In HANNIBAL RISING, his fourth and presumably final Hannibal Lecter novel, Thomas Harris finally gives the good doctor some backstory, in an attempt to explain how someone so learned and academic can be so cannibalistic and violent.
What it boils down to is this: a wholly expected bad childhood, spent largely as a mute orphan after his family is ousted from its castle home as Hitler’s SS troops make their way across Eastern Europe. His parents and tutor are slain, and something unspeakable – but totally predictable – happens to his younger sister, of whom Hannibal is very protective. After being taunted by fellow orphans, his uncle comes to claim him, and takes Hannibal to live with him and his beautiful Japanese wife.
None of this is all that surprising or interesting, although it does set our sympathies squarely on Hannibal’s side. And only then does Harris let our antihero lose on a revenge spree, hunting down his family’s executioners and claiming vengeance. This ascension into the criminal realm not only justifies the title, but gives the heretofore staid novel some narrative steam.
I suppose I shouldn’t have been startled to find myself rooting for Hannibal to kill – to achieve retribution for his loved ones in the form of disembodied heads. After all, here is a character that began his literary life behind bars, in the periphery of Harris’ 1981 thriller RED DRAGON (and Michael Mann’s subsequent adaptation, MANHUNTER), yet graduated to co-star status of 1988′s THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (and Jonathan Demme’s Best Picture winner) and then made a full-blown leading man in 1999′s HANNIBAL (and Ridley Scott’s near-universally reviled version), despite a history of doing very bad things to both very bad and very good people.
With Anthony Hopkins inhabiting the role so well on screen – at least in LAMBS – he’s become indelibly linked with the character, which at times hinders RISING. Even though the character grows only from child to teen, it’s near impossible not to imagine Hopkins, albeit in schoolboy clothes.
Overfamiliarity: It’s for that reason critics have taken RISING to task as something of a cash-in – a sure thing for Harris’ coffers. Perhaps they have a point, in that Harris’ bibliography amounts to five books in 30 years, with all but one – his debut, BLACK SUNDAY – dealing with Lecter. Maybe it’s time for him to stretch and use his talents to come up with something as fresh and exciting as his first two or three times at bat, especially since he takes so many years between books.
Is HANNIBAL RISING scary? No. Is it essential? No. Is it entertaining? Most of it, yes. It’s an unnecessary but pleasantly diverting prequel; as literature, its edible equivalent may be some jelly beans with a nice Cherry Coke, but I can’t deny my sweet tooth. And strangely, the book accomplishes something I didn’t think possible: making me want to see the upcoming movie. –Rod Lott
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I had a theory about HANNIBAL that Thomas Harris was frustrated trying to top his previous works and sick of his characters. So he turned in a steaming pile of crap as an f.u. to popularity. My theory doesn’t make sense because he could’ve killed Lecter off or had a final showdown with Starling. I guess Lecter is a gravy train.
I’m slightly curious about Lecter’s backstory, but he was way more f’ing scary when you knew little about the co-ed slaying, manipulative, but mannered cannibal.
Had to be the publisher threw so much money at Harris there was no way he could turn it down, and readers are curious about Hannibal’s upbringing beyond the glimpses afforded in HANNIBAL so it suits both, judging solely by the review. Silence of the Lambs was exceptionally well written, imo, and edited to the bone to the point where the words flew off the page. To monty’s point, I was amazed at the difference in HANNIBAL. It had at least 300 pages of unnecessary material, but the storyline was still superior. Lecter and Starling have risen to the top of my bad (good) guy and good (leaning ambivalent) “guy” list of modern characters. Hokey what they did at the end of HANNIBAL the movie when the book ending was so fitting. I’ll read Rising just to get one more ride. And yeah, Harris should think about creating a new cast and crew as it’d most likely be quite consuming.