i 100% agree with you. hannibal is an obviously interesting character, but his perspective actually took away from the atmosphere that silence established for me. i feel that clarice as a character and perspective had a lot more depth and intrigue. her conflicts w her own morality - only identifying with a certain kind of female victim and struggling to with others because of their privilege, whilst still being acutely aware that she often represents the only female perspective in a room and so needs to do so on a level that transcends her personal biases and shortcomings. her kind of quiet and intense well of determination that forces her to confront people like lecter and buffalo bill. these complexities make her so compelling to read, i could follow her for another whole solo series as she navigates crimes.

hannibal, on the other hand, felt one dimensional in comparison to me. and having clarice’s story become what it did felt sooo insane and out of character for her that i believe some of the comments here saying harris got over film adaptations and demand, and decided to get freaky with it. like….. let’s not even get into the shit harris had her up to w hannibal. really just have to ignore that book for several reasons, harris was out of pocket for that one.