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Thomas Harris

Anamnesis

Anamnesis

Active Member
To the best of my knowledge, there weren't any threads dedicated to this author, so I figure I would start one myself.

I wasn't too crazy about Red Dragon (maybe because Dr. Lecter wasn't that much of a presence in this one), but I loved Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. I hear he has another Hannibal Lecter book coming out soon called Behind The Mask which delves deeper into Hannibal Lecter's past. About time he released a new book :D.
 
Anamnesis said:
To the best of my knowledge, there weren't any threads dedicated to this author, so I figure I would start one myself.

I wasn't too crazy about Red Dragon (maybe because Dr. Lecter wasn't that much of a presence in this one), but I loved Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal. I hear he has another Hannibal Lecter book coming out soon called Behind The Mask which delves deeper into Hannibal Lecter's past. About time he released a new book :D.
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I love Silence Of The lambs one of my favorite books but Red Dragon didnt impress me at all.
 
Yeah, I'm excited about that as well. I haven't read Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs, though like every other person in the US I have seen the movies. However, I plan to read Silence soon as I loved the book Hannibal. The movie Red Dragon didn't impress me much; thanks for alterting me about it not being a great book.
 
ValkyrieRaven88 said:
Yeah, I'm excited about that as well. I haven't read Red Dragon or Silence of the Lambs, though like every other person in the US I have seen the movies. However, I plan to read Silence soon as I loved the book Hannibal. The movie Red Dragon didn't impress me much; thanks for alterting me about it not being a great book.
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Each person thinks different about books so you might enjoy you but you wont know till you have read it :)
 
though like every other person in the US I have seen the movies. However, I plan to read Silence soon as I loved the book Hannibal.
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What did you think of the movies? Silence of the Lambs was just as great as the novel but Hannibal was merely average. Ridley Scott did a fine job directing, and Julianne Moore did a good job with the role of Agent Starling, but one of Hannibal's high points is Harris' descriptions of Florence and its history. There wasn't much the screenwriters could do to make that work on the big screen.
 
I loved the movie, although I wish certain things (ex. the character Margot) had been added into it. I still found it to be enjoyable, but they definitely changed a lot, especially with the ending. Still, it would have been hard to fit all of it in, and I don't think they thought audiences would accept Clarice running off with Hannibal.
 
Anamnesis said:
I wasn't too crazy about Red Dragon (maybe because Dr. Lecter wasn't that much of a presence in this one),
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I decided to read Red Dragon because of your comments. I think you're right. Hannibal Lecter versus Clarice Starling is much more interesting than Will Graham versus The Red Dragon, with Hannibal the Cannibal playing a supporting role.
 
Doug Johnson said:
I decided to read Red Dragon because of your comments. I think you're right. Hannibal Lecter versus Clarice Starling is much more interesting than Will Graham versus The Red Dragon, with Hannibal the Cannibal playing a supporting role.
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While it was an enjoyable book and all, the other two were by far a lot more thrilling. To be honest I think I enjoyed the first film version more than I did RD (1986's Manhunter, featuring a pre-CSI William Peterson). Even though Lecter wasn't a huge presence in Red Dragon, did you still think it was a good book?
 
Anamnesis said:
did you still think it was a good book?
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I liked it. I thought the red dragon was a very compelling villain. I felt very sympathetic towards the blind woman and the reporter's death was very gruesome; you got to like that. I probably would've liked it more if I hadn't read Silence of the Lambs first. I noticed some similarities towards the end that made the ending less enjoyable for me.
 
Wasn't really struck on red dragon, but enjoyed silence of the lambs. It's a pity he only gets round to writing a novel every twenty five years.
 
The CD version's available for pre-order, although there's no release date given. Last I heard the book was coming out some time in the fall.
 
I have read all three books, and thought Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs were equally enjoyable, while Hannibal didn't strike me as anywhere near as good.
The new book should be good; I havn't heard much about it though!
 
I didn't think Hannibal Rising was total crap, but it was inferior to the other Hannibal Lecter novels. I thought the book felt too rushed and more like a first draft than a complete novel. Despite a weird ending the infamous Hannibal was a much better read. At least that book felt more complete and something that Harris actually thought about instead of just writing whatever came to him at the moment.
 
sofy60 said:
You get to see what made the boy a monster and then some.
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And thus destroy any notion of him being a boogeyman character. By giving him a fully realised past, rather than just hinting at it, his whole fear factor is destroyed.
 
I hated Hannibal Rising. Loved all of the other books up to then.

My other half Knows Tom Noonan who played Frances Dolarhyde in Manhunter. Nice bloke apparently. Excellent film, but the Ralph Fiennes version I think was closer to the book.
 
Better late than never???

Hannibal starts off wonderfully with Harris's visualization; you can see everything you read. There are complex characters introduced and of course a wicked weave between them. He shows the master insanity of Hannibal with his elaborate set-ups for escape from not only Starling but from a vile creature named Verger who sets out to seek revenge on the good doctor. And you are eating this up the whole time, because it seems that Harris is once again quite the masterful story teller. But then you get to the last few chapters.
The best way I can describe it is it seems like he took his time and thought out every little detail like it was the master term paper. But then all of a sudden he realizes he doesn't have the time needed to finish it so he rushes it and throws an ending together. It was almost like to different authors. And of the ending! And what he does with Clarice! I was put off by the whole book in a matter of a few thousand words. But that's just me ;) .
 
Signal20 said:
. But then all of a sudden he realizes he doesn't have the time needed to finish it so he rushes it and throws an ending together.
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Boy, do I know that feeling ;).

I found out what happened before reading it, so I wasn't too bothered by the conclusion. It's a strange ending, yeah, but I enjoyed the rest of the novel to complain about the denouement.
 
I've just finished Silence of the Lambs which is the only Harris book i've read so far and i'm disappointed to read on here that its considered the best of his books.

Unfortunately i don't think his writing flows very well. The dialogue between Clarice and Hannibal was really good but i found myself having to reread descriptive paragraphs because something didn't make sense to me straight away.

Nice plot and i liked Clarice and Hannibal as characters but i felt let down by inadaquacies in the writing
 
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