trenchkamen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
trenchkamen) wrote2005-10-07 10:29 pm
trenchkamen) wrote2005-10-07 10:29 pm
Entry tags:
"We can only learn so much and live."
So, I just finished Hannibal by Thomas Harris.
Without going into so much spoily, wordy detail, I can say that I highly recommend it if you have a sturdy stomach. Even if serial killers and (hardcore) gore are not your cup of tea, the writing itself is of a caliber to stand of its own as literature, not just a thriller. If you saw The Silence of the Lambs, which almost everybody has seen, you know what I mean, though the book was better. The books have distinctly different flavors, Silence being more subdued and Hannibal being more fantastic (especially the ending).
I'll admit that I have read quite a bit of pretentious, pseudo-intellectual literature; Thomas Harris's writing is anything but and is genuinely piercingly observant. Multiple pages in my copies of Silence and Hannibal are dog-eared for future reference; it's the kind of stuff that sticks out and refutes what has already been quoted to death. There is some real thought going into this stuff. Harris (and, through extension, Dr. Lecter) is almost anti-intellectual at times; the cardinal enemies are often pseudo-intellectual, pretentious bastards, professors of psychology at Princeton an undereducated LPN can best in an intellectual argument with common sense.
Let's put it this way: Dr. Lecter, supposedly the most brilliant psychiatrist in the world, believes that psychology is an art, not a science, and that true evil cannot be intellectualized and reduced to childhood causes. People are wild, people act oddly, and people cannot be figured out so easily.
And, oh, yeah, after reading Silence I was annoyed by all of the Clarice/Lecter fandom, but now they are one of my OTPs.
Regarding the ending: it's definitely way out in left field (like, over the wall and across the street), but I like it. To a guilty degree.
I have yet to see the movie--I have this thing about reading books before I see their respective movies--and I hope it lives up to the book. I am going to rent it this weekend, along with Arrested Development season II if it is finally out. Eventually I'll read Red Dragon and round out the trilogy.
I have SAT IIs in nine hours. I should go to bed. Unless I study right now or at some godawful hour tomorrow morning, I'm going into the tests cold. This might bite me in the ass. I'm taking mathematics IIC and chemistry; the latter should be a cakewalk after taking Chem II AP last year, and the former I'm good for. I was going to take a verbal-based test, but I dislike subjective answers factoring into my standardized test score. I'd rather the graders have a black-and-white answer to score.
Without going into so much spoily, wordy detail, I can say that I highly recommend it if you have a sturdy stomach. Even if serial killers and (hardcore) gore are not your cup of tea, the writing itself is of a caliber to stand of its own as literature, not just a thriller. If you saw The Silence of the Lambs, which almost everybody has seen, you know what I mean, though the book was better. The books have distinctly different flavors, Silence being more subdued and Hannibal being more fantastic (especially the ending).
I'll admit that I have read quite a bit of pretentious, pseudo-intellectual literature; Thomas Harris's writing is anything but and is genuinely piercingly observant. Multiple pages in my copies of Silence and Hannibal are dog-eared for future reference; it's the kind of stuff that sticks out and refutes what has already been quoted to death. There is some real thought going into this stuff. Harris (and, through extension, Dr. Lecter) is almost anti-intellectual at times; the cardinal enemies are often pseudo-intellectual, pretentious bastards, professors of psychology at Princeton an undereducated LPN can best in an intellectual argument with common sense.
Let's put it this way: Dr. Lecter, supposedly the most brilliant psychiatrist in the world, believes that psychology is an art, not a science, and that true evil cannot be intellectualized and reduced to childhood causes. People are wild, people act oddly, and people cannot be figured out so easily.
And, oh, yeah, after reading Silence I was annoyed by all of the Clarice/Lecter fandom, but now they are one of my OTPs.
Regarding the ending: it's definitely way out in left field (like, over the wall and across the street), but I like it. To a guilty degree.
I have yet to see the movie--I have this thing about reading books before I see their respective movies--and I hope it lives up to the book. I am going to rent it this weekend, along with Arrested Development season II if it is finally out. Eventually I'll read Red Dragon and round out the trilogy.
I have SAT IIs in nine hours. I should go to bed. Unless I study right now or at some godawful hour tomorrow morning, I'm going into the tests cold. This might bite me in the ass. I'm taking mathematics IIC and chemistry; the latter should be a cakewalk after taking Chem II AP last year, and the former I'm good for. I was going to take a verbal-based test, but I dislike subjective answers factoring into my standardized test score. I'd rather the graders have a black-and-white answer to score.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Good luck! Though I'm sure you'll do fine. You're a very bright Lauren, and quick on your feet. *hugs* You take care of yourself, and get some sleep- being well-rested is one of the better things you can do for yourself on a test. (And then maybe cram some in the morning)
no subject
Thank you. I have the 'ganbaru' spirit.
no subject
no subject
I still have your fishnet stockings en mi carro.
We MUST hang out this weekend, or else. I haven't seen you in days.