The novel was a great success. Children's novelist Roald Dahl greatly enjoyed the novel, describing it as "subtle, horrific and splendid, the best book I have read in a long time". Author David Foster Wallace used the book as part of his curriculum while teaching at Pomona College and later included the book, as well as Harris's Red Dragon, on his list of ten favorite novels.[2] John Dunning says of Silence of the Lambs: [it is] "simply the best thriller I've read in five years".[3]
Some critics and transgender activists decried the novel as transphobic and homophobic because of its portrayal of Buffalo Bill.[4] Because of this there were protests against the film version when it was released.[5] The book was criticized by feminist author Julia Serano for presenting transsexualism as psychosis, despite Harris' insistence in the text that Jame Gumb was not a true transsexual.[6]
