Ron Does Stuff

I know that the blog says me doing stuff, but it’s really mostly been me watching stuff and not doing much else. Which isn’t by design, okay, it’s just that it’s been really easy for me to just watch things rather than to put in the effort of reading. But I’m trying to be better about that and I’m starting with Thomas Harris’ Hannibal books, which I think is a great fit for November!

At this point in time, does anybody not know about Hannibal Lecter? With multiple movie iterations and an excellent television series — I’ve only been able to watch one season but whatever — there’s very little I need to do to introduce him. Or even Will Graham, who’s the protagonist of this novel.

But to the still uninitiated, Red Dragon is the first book in four Hannibal books that Thomas Harris has written over the years. It features Will Graham, an FBI investigator, looking into the murders being performed by the Tooth Fairy, Francis Dolarhyde. He eventually hits a snag during the investigation and has to consult with Hannibal Lecter.

However, Will and Hannibal have a…relationship. Will was the investigator who finally caught Hannibal, while Hannibal gave Will a scar when he tried to kill him. Hannibal thinks he and Will are the same, but Will doesn’t think that’s the case.

When the FBI discovers that Hannibal and Francis have been communicating with each other, the Bureau and Will are pushed to take further action. Will Hannibal help them crack the case? And at what will it cost Will in the end?

One of the things I learned about Harris when I read this book — I’ve only ever read The Silence of the Lambs — is that he used to be a journalist and that really was so clear to me when I was reading. He has that sparseness with words that comes with having to write something on a deadline, without sacrificing impact or descriptiveness. Personally, I think it’s the perfect style and tone to use for books like this because I feel like going purple with the prose — not something I’m against, by the way! — detracts a lot from the crimes happening on the pages. In fact, I think the sparseness bring the horror even closer to the reader because they have to fill in the rest of the picture with whatever horrific details they can imagine.

Another thing that I liked about the book that I feel Harris also took from his time in journalism is the slimy character of Freddy Lounds, as well as the underhanded ways that tabloids used to sell more copies. While I wasn’t around during the height of that era — I’m not that old — I was around to still see some of it, all the way here in the Third World. I’ve met some journalists like Freddy Lounds. And as a decrepit old man this part of Red Dragon‘s world felt a little nostalgic to me. It’s a world whose sleaziness I could still understand.

Me recognizing some of the situations and even the lines from the book in some scenes from the first season of Hannibal was also an amazing experience for me, which also made me really look forward to the rewatch of the first season that I’m planning on doing this November! It was so great reading about Beverly Katz and other characters that make it to the first season of the show.

Another thing that I didn’t expect is to be so unsettled by the way Francis Dolarhyde is treated by his family when Thomas Harris explains his beginnings. I know that it’s a common trope and I know that a lot of actual, real life serial killers grew up as victims of abuse, but I guess a good fictionist can really get you into the emotion of that child that an otherwise objective documentary can’t.

Reba McClane is also such a great character and totally not how I thought she would be written. She wasn’t a ~magical disabled person~ at all but very much a full and rounded person who had more to her than just her blindness. I don’t know why I was so surprised but I guess maybe it’s because this book originally came out in 1981. In fact, it’s the moments with Reba that really stick to me now. They come at a point when the book starts to drag a bit and it’s a nice and bittersweet respite because we know how all of it is going to end.

And while Hannibal Lecter really isn’t that much of a presence here, what time he spends on the pages really does provide enough for the relationship he has with Will in the Hannibal television series. Bryan Fuller really is a great creative thinker and one part of me wonders what the Interview with the Vampire series would have been like if he went on to be its showrunner. Not that I’ve watched the new show in full — I’ve only seen two episodes.

I do wonder how it would have felt like reading this first before watching all of the media attached to it. While it’s certainly a memorable book, I can’t shake off the feeling that maybe my opinion of it has been colored too much by all of the media I’ve seen about it.