What’s everyone’s thoughts on this book? I for one like and have read it twice but it’s truly is a blizzard and lurid book. I do think that the whole book should’ve been about Hannibal in Florence and Pazzi investigating him. Mason Verger was quite a monster and possibly the best villain of the series and him drinking the tears of the child was absolutely monstrous. I do love the man eating pigs though.
by jakelaws1987
27 Comments
It’s not the worst of the series.
Love it. How the same man who wrote those first four books also wrote the last two baffles me.
I like it. Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs are better, but Hannibal is still good.
It’s better than the god-awful movie, lol.
I liked silence of the lambs more, but it’s a decent book.
I found reading *Hannibal* a bizarre experience. There are elements of the book I really enjoyed (Mason Verger in particular, and the general atmosphere of the book), and there are elements of it that I really did not enjoy.
One of my biggest issues for me about it was how utterly ridiculous a villain Hannibal become to be by the end of the book. In *Red Dragon* and *TSOTL*, the mystery of Hannibal Lecter and how little I knew about him and his motivations made him a far more compelling and scarier villain. In *Hannibal*, all that mystery and intrigue was gone, and he steadily became more and more cartoonishly villainous to me as a result. And what became of Clarice by the end of the book utterly threw me and made no sense to me. I’m still WTF about that ending to this day, several years on from having read it.
I freakin’ love how much the atmosphere of *Hannibal* influenced the tv show, however.
I’m just starting the book myself but from what I remember from the movie I think I’ll enjoy it, while having the benefit of picturing Jodie Foster as Clarice instead of Julianne Moore.
I respect books, even those I don’t like.
This is the one book I’ve ever thrown in the trash when I finished it.
My take on it was he still had a contract for the sequel to Lambs but wanted to retire, so he tried to make the novel as wild/ unbelievable as possible, but people didn’t really get the joke.
It made me afraid of pigs for life. I think Harris kind of fell in love with Hannibal and wanted a bigger, badder villain so Hannibal could be… well not the good guy but not so bad.
The end is so disturbing. Still a great book.
Read it a while back .I don’t remember it. (OP asked for everyone’s thoughts. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have made such a boring entry.)
I read it around a decade ago, and even though the details have left me since, I remember feeling like it had a sick, somewhat nauseating atmosphere, after the dark but “normal” _Red Dragon_, and the harsh _The Silence of the Lambs_. I’ve stayed clear of _Hannibal Rising_, so I can’t compare to that. I remember liking it quite a bit.
I actually hope to re-read it someday, but my ever-growing TBR will make it difficult, to say the least.
I have a theory about this horrible book.
Both Red Dragon and The Silence of the Lambs are formidable pieces of pop fiction. They are well-written thrillers with great descriptions and characters. They were both adapted into great movies. They made Thomas Harris a very rich man.
I think Mr. Harris made a bet, maybe with a friend or just to himself. He knew that his next novel would be snapped up for big bucks for the screen rights. He knew he would not get any control over the script. So he decided to write a book that would basically be un-filmable. It would be so preposterous, such dreck, that it would drive the screenwriters crazy. And Mr. Harris would be laughing all the way to the bank.
This theory makes it possible to think that Thomas Harris is talented. There are other theories that eliminate that possibility. Of course, the publication of Hannibal Rising kind of shot my theory all to hell.
I can’t believe I was so excited about this book that I rushed out to buy it in hardcover. Ugh. I sold it to a used bookstore at the first opportunity
Actually my Fave Harris book!
Weirdly I always think of Hannibal as a Beauty and the Beast retelling…it’s actually one of my favorite books.
Loved all the books in the series and even though I’m gonna get a shitstorm for this, my favorite is actually Hannibal Rising.
As for Hannibal, it pretty much details what he was up after his escape and a taste of freedom but never quite through his perspective. The only time we start seeing through his lense is when he’s already returned to the US. Mason Verger is the main antagonist and quite well written cause you just love to hate him. Clarice has the complexity of the character who is stuck between wanting to do the right thing lawfully and her humanity. I wasn’t sure what to make of Pazzi.
The book itself is wild.
Loved the whole series
I think that “Hannibal” is a complex and intense read. The character of Mason Verger is indeed chilling, and his depravity adds a layer of horror to the novel.
It’s not my favourite Lecter book, but it’s the one I most admire. Harris’s delightful chutzpah in writing that ending, reminding all those in love with Anthony Hopkins’ suave antihero interpretation that Lecter is the villain, tying together the dangling plot thread of Starling’s father issues with Lector’s own childhood trauma… and that little detail >!that Starling’s hypnosis could be randomly broken by the note of a bowstring (IIRC), leaving her (and Lecter) open to horrific consequences!<, is just the cherry on top.
I think it’s trashy and sensational, and also incredibly entertaining and well written.
It is maybe the weirdest love story in modern pop culture (and a rare example of ‘gothic romance’ written in modern times) so one of my favorite books because of its boldness.
Also beautifully written. It’s the only book in my library which has handwritten notes with pencil in it because I felt the urge to side-note all the Greek/Roman mythological references in the text, all the Bram Stoker’s Dracula references, and so many others.
I read an analysis once, years ago about the book, and I remember how the essay analyzed the first chapter (the fish market FBI raid) and pointed out that all the 12 zodiacs are hidden in the text in one way or other, more explicitly (like the Pisces or Aquarius) or more subtle (like the Scorpio – the hidden AIDS-pin in Evelda’s hair).
I like the film more. I prefer the ending where they don’t get together, how they got rid of the body builder sister, and also the bit where Hannibal suggests to push Verger into the pig pen as opposed to whatever happened in the book (I can’t remember).
Favourite of the series.
Kinda insane lol
I like this book. Have read it many, many times. It kinda makes me feel calm (or.maybe like less anxious or stressed) so i reread it when i need to.
I just finished the whole series and Hannibal was the only one I hadn’t already read. I didnt really care for it, it got kind of cartoony. Also there is such a thing as too much screentime for a character and Hannibal in that book is the perfect example
I loved the ending. Barney getting the fuck out of Dodge!