Thomas Harris: Hannibal Rising

[lenny nero]

This one hits stores December 5th. I'll be picking it up. From the book jacket:

HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS
IN ALL OF LITERATURE.

AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL
IS REVEALED.

Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck.

He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him.

Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki.

Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France.

But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn.

He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.

 

[Anamnesis]

Glad to see Harris was able to get this one out quickly...

I, too, want to read the book. Not right away, though; think I'll put it on the holiday list instead.

 

[Heteronym]

What a ridiculous book jacket!

Even comics are better advertised nowadays.

You know, if at this point in life you're just writing for the next movie adaptation, you might as well just write it as a screenplay. Imdb.com already had a page for a Hannibal Lecter movie prequel (with the better title of The Lecter Variations) even before Harris had said he'd write another book. How depressing.

Hannibal was a seminal book in my life, by the way; it taught me to stay away from bestsellers. My literary snobbishness, my deep disgust for books that seem marginally popular, is the result of reading this awfully-written piece of garbage that everyone was crazy about a couple of years ago!

One of Literature's most haunting characters? Hm, not really. Raskolnikov is, O'Brien (1984) maybe is, Doctor Faust definitely is, Alex DeLarge sure. But Hannibal Lecter is just a great movie villain. And only so thanks to the talents of Anthony Hopkins, Jodie Foster, the brilliant screenwriter Ted Tally and Jonathan Demme. Hannibal Lecter, by himself, is nothing, as Manhunter, Red Dragon and Hannibal have shown.

And now Thomas Harris does the worst thing he could to a reasonably charismatic character: he's going to tell us all about his childhood and kill all the mystery about him. That's the spirit, Tom.

At least this one didn't take a self-indulgent decade to write.

 

[lenny nero]

I think the movie is scheduled to be released next spring. Lady Murasaki will be played by Gong Li. Nice!

 

[Heteronym]

I think at one time Jude Law was going to play young Lecter. My dream has faded

Who is Gaspard Ulliel?

 

[lenny nero]

This one wasn't that good. Out of all the Lecter books, I would rank it last. Harris has taken a formerly compelling character and wrote a run of the mill revenge story. I was hoping to get more insight into Lecter's character and the way his childhood trauma shaped him but no, all you get is a straightforward revenge plot and very little else. The only other compelling character in this one is Lady Murasaki and she's also given the short shrift. Hopefully the movie will be better.

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

I saw it in the store while I was in Chicago this weekend. I will probably wait for it to go paperback, but I will most certainly be reading it.

 

[Madeline]

I've seen it written somewhere that this book was boring, uninteresting, but now I can understand why Hannibal Lector was who he was. It's cleared up a lot of questions of where he came from, why he did what he did, and why he's a monster.

It begins when he was 6 years old and continues until he's an adult. I found it very intriguing and I'm very happy that I read it. Good writer.

 

[Stewart]

I've seen it written somewhere that this book was boring, uninteresting

There are many reviews that say that it is utter drivel. No doubt because the novel is adapted from the screenplay, hence loads of short chapters following the film's trajectory to the letter.

but now I can understand why Hannibal Lector was who he was. It's cleared up a lot of questions of where he came from, why he did what he did, and why he's a monster.

I think that's what these sort of series don't need. By explaining everything, the whole notion of him being a creepy bogeyman is removed and by humanising him he's no longer to be feared.

 

[Madeline]

Have you read the book, Stewart? The mystery is not completely solved. It did not explain everything. He is still a monster, not humanized, and being a bogeyman remains, and he is to be feared.

 

[ValkyrieRaven88]

Personally, I thought we learned enough about his childhood in Hannibal to understand why he is the way he is...

Still, at some point in the future I will probably read this book. I'm rather fond of Hannibal Lecter.

 

[imhere4beer]

Oh no

I picked up the Thomas Harris books just before "Hannibal Rising" came out at a buy 2 get 1 free sale... I have to say I was really disappointed with Red Dragon- thought it was crap and the movie was much better, which NEVER happens!- but I just finished Silence of the Lambs and loved it. I'm starting Hannibal today... but should I bother? After reading these reviews I am never going to buy "Hannibal Rising," so is "Hannibal" worth the read, or is it as bad as "Red Dragon"?

 

[Stewart]

I have to say I was really disappointed with Red Dragon- thought it was crap and the movie was much better, which NEVER happens!

Which one? Manhunter or the remake, Red Dragon?

so is "Hannibal" worth the read, or is it as bad as "Red Dragon"?

It's absolute rubbish, as far as I'm concerned. I still have the hardback sitting on my shelf and even as a teen, when I was still reading King and Laymon and Koontz, I found it to be dull and a poor book. Certainly not a patch on Red Dragon or The Silence Of The Lambs. Interestingly, Martin Amis, who also enjoyed the first two books, wrote in The War Against Cliche that Thomas Harris was in the process of dismantling his literary reputation, that he had in fact "gone gay" for Hannibal Lecter.

 

[imhere4beer]

Which one? Manhunter or the remake, Red Dragon?

I had never heard of Manhunter before this thread, but it looks good. I loved Ralph Feinnes in the role of Francis Dolarhyde, though, and he did an excellent job of freaking me out, so I'm not sure I need to see the original. What do you reckon?

It's absolute rubbish, as far as I'm concerned.

Ah, well. Too bad... at least I got the book for free so I'm not losing anything by skipping it. Someone gave me a copy of I Am Charlotte Simmons, which I also heard bad things about, but I guess I'll give it a try since it's just been collecting dust.

Thanks for your help, BTW!
Rebecca

 

[imhere4beer]

Hiya,
So I was gifted Hannibal Rising last weekend, and I tore through the book. I have to say that I think it is by far the best of the series. (Although I wasn't terribly impressed with Hannibal or Red Dragon, so I guess that's not really saying much.) I thoroughly enjoyed this one, though, and wanted to revive this thread to see if anyone else has read it, and what your thoughts were.

 

[Anamnesis]

Glad you enjoyed the book. I'm almost finished with the book so I'll save my comments for later. Although I liked Hannibal (or most of it; not sure how I feel about the ending), I do agree that Red Dragon isn't exactly a classic. I enjoyed the book, yeah, but it didn't really grab me the way the other installments did.

BTW, Manhunter isn't that bad of a film. It's the superior film version of Red Dragon in my opinion, even though the change in title is pointless.

 

[Anamnesis]

Well I finished Hannibal Rising today. I suppose the book was better than I expected, but only because I lowered my expectations after reading mainly negative comments from both critics and readers. I did like it, yes, but it's probably my least favorite in the series. The writing is sloppy and unprofessional (at one point in the book Harris switches from past to present tense), and the story doesn't really give us anything we needed to know about Lecter's past.

 

[Blindsided]

I read it and enjoyed it. Silence of the lambs or Hannibal has to be my favorite book in the series. I like them all though.

 

[ifpiper]

Literally the worst book I have ever read.