title: red dragon
author: thomas harris
genres: horror, thriller, crime, mystery, adult
trigger warnings:
rape, child abuse, cannibalism, murder, gun violence, fire, home invasion, animal cruelty
synopsis
A second family has been massacred by the terrifying serial killer the press has christened “The Tooth Fairy.” Special Agent Jack Crawford turns to the one man who can help restart a failed investigation: Will Graham. Graham is the greatest profiler the FBI ever had, but the physical and mental scars of capturing Hannibal Lecter have caused Graham to go into early retirement. Now, Graham must turn to Lecter for help.
review
the reason you caught me is that we’re just alike.
cw: mature language – mild spoilers
as a huge fan of nbc’s hannibal, i had to read the book which inspired some of the characters and plot.
it’s refreshing to read a book that truly entertains me and i’m excited to read. granted, it had less to do with the book itself and more to do with the characters and references to a show i hold so dear to heart. i can definitely appreciate what the book did, but this is one of those instances where the book lays the groundwork and the adaptation makes it reach its full potential.
it was fun to read something that the show references, or meet a character or quote i already know, and occasionally i would read a scene i surprisingly like, and get completely hooked by the book, only for a sentence to violently remind me that it was written by a white man in the 80’s.
he has an erection, which he improves with his hand.
wendy’s figure was almost a caricature of puberty.
excuse me?
even though this is the original text, reading how the characters were written almost felt like a mischaracterisation. the female characters were just there to be seen as sexual objects and had little other personality except for pleasing male characters. there’s like 4 (alive) women in total and they’re all girlfriends/wives (except my girl bev). the men weren’t much better, and all acted overly sexual, and the lewd comments and observations about the women got tiring after the first time it happened.
zeller took his eyes off liza lake and rebuked himself severely for feeling pleasure in the office.
in what way was this necessary in a scene about gasoline? it’s the only time we get an insight into his mind, and it’s this? my zeller would never.
the movement mashed her bosom.
why are we focusing on this right now? it’s so random.
i won’t be going into too many details on the characters as i’m making a separate post which will go in depth. but just as an example of the (reverse?) mischaracterisation – freddy lounds is an awful character.
he’s described as lumpy and ugly and small and yet he has a super hot girlfriend who dedicates her life to him (she’s the wendy described in the above quote for comparison). also lounds is generally disgusting.
they paid him top scale, which is not very much money if you have to buy women.
the oversexualisation did sour the general experience. there would be a well-written scene that then got ruined by a horny character.
the relationship between reba and francis is quite interesting, and i was going “aw” at the scene in the zoo.
until…
a sudden constriction in dolarhyde’s chest as her fingers trailed over the furry testicles. she cupped them and moved on.
HUH? 1. why would she do that, 2. why does he like it, and 3. the whole scene is just the men being aroused by her.
he has never been erect before in the presence of a living woman.
did i ask, because i certainly didn’t need to know.
but then it would go back to being cute and i was very confused.
as she slept, dolarhyde, damned murderer of eleven, listened time and again to her heart.
like aw, this is kinda adorable.
and when it wasn’t sexual it was just strange.
graham’s thigh muscles fluttered with fatigue when he sat down.
what does this even mean. what a strange description.
as i was reading i kept talking to my imagenary audience. you know those annoying people, who won’t stop comparing an adaptation to the book, when watching a movie? yeah, that was me but opposite. i kept going they say that in the show or oh my god, they reference that in the show or it’s just like the show. so in honor of making my imaginary audience come to life, i wanna share some unhinged/entertaining quotes & moments. enjoy! (mild spoilers ahead).
when the red dragon starts talking to francis, and he sounds like a middle school bully, and francis responds by saying he doesn’t have the singer that founded the hype house.
YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR LITTLE BUDDY DON’T YOU? YOU WANT HER TO BE YOUR LITTLE BUDDY, DON’T YOU?
i on’t have a li’l… huddy.
and some out of context quotes✨
he ate a painting.
i wish you a speedy convalescence and hope you won’t be very ugly.
crawford crackled his peanut sack.
he finds the toilet in the dark and sits down on it like a good boy.
“they tried sodium amytal on him three years ago tying to find out where he buried a princeton student,” graham said. “he gave them a recipe for dip.”
“she had pretty feet,” graham said. “umm-hmm. let’s head upstairs,” crawford said.
like i mentioned, this was such an entertaining book to read. i most likely would not have felt the same way or rated it as highly if it wasn’t for the fact that i love nbc’s hannibal. but it truly captivated me and despite all of my critique, i can’t give nbc all the praise, and i gotta give credit where credit’s due, and admit that this book is truly creative and has inspired many interpretations. it never (well, rarely) contained a dull moment, and stands strong on its own. it introduced many iconic characters (the most obvious one being dr. lecter) and i have a genuine interest in continuing these books, which was something i’d never imagine i’d say (though, i’m not sure how i’ll like these books without a – granted, strange – will graham as our main character). i also found the whole backstory section on the red dragon compelling, especially because it was unknown to me beforehand, so that was a pleasant surprise, and i found myself shocked at details i had forgotten or didn’t know.
★★★★☆
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