Hannibal - Thomas Harris

Hannibal by Thomas Harris is thankfully a work of fiction. Not exactly recommended for the faint of heart, vegetarians or Peta (Promotion of Ethical Treatment of Animals) activists. It is about a serial killer on the loose (actually a sequel to ''The Silence of the Lambs''), a doctor with a taste for fine things in life, good wine and food, including a spare rib or two from other human beings.

Fortunately, the reader is spared of much of the cannibalistic stuff, except for an elaborate cooking class towards the close of the book on some brainy matters. There is Clarice Starling, an FBI agent, whose single-minded pursuit of killers and successful captures fail to exactly endear herself to some of her superiors and hence is in disgrace.

The main problem with the novel is that it leaves several things unexplained. There is this oh so clever serial killer who seem to have got access to all the riches in the world. May be he chose his victims carefully, killing only those loaded with wealth.

The reader keeps meeting one revolting character after another. There is Mason Verger, a rich scoundrel who gets pleasure from torturing orphans, his dyke sister and ultimately we find that the only decent characters are Starling and Dr. Lecter.

I loved the part where Dr Lecter overcomes the pain of torture by ''going into his mental palace'', quite a Yogic feat that one.

This is one of the few works where evil sort of triumphs over evil, may be that is the way it is with the real world. None of us are exactly innocent, are we?

The writing style is quite gripping despite a rather slow beginning. A lot of research seems to have been done on several fronts--history, medicine and cuisine to name a few.

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Hannibal Lecter !

Whoever have seen or read Silence of the Lambs will know what I am talking about.

‘Hannibal’ happens 7 years after. The ''gentleman,'' ''genius”, ''cannibal” doctor was free all this while savoring life. But he is not left alone since intruders are at large. A multi millionaire maimed by Hannibal, a corrupt Italian cop and FBI agent Clarice Sterling. All of them,

in their separate ways, want to find 'Dr. Lecter.' All three will get their wish.

But only one will live long enough to savor the reward.

Story

You do not find Hannibal in the dingy confines of the prison. Rather he is shown to enjoy the pleasant opulence of Florence, Italy. Mason Verger, the only surviving victim of Hannibal is fast closing on him. He wants his revenge. He intends to lure the doctor using Clarice as a bait and ultimately feed him to pigs. Clarice has her problems in ways more than one but is put back n the case to trace Hannibal. The Italian cop is shrewd enough to find out Hannibal and zero in on him. His aim is the delicious prize he will get.

What a mistake they all commit. Its Hannibal they are dealing with.

The story of Dr. Lecter in Italy and his trip back to the States, as well as the trials and tribulations Clarice faces as she gets closer to the good doctor and the superb ending will all be a good read for you.

Characterisation

I think Harris the writer was simply awesome. He took me into a journey in which I as the reader felt victimized and psychologically assaulted. The mind of the doctor and the morally just Clarice Sterling. The complex relationship between the diabolical Lecter and the FBI agent.

I have been a student of psychology and the journey into the room of the Cannibal’s mind is amazing. I started to see things from his point of view. Internal dialogue, memories, past history and his disturbing thought process. All these will provide you with an insight on his way of reasoning, his wit, his gory sophistication and his methods of ‘detaching’.

Even Clarice has changed and matured.

Style & Diction

Thomas Harris’s writing style was clever and intense. He has used sophisticated and stylish words sometimes peppered with a dramatic flair. His suspenseful scenes were paced tightly, and the dramatic interactions between characters drawn when required. Realistic use of dialogue and his sense of irony will disturb and hit you at times.

Drawbacks

The middle of the novel, where things start to lag and my interest began to drift. However towards the end Harris gets rid of this problem.

Several miniature plots towards the middle made me lose interest. I kept on searching for the familiar Lecter and Clarice among them.

Then the ending got me bang. It was so unexpected that I just sat back and thought. The psychologically tight scenes and the ending. This is what the movie failed to capture.

Disturbing as hell is what this book is but then it touches you and penetrates your heart and mind.

This is what a good book should deliver.

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DR HANNIBAL LECTER, JIYOO KHUUB JIYOO!

Hannibal is a follow on to The Silence Of The Lambs.

The Silence of the Lambs was a great book and a movie.

Dr Hannibal Lector walks out from that book a free man

and lives to tell another tale, with who else but

Special Agent Starling who is all over again on his trail.

He likes to be chased by Special Agent Starling and always gives her a good lead.

This book is no match for the original Silence of

The Lambs. That was a Class Act.

Hannibal comes to Italy, peruses his love for

ancient archietecture and medivial methods of

tourture and killings, gives gripping lectures

on the subject to the tourists.

A wicked local Police detective finds out who Hannibal

really is, greed gets the better of him and he decides to

hand over Dr Lector alive and transport him to America

in ways less than legal, just to pocket a few hundred

thousand dollars posted as a reward by another evil man who

lives in America.

However, the Police detective becomes easy meat for Dr Lector, and he arrives in America on his own.

Dr Lecter goes on his killing spree and cannibalistic ways.

He establishes contact with Special Agent Starling and ends

up making love to her.

In between, there are many gripping sequences of killing and

myhem, action packed histrionics and gory deaths.

Richard Harris' forte is DIALOGUES, diabolic mind sets,

and psychology of deranged minds.

If you like serial killer stuff you like this Hannibal. Go read it.

I read this book for no other reason except to learn more

about Dr Lecter's psyche. I learned nothing more.

Better still, read the Silence of the Lambs.

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Several years ago, I read a little article about the upcoming film ''Hannibal'', back then, I hadn't even watched ''The Silence of the Lambs'' movie (shame on me...). I was intrigued, specially because the article mentioned some (and I quote) ''EXTREME GORE''... Back then, I actually bought that line...

Anyway, as I hate to read a trilogy from the middle, and (as usual) I couldn't find the first part of this one (Red Dragon) I had to wait a long time, until I made a visit to another country, where I finally found the Red Dragon...

I won't comment any of the first two books, as I rather do that in the respective review, but I must say that after reading the first two novels, I was eager to get my hands on Hannibal... I even bought a big Hardcover copy that was just waiting there for me to finish the first books.

I did enjoy reading Hannibal, but I think that I didn't enjoy it as much as I did when I read the first two... maybe it's just me, but I think that Mr. Harris might have been under a big deal of pressure, from the press, the studios and the audience, as everybody wanted to know what would Dr. Lecter do now.

Hannibal gives you the chance to finally understand the mind of Lecter, understand why, and how he became a Cannibal. You'll see that there's an important reason behind his madness, that he's not just about a ''pyscho'' (which, let's face it, he is), he has a motif, a trauma, the ''shrink'' actually has something in his past, that really left a mark on him...

A little suggestion, read the book, don't watch the movie ;)... even though Anthony Hopkins did a great job, as usual, the book is better, a lot better.

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This book is an example of how magic can be cast with words and of how people can be scared with the written word. I read this book while in college and was shocked to find myself scared of Dr. Hannibal. That I had not read the previous did not seem to matter because the way it was written I was able to visualize every event even if from the past.

What to say of a man who is a genius and knows it pretty well, yes thats exactly what Dr. Hannibal is. He knows the extent of his talent and that people dread him and this gives him great joy and I believe is what nurtures him to break new grounds. What really makes him stand out is that he is evil because he wishes to be so, nothing more nothing less. No excuses or explanations for what he does, except for he loves doing those things.

Yet FBI agent Clarice Starling unwillingly loves him despite their difference in age and in perception overall is because he is the answer to the Simpson's riddle, he is the lion in the honey.

Those who have read this book know exactly what I am talking about and that nothing here is an exaggeration. To comment on Dr. Hannibal I would just like to say that ''He is what evil is all about, maybe a step ahead than that.''

Yet what disturbed me is that what effect does this book or other of such taste or the lack of it, have on young impressionable minds. Well, the answer is best left unsaid.

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One thing I liked very much about this book is that it shows the varying shades of evil. It is full of sorrow and gore and yet you smile at the end of the book. The characters are sad and are too much depressed by their failures. Clarice Starling, Rinaldo Pazzi, Mason Verger, Margot Verger are such characters. Jack Crawford still pines for his ex-wife and her memory increasingly haunts him.

Though the characters are beautifully depicted, I am disappointed with Clarice Starling's character. I will give my reasons as doing so would reveal much of the plot but take it from me that Clarice is not the Clarice of Silence of the Lambs. I personally would have liked her to be different though it was inevitable considering the way the story developed.

The murders are innovative and there is no shortage of deaths in the book. Some of the murders are so vividly described that you can view it in your mind! The murders can haunt you in the night as nightmares but there is a sheer artistic appeal to them that you might perhaps (like me) be awed by the beauty of it.

The depiction of Dr. Lecter is once again astonishingly impressive and one cannot help admiring the character in spite of it being described as ''shaitan''. His exotic tastes, his knowledge of Dante, his highly analytical and calculating mind will make him perhaps the only most admired villan of fiction. But is he pure evil? Read the book to find out.

Though many would be turned off by the surprise ending, I would disagree as I feel that it was the light at the end of the dark narrative. It is a very unpredictable ending that marks the book as one the best thrillers I have read.

The movie's ending is different from the book and so is its narrative. If you have seen the movie and feel that you know the story, I assure you that the book is way different from the movie.

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I had the misfortune of reading this book after I watched the movie, which unfortunately removed some of the elements of surprise for me. However, if you have watched the movie ''Hannibal'' and decide that you wish to read the book as well...Fasten your seatbelt. You're in for one heck of a ride, as is always the case with the great Thomas Harris. If you can keep yourself from immediately recalling Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore while reading this book, then I can garantee that the depth of the characters will move you, especially the piercing description of Lector's bedridden victim who wishes to feed him to the pigs...literally. Also in store for fans of the trilogy (in both it's motion picture and literary forms) is a surprise ending, that differs so much from the movie that it caused quite an involuntary squeal of glee from this die-hard fan of the series. A must-read for any reader, fan or not.

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After having read the amazing Red Dragon followed by the subliminal Silence of the Lambs I felt that I was reading a book where Harris had tried to make a fast buck for the sake of continuity and Hollywood. Hannibal was well below his previous high standards. As a plot line it was so far fetched as to be ludicrous with the character of Mason Verger being not frightening enough to be a fair adversary to Lecter. Lecter himself has been turned into an almost lovable old rogue and Harris has taken away all the greatness which he built up with his first two books. This has resulted in an ending that is neither scary nor believable and a book that is almost a pastiche of the horror genre.

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There are good novels and then there are better novels and there are the best novels and then you have THE novel. Hannibal belongs to this category. Thomas Harris worked for years on this novel and he has sure not disappointed his readers. The horror of Hannibal Lecter returns to haunt you in this book.

It has been seven years since Hannibal had the daring escape from special custody laying five prison guards into their coffins. Agent Starling who interviewed him seven years ago still remembers the metallic rasp of this demented genius. And out of nowhere she gets a letter from him and then the old game of cat and mouse begins. You also have Mason Verger who is thirst for the blood of Hannibal who nearly killed him.

The one fantastic thing of this book is that there is no subplot in this book. All the subplots lead to a chillingly brilliant and a fantastic climax. I don't want to reveal the entire plot and make the review look big to gain HR ratings. I just want people to read this great book.

This novel by Thomas Harris is sheer genius and surely follows in the lines of its predecessors like the silence of the lamb. Well if you even want to consider yourself literate, Go and read this book.

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Thomas Harris's book Hannibal is a screamfest.It is downright scary,gory and not for the easily offended.This book is a sequel to The Silence of the Lambs.The first was a masterpiece.It traces the relationship between a genius psychiatrist who happens to be a cannibal and is imprisoned in a maximum security prison and a FBI trainee Clarice Starling.She goes to him for help to track down another notorious killer by the name of Buffalo Bill who strips his victims of their skins.So Dr Hannibal Lecter decides to help out Starling in exchange for some personal information.Slowly Clarice finds herself hating the man and at the same time liking him also.So starts the game of cat and mouse between both of them.The climax culminates in Hannibal staging a gory escape with a very taunting call to Clarice.Hannibal starts in Florence,Italy where it is now 7-8 years past the incident and Hannibal is living peacefully.He keeps track of Clarice all these years.You see he developed a liking for her,but he wishes her no harm.Suddenly,Clarice finds herself the victim of a drug bust gone wrong and alienated by the FBI folks.In the misddle of all this she receives a message from Mr Hannibal himself teeling her he is always watching her and knows what she has been upto.This message starts the ball rolling for a humdinger of a ride where the reader is thrown right into all the violent goings on.This time the gourmet side of Hannibal is highlighted.He will wear the best of clothes,eat the best of food,drink the very best of wines and spirits.His tastes are very eclectic.The extent to which he goes to procure a wine of a certain vintage is to be read to be believed.Of course he gets to indulge in his pet pastime i.e eating humans with a certain relish.A very audacious book with a very surprise ending which knocked my socks off.Please keep a very broad mind with the idea that anything goes in this world of ours and you will enjoy this book.Please do not have any pre-set notions when reading this book and I promise you,you will be entertained.Buy it,rent it,during a weekend and have a nice time.

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It seems clear that this book is not unanimous in the way it's rated. But, it certainly draws either extremely positive or extremely negative vibes, whatever way you look at it. I found the book incredibly entertaining, rivetting and difficult to close. Some readers may not have liked this follow up because of the switch in angles Thomas Harris takes...Hannibal and Clarice Starling are no longer the characters we once knew. They've evolved, changed, muted into new personas...after all, if the reader expected to see exactly the same story as Silence of the Lambs, would he want to go out and spend the money on reading something he's already seen before? Thomas Harris has understood the need to develop these cult characters. We take a ride into Hannibal's fantasties, the more positive aspects of his personality, and believe it or not, we feel a little closer to the psychopath once the book has drawn to an end! Clarice is no longer the hero of the story; she's almost relinquished to the supporting role of the book. She spends most of her time soul searching, and ends up finding her way with her enemy, Dr Lecter. Of all of the endings I could expect or dream up, the one Harris concludes on, literally blew my mind away. This is the most unexpected turn of the story anyone could possibly imagine! I don't know whether the movie will manage to recreate so dramatically the colorful scenarios, the intricate web of stories Harris writes in this book, but all movie goers need to read this book first before watching it on the big screen...

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Hannibal

Author: Thomas Harris

Price: 21.99 HC/ 5.99 Paperback

I had impatiently waited with bated breath for the sequel to Silence of the Lambs to come out. Whe I found out that Hannibal was due out, I pre-ordered it three months in advance.

When it showed up at my door, I forgot housework, meals and work, I was now holding the next best thing to coffee. By the time I read the last chapter though, I was ready to toss the book into the fireplace.

Harris started the book good, it was a fast pace even scenerio back into Clarice Starlings life, and a tease pertaining to Hannibal. But then it felt like he lost the characters appeal and hurried the rest of the storyline along.

I would honestly say that the beginning and the middle have the appeal of what I expect from this author, but the ending was too cliche, too worn out. Not an original effect at all.

I would still recommend the book though just for the curiousity sake of what happened with these two great characters, but don't be disappointed with the end.

One thing I like to state though is that Harris did bring in two excellent statures. A new character (well, not really new, if you have read Red Dragon, you would know this character already, but it was nice to have him return) and an excellent killing scenerio. Highly original point of death scene that made me linger for more.

This book doesn't live up to the author's name, but for some strange feeling, I think that might have been an editing choice and not the author himself.

Happy nightmares!

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