Be Specific About Books To The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2)
| Original Title: | The Silence of the Lambs |
| ISBN: | 0099446782 (ISBN13: 9780099446781) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Hannibal Lecter #2 |
| Characters: | Jack Crawford, Hannibal Lecter, Clarice Starling |
| Setting: | Washington, D.C.(United States) Memphis, Tennessee(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel (1988), World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (1989), Anthony Award for Best Novel (1989), Grand Prix de Littérature Policière for Romans étrangers (1991), このミステリーがすごい！ for Best Translated Mystery Novel of the Year in Japan (1989) |
Thomas Harris
Paperback | Pages: 421 pages Rating: 4.19 | 436230 Users | 5354 Reviews
Commentary During Books The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2)
Why?Many years from now, historians will look back on this story and wonder why it was so important. And believe me, my friends, important it was. Today, most thrillers and police procedurals gets measured against it.
For this review, I will refer to TSOTL as the story, because I'm going to talk about the book, movie, facts, fiction and some of my own opinions.
TSOTL was the second Dr. Hannibal Lector story. It was also the second movie adaptation - wait just a damn moment, you might be saying to me, Red Dragon was the first book but it was made after the TSOTL movie was so successful...
Correct.
However, there was an attempt at a screen adaptation of Red Dragon a few years before TSOTL, called MANHUNTER. It was directed by Michael Mann. To the best of my knowledge, it was a flop at the box office.
There are a few things TSOTL had going for it that counted in its favor. By all means, Thomas Harris is a brilliant writer - if you've read any of the books you will know this. But most movie freaks and geeks will agree with me that the story is probably one of the best adaptations from book to screen ever.
Then you look at the cast - Jody Foster managed to play a vulnerable yet strong female (IMPORTANT) lead. You know she is intelligent, yet she knows that she has no chance against the superior intellect of Dr. Hannibal Lector. In comes Anthony Hopkins, whose portrayal of the psychopathic genius is so convincing, it catapults him to one of the biggest super villains of all time, yet he is so charming that the audience can't help but like him.
And, of course, Buffalo Bill is played by Ted Levine, who is utterly convincing, even if you've seen him as the cop in MONK.
With a strong cast and story, this movie became an unlikely contender at the Academy Awards. And they won a few!
Right, lets take a step back, to the research phase of this story.
Thomas Harris, in the early 80's, were doing research and was fortunate enough to get involved with criminal profiling, which at that time had been an unproven and highly speculative science. It was during the time when they were on the trail of one Ted Bundy. If you know a bit about this famous serial killer, you will probably know that he used to fake injuries by wearing a cast and asking victims for their help - Do you remember how Buffalo Bill got that girl in the back of the van?
And while Bundy was incarcerated on death row, he was willing to help the police do a profile on another serial killer of the time, The Green River Killer. I believe Bundy told them not to remove a body when they discover it, because the killer will go back to his treasure - something that was later confirmed to have happened. Remember that agent Sterling asked Dr. Lector for his help?
And then there was the killer Ed Gein, many decades before, who robbed graves and ultimately killed people to make himself a female skin, which was apparently hard to sow without tearing. Need I explain this one?
The fact of the matter is, while some things may have seemed preposterous to us in the early eighties, like they could only happen in the movies, there were some truly messed up people out there who were doing some truly messed up things - wow, it's been a while since I've kept a sentence PG like that...I will accept your applause humbly.
Also, there was and, unfortunately, still are some stereo types about women in the FBI. Harris took the opportunity to make a statement, maybe very subtly, but still very important, about power vs. emotion. At no time does this story feel like a Hollywood blockbuster, where the star is cocky and always has a way out of a sticky situation, where it's all guns and fire and explosions, etc. No, this story was meant to cut close to home, to show the possibilities, for we are all vulnerable in this world. Agent Clarice is scared, she fears for her life, she doesn't know if she will survive, but she fights the big, bad (Goliath) killer. And she wins.
This story is also important from a psychological point of view. Whatever your feelings about profiling may be, they have discovered so much and found impossible connections through their research, and we will never know how many lives it has saved. It's a kind of Paying-it-forward thing: By doing what they do, they prevent things that may have been inevitable in a different world.
I once saw something (I can't remember exactly where) about some research they were doing on inmates. They took brain scans of a number of them, and noted that those who were certified as psychopathic, had an underdeveloped area in a certain part of their brains. If I can remember correctly, it had something to do with the mother producing too much serotonin during pregnancy, or some such scientific thing.
How is this helpful, you may ask?
Well, this is my personal opinion, so if it offends you, stop reading:
Casey Anthony...
Is she a psychopath who got away with murder?
Yes, when I look at the facts of the case, and the things her attorney's did to get her free, I'm sickened to think the jurors couldn't believe a mother would do that to her child. Nobody LIKES to believe it, but I wish I could have seen a brain scan of her compared to those other psychopaths. I wish there was a psychologist who could have explained it to them.
But enough about that.
This book is, was and always will be important, because it brought certain realities home to the world we find ourselves in.
If you haven't read it - but managed to get through this long review - what's the matter with you?
But I am not trying to convince anybody of my point of view, so feel free to disagree.
Declare Epithetical Books The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2)
| Title | : | The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2) |
| Author | : | Thomas Harris |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 421 pages |
| Published | : | 2002 by Arrow Books (first published 1988) |
| Categories | : | Young Adult. Fantasy. Paranormal. Demons. Urban Fantasy. Angels. Romance |
Rating Epithetical Books The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2)
Ratings: 4.19 From 436230 Users | 5354 ReviewsDiscuss Epithetical Books The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2)
EXCERPT: 'Be very careful with Hannibal Lecter. Dr Chilton, the head of the mental hospital, will go over the physical procedure you use to deal with him. Don't deviate from it. Do not deviate from it one iota for any reason. If Lecter talks to you at all, he'll just be trying to find out about you. It's the kind of curiosity that makes a snake look in a bird's nest. We both know you have to back-and-forth a little in interviews, but you tell him no specifics about yourself. You dont want any ofRetro review time!Loved the movie, so I read the book. Liked the book enough to look into other Thomas Harris books. Read Red Dragon. Fucking loved it. And then it was all downhill after that. Hannibal was okay. Never read Hannibal Rising, and it still holds zero draw for me.What I remember the most about Silence of the Lambs is Clarice catching some spunk to the eye. That, above all else, is my most striking memory from this book. What's worse than a surprise money shot? A surprise money shot
Click the above image to check out the lamb-related commercial that's ignited a worldwide firestorm of controversy. Poles, Danes and vegans are just three of the most outraged groups. Don't miss YOUR chance to post a few angry tweets and maybe sign an online petition complaining about those insensitive, inappropriate, politically incorrect Australians!
Theres a very good reason that this is the Hannibal Lecter novel that put Thomas Harris on the map. Red Dragon was good. The Silence of the Lambs is better. Harris takes everything he did well in the previous novel and fine-tunes it we have a better killer, a more dramatic race against time, a more compelling protagonist, and of course, much more time with dear Dr. Lecter, who finally gets to take center stage after being little more than a cameo in Red Dragon. Unlike Francis Dolarhryde, Thomas
Another re-read of Silence of the Lambs, this time my favorite. Maybe it's because I'm more into the story and read them in the order of sequence and not popularity, I'm not sure, but this time around I found it even more fascinating than the first meet.Clarice is a likeable character. Her background melding with who she wants to be is an admirable one. She's given the chance of a lifetime, handed out by a man she admires, to step her foot firmly into the FBI. Without meaning to, she's sucked
an odd case in which the book is not better than the movie. in fact, it is much worse.
5 STARS!! Full review up.This was fantastic!!I went into The Silence of the Lambs hesitant that this book would not be as great as the movie, OR I wouldn't be able to get the movie characters out of my head.You see, Ive seen The Silence of the Lambs 3 to 4 times in my life and I know the plot too well. I've loved the movie since the first time I watched it!The movie came out in 1991 but I didn't watch it until I was 17, in 1995. I'm glad I waited because the nightmares would have sucked at age
0 Comments:
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.