Review by recovering_warriorcats_kid - The Silence of the Lambs

recovering_warriorcats_kid 's review for:

The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris

2.5

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

After being completely blown away by Red Dragon I was greatly disappointed by this book. I don’t know if having already seen the movie affected my enjoyment since I already knew the twists, but there were lots of other aspects of the book that fell short for me as well, one unfortunately being Clarice Starling herself. While she was a great character (especially for a female protagonist written by a man) I just didn’t find her as enthralling or complex as Will Graham. This was partially because she is still a rookie whereas he was already a seasoned investigator, but it also needled me that she was ultimately fairly inconsequential in solving the crime.

The information that led to the discovery of Jame Gumb’s identity was based on information provided by Hannibal Lecter and then when the addresses associated with it proved to be wrong Clarice was able to save the day not through her powers of wit or observation but simply out of sheer luck that she happened to be in the right place at the right time. While I admire her tenacity, I wish her role in saving Catherine’s life had been more based in merit and character growth than sheer coincidence.

I also found Buffalo Bill to be significantly less interesting or well fleshed out than the Red Dragon, which was quite possibly the biggest disappointment. Even though we got to see from his perspective, we were completely missing the deep dive into his past and psychology that was present throughout Red Dragon and made Francis Dolarhyde such a disturbing character. While we see many different layers to Dolarhyde from his childhood all the way to his death, details about Jame Gumb almost seemed like afterthoughts and had little to no elaboration.

We’re told that he killed his grandparents but never why or how. We’re told by Lecter and the workers at the gender surgery clinic that he isn’t actually trans but are not given any other reason for his obsession with being a woman. We’re told he had the same fascination with being homosexual but have no idea how or if it relates. We know he’s obsessed with butterflies and moths but are left to merely assume it has to do with their transition from one body to another and given no reasoning rather than pure aesthetic value as to why he favors deaths head moths in particular. Moreover the abstract nature of his dual hobbies being sewing and raising exotic insects is never once brought into question or focus, nor are we ever given a motive behind him shoving pupae into his victims bodies when he dumps them (wouldn’t this just create a link for the police to trace the evidence to him?)

I know that Hannibal Lecter steals the show in the story anyway but Buffalo Bill was so secondary that it felt as though he didn’t have to steal anything since the active serial killer already paled so blatantly in comparison.

Of course there were many redeeming factors to this book including the likability of Clarice Starling and Jack Crawford both separately and as a team and Hannibal Lecter’s general cunningness and quick as a whip dialogue, but ultimately the details were less crisp and the story felt drastically less high stakes considering the amount of chaos the Red Dragon was able to stir up (ie;

three murders, falling in love, eating a painting and permanently scarring Will Graham’s face

) in roughly the same amount of pages it took for Buffalo Bill to

kidnap a singular victim who was later rescued almost completely unscathed.

The pacing was also a drag as it took approximately 90 pages for the reader to even discover Buffalo Bill’s M.O. of skinning victims and then approximately 9 pages for Clarice Starling to

enter his house, realize it was him, shoot him dead and escape with Catherine.

I’m still very excited for the next installment and am greatly looking forward to seeing Clarice Starling seven years later but all in all this was a major let down compared to its predecessor, so I’m curious to rewatch the movie and dissect what made it so much more successful.

Content Warnings