Hannibal

Rating:
Summary: Terrifyingly awful
Review: A lame satire when you least expected it, this large and horrific lump of processed trees leaves me feeling as if Thomas Harris is entirely bored by the whole thing and typed this mess together very swiftly. Now, a satire-sequel could have been interesting and unexpected. But this satire lacks respect for the characters, it reeks of the ho hums. And the end, well, hmpf. Mink thinks Thomas Harris is far better than this and he should be ashamed of himself.

Rating:
Summary: A lot of people were disappointed with this, but I loved it.
Review: I think a lot of readers expected the wrong thing from "Hannibal". They wanted something that would act as the third part of a trilogy; to cap off these books as "Return of the Jedi" did to "Star Wars". Hannibal didn't really do that. However, the story is good enough to stand on its own, without the hype of "SoTL" to back it. Whereas in the previous books, Dr. Lecter was a complete mystery, "Hannibal" goes into his actual personality, his thoughts and reasons for things he has done. It shows Dr. Lecter as a person rather than an unexplainable monster. This is wildly different than his past portrayal. He seems to resemble one of the Crane brothers from "Frasier" more than a psychotic serial killer. Combine this with the surplus of disgustingly violent minor characters in the book, and Hannibal himself seems almost harmless.

The only thing that really detracted from the quality of "Hannibal" was that it seemed Harris couldn't decide what he wanted to do with the book. Did he want to concentrate on Mason Verger's story of revenge, or did he want to elaborate on the strange relationship between Clarice and Hannibal? The story seems to fight between these two main points until the ending, which tied up all the loose ends in a thorough fashion and made use of a wonderful plot twist. I'll go against the crowd and say that I loved the ending. It was appropriately chilling for Harris-the type that sends shivers down your spine.

All-in-all, "Hannibal" was a wonderful book and certainly worth reading once, twice, even three times. A very enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: A five-star novel. A five-star writer.
Review: This book is a romance disguised as a fever dream. It's smart, well-paced, over-the-top, horrifying and well written.

The carping from the peanut gallery about "Hannibal" is disappointing but shouldn't be unexpected. When you have the misfortune to create one of the best-loved novels of the last ten years, everyone suddenly knows how to do your job for you and do it better. The characters become "theirs" and the choices an author makes are to be forever second guessed.

I believe, unlike most of the reviewers, that Mr. Harris made some interesting, valid choices and kept the integrity of the characters from the previous novel, spinning out their story in the only way it could go. (I'm trying to not give away the ending but it's darn hard.) If you'll pay attention to "Red Dragon" and "Silence..." you''ll see that Harris constantly blurs the line between good and evil, playing with the conventions of the genre. So it's logical that Clarice and Hannibal would connect as they did in "Silence" and again in "Hannibal" because they are so very much alike--in much the same way that our manhunter from "Red Dragon" connected to Hannibal.

Having said that, the book is always interesting, creepy as all get-out, the Florence section in particular, the evil of Verger is unmentionable and vile. And for the reader who suggested Hannibal had become Frasier Crane, I would say Hannibal's more like a flesh-eating James Bond. Finally, I loved the fact that Harris could wrankle all you devout Christians into such a froth. Absolutely loved it. And this book.

Rating:
Summary: And then...AND THEN...splat
Review: I pretty much enjoyed the read, anxiously awaiting the conclusion. Only to find the conclusion completely unbelievable. It's as if Harris just ran out of time (10 years not enough?) figuring out how it should end, and settled for something that fell, splat, on the floor.

Rating:
Summary: A novel deserving of the word "classic"
Review: On one level, both Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal can be read simply for their entertainment value. Yet there is incredible symbolic meaning to be made from both of these books. Harris exhibits again in Hannibal his thorough understanding of the human psyche (specifically, why it is we do what we do). At the same time, several if not all characters act as literary metaphors; I will not bore anyone who reads this with my interpretation, but I believe there to be subtle significance to the allusory names of the characters, their habits (for example, Margot cracks walnuts with her hands), etc. Substantial analysis undertaken by the careful, thoughtful reader reveals new layers and greater depth each time the book is read. Thomas Harris contributes once more to psychologically exploratory literature, and indeed to great literature as a whole, in Hannibal.

Rating:
Summary: Not That Bad
Review: Prologue: I'm rarely scared by books. I've read Dragon and Lambs.

The Good: Beautiful, ornate language. Characters are weird, but verge on being possible. Got a good laugh now and then.

The Bad: The Dolarhydization of Lecter. Middle portion of the book ends up being tangential, hardly relevant. Many years of wishes -- the return of Graham, an epic confrontation, etc., may go unfulfilled. Verger shows a stunning lack of knowledge about the Bible. (Translated from Hebrew to Latin, indeed!)

The Ugly: Mason Verger.

Conclusion: The Dolarhydization of Lecter leaves us with the same question we faced in Dragon: Will the killer's love for a woman calm his ravaged soul, or will the demons win out? I won't answer that, and I don't think Harris did, either.

This isn't a crime novel like Dragon, or whatever the heck Lambs was supposed to be. Rather, it's a book about weird people doing strange things. You have to admit, there are some weird ones here: Lecter, Verger, and their father, Harris.

Rating:
Summary: Not a worthy follow-up
Review: Pedestrian would be the best description. Nothing new here - just a rehash of Silence of the Lambs, and not in a good way. Isn't anything that hasn't been seen in works by Stephen King or John Saul, and the ending was not shocking but just plain strange.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing read
Review: The media having leaked the news that Jodie Foster had declined the offer to revisit her Clarice Starling role, I was a bit wary of reading the book. I don't feel this was written as well as "Silence..."; I found myself just skimming entire paragraphs because I was bored. I agree that Verger is almost more of a demon than Lecter, and his behavior with the visiting child drew loathing...at least Lecter didn't mess w/children's minds. I was terribly disappointed with the ending - I don't blame the classy and intelligent Ms. Foster for saying "No thanks!"

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Exquisite!
Review: I applaud Thomas Harris for taking the characters places we don't expect and in many instances, don't like. 'Hannibal' is extremely well written and takes you on a journey through the minds of absolute monsters and leaves you feeling something less than contemptuousness toward them partly, because Harris delves into the reasons behind the madness. The true talent of an author is exhibited when he can make you feel a multitude of emotions for a character that are completely contradictory and it leaves you wanting more.

I think people dislike the ending because it doesn't fit into their "movie" image of the characters. Harris further develops his old characters by making them multi-dimensional and he shows us how they became the persons they are now. Thereby, the path that Clarice and Dr. Lecter take are very believable. I don't particularly like the path that Clarice and Dr. Lecter take, but that's what makes this book so wonderful! If you appreciate your mind being challenged and enjoy the unexpected, then this is the book for you.

Rating:
Summary: Okay for a Summer Read
Review: Hannibal is certainly a page-turner that will keep readers moving forward. In that respect, it's a successful book. That having been said, I think that much of the content is thrown out there just to try to turn our stomachs. At least in Red Dragon there was the police procedural. Harris offered a high level of detail in describing the investigation and the eventual breakthrough that led to the discovery of the killer's identity. In Hannibal, it seems, Harris has elected to eschew the finer points of murder and murder investigations in order to offer up a stomach-churning series of references to eating flesh.

One of the most suspenseful moments in the book is Clarice Starling's return to Lecter's former abode. After that it's more of a morbid adventure romp.

And I really wish that Harris would learn that when one sentence stops and another begins, the correct piece of punctuation one should use is the period, not the comma.

As a none-to-serious summer read, this is an enjoyable book, but I'm not going to any barbecues anytime soon.