[Review] Hannibal Rising - Thomas Harris

Title of Book:  Hannibal Rising

Author:  Thomas Harris

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group

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.

                I have read the others Hannibal Lecter series (Red Dragon, The Silence of The Lambs, Hannibal) and I am interested in Dr. Lecter. Too bad that in those previous books there are not much details about Dr. Lecter’s past. The reason why and how this ‘monster’ created is not explained in the previous books. Hannibal Rising is like a flashback through the creation of the ‘monster’.

                I always want to know why Dr. Lecter killed and did cannibalism, so I was excited to read this book. From the first half of the book, I felt sympathy toward Dr. Lecter because he had to pass his childhood in a horrible condition. He had to watch his sister being eaten by The Lithuanian militiamen. I had a hard time remembering the name of those Lithuanian, seriously. Grutas, Milko, Grentz, Dortlich, Kolnas, and Porvik are those Lithuanian’s name. It annoyed me a bit when I forgot who was Grutas? Or who was Milko ? and I had to re-open the previous pages so I would remember.

                The more I read this book, I was disappointed. This book is boring. I need to spend more than a week between my classes and home works to finish the book. I put high expectation for the book considering the previous books. After awesome works in Red Dragon and The Silence of The Lambs, this book felt like it was not written seriously. Reading this book was just a formality, to complete the series.

                Still, Hannibal’s character was awesome for me even from the very start. After the butcher’s murder, an inspector suspect Hannibal and he interrogated him and polygraphed his heartbeat to see if he’s lying. Hannibal was so calm though the truth was he’s the one who killed the butcher. The polygrapher said to the inspector that Hannibal was a blunted war orphan or he had a monstrous amount of self-control. The other interesting view was a comment made by the inspector when he was asked what he thought Hannibal is. Quoting from the book, the Inspector said, “The little boy Hannibal died in 1945 out there in the snow trying to save his sister. His heart died with Mischa. What is he now ? There’s not a word for it yet. For lack of a better word, we’ll call him a monster.”

                This book has also been made into movie. I wouldn't watched the movie if it were not for Gaspard Ulliel! He’s a French actor who played young Hannibal in the movie. Girls, I’m pretty sure you won’t be disappointed with him, haha. Gong Li, a famous actress from China starred as Lady Murasaki, Hannibal’s aunt.