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 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 unly 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, 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 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 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.

all-time-best favorites505 s1 comment Kat268 79.8k

an odd case in which the book is not better than the movie. in fact, it is much worse. 276 s2 comments Ahmad Sharabiani9,564 149

?The Silence of the Lambs (Hannibal Lecter #2), Thomas Harris

The Silence of the Lambs is a novel by Thomas Harris. First published in 1988, it is the sequel to Harris' 1981 novel Red Dragon.

Both novels feature the cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter, this time pitted against FBI Special Agent Clarice Starling. Its film adaptation directed by Jonathan Demme was released in 1991 to box office success and critical acclaim.

Clarice Starling, a young FBI trainee, is asked to carry out an errand by Jack Crawford, the head of the FBI division that draws up psychological profiles of serial killers.

Starling is to present a questionnaire to the brilliant forensic psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer, Hannibal Lecter.

Lecter is serving nine consecutive life sentences in a Maryland mental institution for a series of murders. ...

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????? ?????? ????? 15/08/1399???? ???????? 05/06/1400???? ???????? ?. ??????? daph pink ? 1,068 2,896

I have a love hate sort of relationship with this book.

At times I marvel at the intelligence and wittiness of Hannibal and other times I can't get my mind past through the things body shaming , status of women which is highly exploited in this book! I didn't d the movie at all because of all those details they missed and to be honest we can't review this book without the honorable mention of movie!


We will start with what I don't then moving on with what I so that we can end on positive note!

Body shamming :- for most of the people who have read the book , will understand what I am trying to say but for those who haven't , the killer choose girls with thick body type and they are constantly called by slang in the book which I sort of hated because for someone me who have been body shammed for all her teen life it was pretty triggering!

Sexism :- Clarice starling , the young beautiful FBI trainee , yes there is a need to mention she was beautiful because how every time she meets a man he falls in love with her. She was being objectified throughout the book and never once author fails to tell the readers that she is a WOMAN !

Writing :- the writing style was slightly boring at times to be fair, by the time I finished reading it I still wanted more , more answers and conversation( I loved the constant bickering between Hannibal and Clarice).

Moving on with things I about the book!

Character development :-

'A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a big Amarone

This shit is iconic and one who said it is even more iconic, yes my friends we are talking about HANNIBAL 'THE CANNIBAL' LECTER ! One of the most iconic characters in history of literature .He may be the scariest fuck out there (certainly scarier than the supposed monster of the book, Buffalo Bill), but he just oozes style and knowledge.

And not to forget Clarice Starling , I really really her character ( obviously not more than Hannibal) and I would have loved her more if author constantly didn't reminded us that she is beautiful and a Woman !

Better than movie :- the movie remake ved several crucial scenes, which I think hampered with the story a lot.

There is only one thing I d about the movie ie the ending , it was one of my fav endings I really really d it !

You need not to read the books in order you can certainly read it before the first one but I would suggest to read the first one before because of some characters which are introduced in previous book and played important role in this one too.

Recommended to everyone because it's still one of the most iconic and breathtaking book to be ever written!mystery-thriller-horror227 s Chelsea Humphrey1,487 81.8k

3.5 STARS

"Be very careful with Hannibal Lector. 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... We both know you have to back-and-forth a little in interviews, but you tell him no specifics about yourself. You don't want any of your personal facts in his head."



Bet you thought I was never going to write this review, huh? ;) Well, it turns out I just needed a good long pause to toss around my thoughts before attempting to wrangle them on paper. There's a lot of pressure diving into a book that has been deemed a modern classic, and you never know what side of the spectrum you'll fall on once you've experienced such, but I'm pleased that overall, this was a really enjoyable experience for me. While I've seen the movie over the years more times than I can count, somehow it didn't ruin my experience or opinion of the book. Below, there will be quite a few spoilers and discussion pertaining to specific plot points and comparisons from the book-to-film adaptation, so if you haven't read the book or seen the movie and desire to know no specifics, please stop here.



I'm going to start with all the things that I loved. Obviously, the book is way better than the movie, due to the amount of detail and characterization that is lost in translation when you must condense a 400+ page novel into a 2 hour film production. The characters are richly developed, flawed, and their decision making process and solving of the cases in general are quite progressive considering this book was published in the 1980s. The Silence of the Lambs is a wonderful example of how, we can see glimpses of the villain throughout the book, and still garner the compulsive pacing of a whodunnit.



One thing that felt odd to me was reconciling the fact that, for the time this book was published, the story is so progressive in some aspects and terribly disappointing in others. If you've seen the movie, then you probably are aware of how, at best, the movie is borderline transphobic, and this is due to the fact that they left out some crucial scenes from the book. While the movie implies maybe once or twice that Jame Gumb is not really transgender, they don't do a full job of explaining the why or how behind his choices; in fact, the movie leaves out his backstory entirely, as well as a scene that was filmed but cut from the final production portraying the investigation into the transgender clinic. In the book, it is clearly shown how transgender people are a peaceful group, and how our villain is someone who IS NOT transgender, and was rejected for reassignment surgery based on multiple red flags that occurred during the initial application. Also, the doctor that the FBI initially tries to coerce into giving up personal information regarding his patients not only defends his patients, but goes on the offensive to protect the minority group. I really loved how the book handled this SO much better than the movie.

The one thing that REALLY bugged me though, is how you can have a novel written in the '80s that was LGBT forward, but unrealistically fat shaming women from start to finish. I figured I'll be ripped a new one for this and deemed a sensitive snowflake, so I decided to mark specific passages for reference. One particular example is in chapter 34, where Starling is poking around in Catherine's apartment after she's been abducted. On page 242 (in my copy), there's an internal monologue where Clarice is flipping through her closet, and notes that at almost 6 ft tall, Catherine has sets of clothes in 2 sizes-large and "crisis fat". It's stated that the first set are when she is 145lbs and the second at 165lbs. For reference, I have a friend who is 6ft tall and was constantly asked if she was anorexic, and she weighed 185lbs. I understand that point is that Buffalo Bill is kidnapping full figured women to fit his long term outcome, but I had a hard time stomaching that we are told somewhere between 15-20 times throughout the book how OMG THESE GIRLS ARE SO FAT SO FAT SO FAT UGH DISGUSTING DON'T THEY HAVE ANY SELF RESPECT AGAIN SO FAT, and yet, according to the specific height and weight details we're given, they are medically and even socially NOT FAT. We even get a few inner monologues where Catherine knows her full figured body is attractive, but we're immediately reminded afterwards to NOT FORGET SHE'S FAT AND UGH SO GROSS!!!! *deep breath* Alright, I'm done beating that to death.

Lastly, aside from Jack Crawford's character, I felt the movie was mostly cast well, with the best being Ted Levine as Buffalo Bill. Jody Foster as Clarice was a bit of stretch for me, as the Clarice in the book isn't quite the pushover we see on screen, but still not a bad choice. I can wholly see why this is the book most refer to that initiated the mainstream craze for forensic crime scene novels, as it is a really well written procedural, and manages to feel realistic but not lose the page turning quality of suspense that it carries. Overall, I'm so glad I read this one and look forward to circling back around to Red Dragon.suspenseful-clues-and-thrilling-rev204 s Orsodimondo [part time reader at the moment]2,287 2,160

AGNELLI



Sono approdato al libro dopo aver visto il film. E per quanto il romanzo funzioni, non sia un capolavoro, ma è efficace e avvincente, il film sovrasta nettamente il confronto: perché il film è invece magnifico, a suo modo, e nel suo genere, un autentico capolavoro.
E certo dopo – dopo libro e film – i serial killer hanno un altro spessore, sono diventati, per così dire, di casa. E probabilmente questa storia può essere considerata la madre di tutti i serial killer.



Ce n’è uno che sequestra ragazze e fa loro cose turpi. È soprannominato Buffalo Bill perché si diletta nell’attività più timidamente definita spellare, più brutalmente scuoiare. Per catturarlo, visto che è arrivato a rapire la figlia di un senatore, il dirigente dell’FBI (Scott Glenn nel film) sceglie una giovane recluta, Clarice Sterling (Jody Foster nel film) che ha mostrato abilità di profiler. L’idea è che Clarice si rivolga a un detenuto molto speciale, il dottor Lecter (Hannibal Lecter ha l’indimenticabile volto, e talento, di Anthony Hopkins), per farsi illuminare su Buffalo Bill: psicologia, modus operandi, dettagli, forse perfino informazioni dirette. Perché il dottor Lecter è un serial killer ormai celebre, e detenuto da tempo: nella prima storia della serie, Red Dragon – Il delitto della terza luna (anche questo magistralmente adattato sul grande schermo dal talento visionario di Michael Mann – titolo Manhunter – Frammenti di un omicidio), il detenuto dottor Lecter mette già in mostra la sua profonda conoscenza della mente e della brutalità umana fornendo indizi e aiuti al detective Will Graham, che tre anni prima lo ha catturato, nella caccia al serial killer soprannominato Lupo Mannaro (il killer preferisce invece farsi chiamare il Drago Rosso, in omaggio a un quadro di William Blake, “Il grande Drago Rosso e la donna vestita col sole”).



Per quanto Clarice sia giovane e all’apparenza inesperta riesce a far parlare il diabolico dottor Lecter che le fornisce indizi per catturare Buffalo Bill. Ma Lecter non concede nulla per nulla, le impone un do ut des: Clarice dovrà ricambiare ogni informazione su Buffalo Bill con racconti sulla sua vita, la sua famiglia, i genitori… In pratica, raccontare chi davvero è al più diabolico degli assassini.

Jonathan Demme, compianto poliedrico regista, capace di passare dalla commedia a questo sanguinolento thriller a un dramma umano sull’AIDS come Philadelphia a forse il mio film concerto preferito in assoluto (Stop Making Sense) vinse meritatamente l?oscar per il miglior regista proprio con questo film.



Ma io vorrei soffermarmi un attimo a riflettere su come un film più che notevole, per me e altri un capolavoro, mette in scena una serie di delitti le cui vittime sono sempre e ovviamente donne.
Per farlo prendo a prestito parole dal libro che sto leggendo proprio in questi giorni:
Nell’arte, la tortura e la morte di una bella donna o di una giovane donna o di entrambe è sempre raffigurato come qualcosa di erotico, di eccitante, di piacevole, così, nonostante l’insistenza dei poltici e dei media sul fatto che crimini e violenza sono casi limite, il desiderio trova consacrazione nei film di Alfred Hitchcock, Brian De Palma, David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino, Lars von Trier, in un’infinità di film horror e di altri film e di romanzi, e poi nei videogame e nelle graphic novel dove la descrizione di assassinio fin nei particolari più raccapriccianti o il cadavere di una donna è un dispositivo narrativo standard e un prodotto estetico. L’annichilimento di lei è la realizzazione di lui. Per il pubblico a cui sono destinati, tutti questi prodotti sono evidentemente erotici, perché nella vita reale le donne continuano a essere uccise durante i crimini sessuali, e la paura della violenza, dello stupro, è anche la paura della morte violenta…
In alcuni casi i protagonisti maschi proteggono le donne, specialmente belle e giovani donne bianche, da altri uomini, e quella di protettore è una faccia del loro potere, ma quella di distruttore è sempre l’altra faccia e l’una o l’altra mettono il tuo destino di donna nelle loro mani. Proteggono ciò che hanno in potere di proteggere o distruggere, e a volte la trama racconta del dolore di lui per non essere stato in grado di proteggere, o della sua vendetta nei confronti di altri uomini, e altre volte è lui stesso a distruggere, e la storia comunque parla solo di lui.

americana giallo-thriller-poliziesco201 s Martine145 739

Call me a freak, but I have a bit of a crush on Hannibal Lecter. He may be the scariest fuck out there (certainly scarier than the supposed monster of the book, Buffalo Bill), but he just oozes style and knowledge. In fact, he has so much style and knowledge that he doesn't come off as a ridiculous prick when he says things , 'A census taker tried to quantify me once. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a big Amarone'* or 'Can you smell his sweat? That peculiar goatish odour is trans-3-methyl-2 hexenoic acid. Remember it, it's the smell of schizophrenia.' Quite the contrary -- he sounds cool saying these things. Sophisticated, even. In this and many other ways, Dr Lecter is so utterly fascinating that you'll still find yourself rooting for him after he has committed several heinous (but brilliant!) murders, hoping he'll stay out of the hands of the police and live out his life in freedom. Now that's quality writing for you.

As you can probably tell from the above, I The Silence of the Lambs, which is to say the book on which the movie was based. Except for the fact that Harris makes Clarice rather stupid** and that the dialogue in the book is a bit too clever and masculine for its own good***, it's a solid and exciting will-they-find-him-in-time-to-save-the-girl story -- a page-turner if ever there was one. The characters aren't terribly easy to identify with, but that's all right, because for one thing, they're cool (had I mentioned that yet?), and for another, they all have a clearly defined quest. They don't necessarily have the same quest, but hey, that only serves to increase the tension.

In some regards the book is better than the film. Remember those stupid anagrams from the movie? They're not in the book (except for the bilirubin one, which I actually quite ). The book makes its connections in a much more logical, less what-the-fuck?-ish way. It also has a more realistic romance, though not necessarily a better one. On the down side, I think Thomas Harris must have kicked himself for not having come up with the closing line of the film ('I'm having an old friend for dinner') himself. In my opinion, it's the best closing line in cinematic history, unmatched by the ending of the book. Still, it's a satisfying read. Very satisfying. As satisfying as the movie, and that's saying a fair bit.

......................

* Yes, that's what he says in the book. Not 'a nice Chianti'. I've been reliably informed by those in the know (I myself do not actually drink wine) that Amarone and Chianti are not in fact the same thing. 'Chianti' does sound better than 'Amarone' in this line, doesn't it?

** In the book, Dr Lecter tells Clarice in one of their first interviews that Billy has kidnapped large-chested Catherine Martin because 'he wants a vest with tits on it'. He then goes on to say in their next meeting that 'Billy is making a girl suit out of real girls'. And despite these incredibly obvious clues (which cannot be rude jokes on Lecter's part as he's far too sophisticated to make such rude jokes) it takes Clarice, who is supposed to be really intelligent, the entire rest of the book to figure out what it is that Billy wants from his victims. They wisely changed that in the movie, where Clarice doesn't have her entire quest spelled out for her right at the beginning.

*** I've never met any women who speak to each other the way Clarice and Ardelia do. Then again, I've never met any brilliant FBI trainees, so what do I know? Perhaps they do speak to each other that at Quantico. I guess I'll never find out. (Anyone out there have FBI-trained friends? Anyone? Bueller?)
film modern-fiction north-american ...more184 s Ginger845 447

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, I’ve 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 13!!
Ha, who am I kidding. I still had nightmares after seeing this movie for the 1st time!

Getting back to the book, I was shocked with how much I enjoyed it! The writing by Thomas Harris is well done along with more detail about the serial killer, Buffalo Bill and the women he killed. The case was more detailed, the characters were more fleshed out (heh, funny I would use that term! haha) and the ending was dynamite.




The character of Clarice Starling was great in this book! She’s more fierce and cunning then what Jodie Foster does with the character in the movie. Jodie Foster still does a damn fine job with this character but it’s hard to be exactly a character in a book. You can’t see what she thinks or how she interprets the Buffalo Bill case and the prisoner, Hannibal Lecter.


Speaking of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, he’s a monster, sadistic, way too intelligent, and will scare the pants off you. Anthony Hopkins does such a great job with this character. Let’s just take a moment to appreciate how he took Thomas Harris’ creation and made Lecter unforgettable!

Besides the great characterization, the police procedural and research of serial killers that Harris does in this series is fantastic! You’ve got to realize that this is wrote in the 80’s and he ly has influenced the crime detective book genre more than anyone out there! Kudos Thomas Harris!!

If you have been living under a rock for the last 30 something years and have not seen this movie, go read the book first!! You won't be disappointed.
And if you love this movie and you're worried about not getting anything from the book, take it from me. I felt the same and I just gave this 5 stars!2019 buddy-read162 s Francesc465 261

Me ha gustado muchísimo. La trama es espectacularmente entretenida y los personajes bien construídos. Difiere un poco de la película, pero ambas son extraordinarias.
Teniendo en cuenta que es un libro largo, la acción se desarrolla en unos días. Me ha sorprendido por bien.
Un apunte: Lecter es el mejor defensor de la comida vegetariana.

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