Rating:  Summary: I'm Smart (Harris) You (reader) Are STUPID Review: One thing not touched upon in these reviews is the way Harris (through Lecter) constantly reminds the reader how dumb they are compared to great minds like Lecter. The book is pretentious in the extreme, more of a class in antiquities and cooking than anything suspenseful. So, dear reader, you can't cook with white truffles? Too bad for you. The tone of the book is snotty and lets the reader feel his/her inferior education at every turn. And how does the incredibly superior Lecter fall afoul of his enemies? When Interpol and the FBI can't find him for seven years, he gets grabbed in a Safeway parking lot by a carful of goons. Does this make any sense? No, but it needed to happen for the sake of the alleged plot.One has a feeling this was written in just a few months. It is unedited and has a first draft quality. Mistakes that wouldn't get by in a freshman English class are on every page. Overall, Hannibal insults the reader. Save your $$. Pure junk.
Rating:  Summary: Wait until it comes out in paperback Review: There were some things I liked - the FBI stuff, the shootout in the first chapter. I also found myself liking Hannibal - he had good reasons for killing some of those people. It was pretty well-written, but...I thought Mason's sister was ridiculous, and I was a little annoyed with the fact I predicted the ending. Everything tied together a little too neatly. I'm glad I didn't buy the book - it was a gift. I thought Silence of the Lambs was better.
Rating:  Summary: This was a three course meal when we could have had 5! Review: Is it possible to count the many evils of not only Dr.Lector but also of Carlo, Mason, Pazi etc? Harris seems to try to hit every button to make you squirm. And, there in lies the problem. Too much gore and not enough score. And, come on, Mr. Harris, putting in your own political opinions regarding the Clinton saga. Cheap. The ending did seem unrealistic. Unless you believe that Lector has brainwashed Clarice. It's worth the read.....in paperback.
Rating:  Summary: Evil or mentally ill ? Review: Harris's ability as a writer enabled him to explore evil as it is capable of existing within a psychoanalytical framework. If there was a flaw it was that he tried to give Hannibal's psychopathic personality a human side. I felt his evil is too satanic to deserve it. That aside, Lecter was in true form on taste and cuisine.
Rating:  Summary: Billy Crystal was right!!! Review: From all the praise heralded by other readers, I wonder if I had the wrong book sent to me by mistake. There is no way this is a three star book, much less a 5 star one. I forced myself to finish it, and then regreted turning the last page. If only I had been like Billy Crystal in "Harry met Sally", and read the last page of the book before starting it...(so if I died before finishing it, I'd know how it ended), I could have saved myself an entire weekend of agony and bitter disapppointment...not to mention the money wasted on this novel. When I heard the book was coming out, I couldn't wait...and started holding my breath for the movie. Now, given the unbelievable (and unforgivable) ending Harris chose to tack onto this list of incomplete sentences...I am no longer waitng to exhale. Mr. Harris, why????
Rating:  Summary: Thomas Harris should have taken 12 years instead of 11 Review: Eagerly the most anticipated book of 1999, Thomas Harris' "Hannibal" is a wonderfully written book. That being said, it has the most dissapointing endings ever put to paper. Hannibal Lecter is as chariming and frightening as ever, however, even he cannot make sense of the ending. Mr. Harris took 11 years to write the third Hannibal Lecter book. Perhaps he needed 12. Memo to Dino De Laurentis & Co.: PLEASE, FOR THE MOVIE, CHANGE THE ENDING!!!
Rating:  Summary: This sequel to "Silence of the Lambs" was truly outstanding! Review: Since reading "Silence of the Lambs" years ago, my husband and I have been anxiously awaiting Thomas Harris' sequel. Well, it was a long wait but worth it. "Hannibal" is brilliant. Thomas Harris does not disappoint his readers with this long-awaited sequel. It was so well written that I went out and bought another copy of "Silence of the Lambs" specifically so that I could reread the dialogues between Dr. Lechter and Clarice. Harris continued on beautifully from the first book to the second. I could easily envision Anthony Hopkins and Jodi Foster interacting once again. Can't wait for the movie! My only hope is that Mr. Harris doesn't wait TOO long to write the next book. GREAT JOB!
Rating:  Summary: Very Different from 'Silence' but Excellent in its Own Way Review: Those expecting a cookie-cutter sequel to Silence of the Lambs will be disappointed, but this book has other things to offer. The language is beautiful, especially during the time spent in Florence. And we finally get a small glimpse into Dr. Lecter's own background. Call me an oddball, but I like Hannibal Lecter! He isn't your garden variety serial killer who preys on innocent people on a whim. He mostly chooses to kill rude, horrible people with whom he is well acquainted or kills for self-preservation. (I'm not defending his actions but can't lump him in with maniacs who randomly choose their victims.) The ending is not what you would expect but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Can't imagine how they would make it into a movie, but if they do they had better cast Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins--no other 2 actors would do.
Rating:  Summary: It's not a movie ending! Review: Oh..what drugs can do! Clarice is altered to the point that she is no longer the Clarice we knew in Silence of the Lambs. In fact she no longer needs drugs to "adjust" to the life she seems destined to live. If ever a movie is made, I bet the ending is changed!
Rating:  Summary: A book done in by it's ending. Review: As most fans of Thomas Harris, I looked foward to his latest book, Hannibal. The story of the strange bond between Hannibal Lecter and Clarise Starling is certainly worth telling, and for three quarters of the book, Mr. Harris is successful in giving his readers a fine, if not compelling story. As he continues the tale of the two characters and manages to introduce other characters who become integral to the plot. The problem is that they sometimes become as, or more important than the two protaganists. This leads to one of the problems with this book. The dependence on these characters and their stories push Lecter and Starling to the back burner. Ultimately the readers are not given what they were expecting...the intertwining of the lives of the the two main characters. Lecter and Starling, for most of the book, travel in parallel universes and we keep waiting for them to come together. Ultimately, of couse, they do, but then Mr. Harris switches gears on his readers and gives us such a bizzare and artificial ending that we feel cheated.
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