awkward entrance into any form of a fourth book. In conclusion, Hannibal is a wonderfully brutal book, leading up to, in my opinion, the end of the Hannibal Lecter series.

-" Garden variety manic depressive. Tedious...Very tedious. "

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Summary: Good to almost the last chapter!
Review: This book kept me on the edge . However the last chapter was a let down for the whole book. I put my copy in the trash.

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Summary: Another spellbinding tale from Harris
Review: I was totally captivated by this book. Dr. Hannibal Lecter is my all time favorite fictional character; so evil, so brilliant, so sophisticated and educated, so cultured, and so incredibly dangerous! What an amazing and fascinating combination of traits and qualities in a man, and yet for all his horror, Harris is able to make the reader feel some amount of sympathy for Lecter. Starling is her ususal competant and intrepid self, and even though she fears Lecter, the way she admires and even in a sense likes him, is the mark of great writing. The complexities to Lecter and Starling continually unfold and keep the reader glued to the pages. I also was greatly impressed with the Italian Pazzi, and his sluething and cunning. Mason Verger was a worthy adversary for Lecter, although I would have liked to see more of a showdown between the two. The ending was entrancing, I could see it unfolding cinematically, with a classical soundtrack, and all I can say now is that I hope there will be another book to continue the adventures of Hannibal!

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Summary: Quite possibly the best Harris book ever
Review: Despite some other people says, I think Hannibal is twice as scarier than Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs. This book is full of detail that you are in part of Hannibal and Clarice Starling. In my own opinion a well detail book gets in a way of being scare to go on. In Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs, it's the book that goes on but sometimes you felt like you want to stop.

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Summary: This Time, Harris Loses his Balance
Review: Of all Harris's novels, this is probably the most gripping read. I enjoyed both RED DRAGON and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS. Neither of those books are as absorbed with the Hannibal Lecter character as this one. They both dealt with the idea of a serial killer trying to transform himself. (Incidentally, there's a really fascinating analysis of these characters in a book about American horror fiction called A DARK NIGHT'S DREAMING for anyone interested in this kind of thing.)

This latest novel focuses on Hannibal Lecter's relationship with Clarice Starling. Lecter is typical of great horror villains in that the reader identifies with him as a sensitive (and even romantic) genius as much as he/she is repelled by Lecter's violence and his sociopathic behavior. In some ways, Lecter is not unlike certain depictions of Dracula. This balance is fascinating, both for the readers and for Starling, but while Harris managed to walk the line in earlier novels where Lecter is in the background, he can't pull it off here where Lecter IS the story.

A big issue of debate in the readers' reviews here is whether the ending works. I won't give anything away, except to say that I don't think it does. In the end, Lecter has to go one way or the other--we either end up having to sympathize and identify with him or deplore him. As I said, I won't tell you which way Harris goes, but it doesn't really matter. Neither way can work, and the second half (or at least the last third) of the book is a disappointment. It is a good read, though.

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Summary: What went wrong?
Review: It's as if something happened to throw Harris from his game approximately 3/4 of the way through the book. The first half was wonderful -- drew you in, kept you wondering, made you read one more page... and another... and another... until you realized you were way overdue for whatever it is that called you.

The ending is laughable, it's so contrived and rushed. With "chapters" containing only 4-5 paragraphs near the end, and such a lack of detail (not restraint, but HOLES), I have to say I wish I'd simply never read it, because the magic that Harris has been able to conjure before now seems utterly ruined.

Rating:
Summary: Yikes
Review: Don't waste your time. If you are looking for suspence, character integrity, and entertainment, you shouldn't look to Hannibal. The narratives are long winded, the characters are flat, and the plot unbelievable. I loved Harris' previous books, Hannibal left me feeling cheated, and well, just plain dirty.

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Summary: For once--I was completely surprised...
Review: ...by the resolution of a thriller. The ending was the last thing I would ever have guessed. What Harris gets at is the complete "giving up" of a person who has exhausted all of her inner resources. Psychologically fascinating, and a seldom-used literary device. As with Red Dragon, Harris had me rooting for -- and even identifying with -- the horrifically twisted villian/hero. By doing so, he makes us examine the fragile roots of our own loyalties.

Granted, this book is miles over the top, and his characters are sometimes cartoonish, but I think the macabre psychology underlying the story is a delight.