Reading: The Silence of the Lambs

[softedisworl]

I’m about fifteen percent through, and I’m still can’t bloody tell if Harris’ tense changes are a feature or a bug. Admittedly, half of the reason I picked the thing up is that I was spoiled for major plot points by a Tumblr post facetiously comparing it to Care Bears: A New Generation. Regardless, I’ll likely be reading Red Dragon after to atone for my literary crime of reading the series out of order.

Comments

[saxonvoter]

I haven't read any of the Hannibal books, but I've been meaning to for years now. Maybe I should make a list, so I'll remember.

How are you finding it, apart from the tense changes?

[softedisworl]

If it helps, then I don't see why not.

I found it be fairly alright-- the prose isn't astounding, but it's far from bad. It wasn't exactly gripping, though that might have been my being spoiled about the plot by a facetious conflation with Care Bears: A New Generation. There's also the shades of 'horror' from transfemininity--including a chapter which is utterly baffling from a (hopefully) modern view of transgender people.
I'll admit that I personally liked Red Dragon better, but it's not as if I saw an obvious 'quality' difference.

[saxonvoter]

Okay, now I'm even more intrigued, but in a sort of... negative way, if that makes sense? I had no idea the books had any trans related themes. I'll have to search for it in the local library when I have the time. (Although now I'm kind of tempted to just google it beforehand, so I won't be too shocked and can debate whether I should read it at all.)

[softedisworl]

Morbid curiosity? Personally, I'd say that the book has problems in that regard in the vein of involving a topic it really isn't equipped to discuss rather than a direct anti-transgender screed. The only one that touches on it is Silence of the Lambs, as far as I can tell, though that and Red Dragon are the only two I've read so far. In general, as far as I've seen, the books don't really handle queerness well.

[saxonvoter]

Probably, yeah. It's also a subject which is so personal to me that I can't help but be curious even though it might end badly.

Huh... That's a shame.

[softedisworl]

Oh, certainly, I can understand that myself. Though transgender women would certainly have the most to likely say about the novel's treatment of that topic, the aforementioned chapter certainly tripped off my alarms.

Yes, it rather is, though I wouldn't say it's exactly anything remarkable. The books are certainly dated in way they treats other topics--though some instances I've got the personal feeling that the treatment is even regressive for the time period it's from. But that might be too much optimism in society at large.