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Hannibal Rising, the Short Version

  • Dec. 13th, 2006 at 9:04 AM
Thomas Harris' Hannibal Rising in five hundred words or less:

"We have reached that random point in the plot where I need to introduce some looted art treasures," said Popil. "So I need your help tracking down your family's long-lost Leonardos and Titians."

"Ah, good," laughed Hannibal. "I expect the looters are the same people who killed my family. That will give me an excuse to go to Lithuania and kill a few of them in graphic detail."

"I know you executed those people and ate some of their flesh," Popil snarled, "but I can't prove it."

"Oh Noh, Hannibal," sobbed Lady Murasaki, undoing her gown and exposing her nakedness. "You can take me if you renounce your course of violence."


Prequels: show me a good one.

Comments

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buymeaclue
Dec. 12th, 2006 10:21 pm (UTC)
Fan mail
Hullo, I just (because I'm a slacker) read your Phantom story, and I wanted to say: that's a good story. It left me thinking, though I'm not sure that I could put a finger yet on what. Thanks for writin' it.
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benpeek
Dec. 12th, 2006 11:46 pm (UTC)
Re: Fan mail
supercool :)

you didn't find the dialogue sections a bit confusing, though?
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buymeaclue
Dec. 13th, 2006 12:56 am (UTC)
Re: Fan mail
Not a bit!
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benpeek
Dec. 13th, 2006 01:09 am (UTC)
Re: Fan mail
well. cool :)
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catsparx
Dec. 12th, 2006 11:38 pm (UTC)
you really oughta write reviews for a living...
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benpeek
Dec. 12th, 2006 11:47 pm (UTC)
if only. but i didn't write this one...
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ironed_orchid
Dec. 13th, 2006 12:53 am (UTC)
I think Harris may be addicted to money. Can't entirely blame him.
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benpeek
Dec. 13th, 2006 01:09 am (UTC)
he is, by all accounts, not a bad writer. seems a shame he can't leave hannibal behind.
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ironed_orchid
Dec. 13th, 2006 01:13 am (UTC)
I think he'd probably like to leave Hannibal behind, but has pressure to produce more. Red Dragon was a fantastic book.
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ninebelow
Dec. 13th, 2006 10:33 am (UTC)
In the print version of this review the accompanying illustration is of Harris with dollar signs in his eyes and the top of his skull removed whilst Lector bastes his brain.
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strangedave
Dec. 13th, 2006 01:32 am (UTC)
Thank you for pointing me to that brilliant review.

Red Dragon and Silence of the Lambs where genuinely brilliant books, and I'm a huge fan. Hannibal was dire in comparison. Desperately stringing out the Hannibal and Clarice story in the most shameless and obvious ways, it read as if the only real enthusiasm Harris had was for all the lovely things who visited and bought using all the money he earnt from the previous volumes (Venice, expensive food and perfume and such, etc). I had no hopes for Hannibal Rising to do anything other than sink lower.
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benpeek
Dec. 13th, 2006 05:58 am (UTC)
i have, actually, at times considered reading RED DRAGON or SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, but the movies always stop me. i hated the movie version of the latter--it grated on me hugely. i did, however, like the movie of the first, MANHUNTER, but i don't know if i'll ever be able to split to pair, and now, as harris keeps writing hannibal books... well, i just get more turned off.
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strangedave
Dec. 13th, 2006 09:32 am (UTC)
But you know that film adaptations often bear little or no resemblance to their source material, so that shouldn't necessarily put you off (the question remains as whether the aspects of the film you disliked were taken from the book or not, though if you liked Manhunter quite likely not).

Robert Anton Wilson loved Hannibal Rising, which surprises me.
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benpeek
Dec. 13th, 2006 10:18 am (UTC)
yeah, but the real problem for me with films/books is that i end up imagining characters like the actors that play them. it doesn't matter how different or alike they are, the physical features in my head get all tangled up.

maybe it's being bed ridden and paralysed that did it. because he could not move, he could not stop, and because he could not stop, he eventually loved it ;)
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nick_kaufmann
Dec. 13th, 2006 03:00 am (UTC)
Memory palace!
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benpeek
Dec. 13th, 2006 05:59 am (UTC)
what's that?
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ataxi
Dec. 13th, 2006 06:27 am (UTC)
Don't know if it's a reference to something else, but it's mentioned in the first line or two of the review.

Nice review. Book sounds fairly shite.
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strangedave
Dec. 14th, 2006 02:06 am (UTC)
Its established in Hannibal that the eponymous cannibal favours the medieval memory enhancement technique of the memory palace.
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shadowsandice
Dec. 13th, 2006 09:56 am (UTC)
Hannible has one. In his head. Where he keeps everything.
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nick_kaufmann
Dec. 13th, 2006 02:19 pm (UTC)
It's the place in his head where he keeps his sister Mischa, as well as various recipes and objets d'art.
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