Perfume by Patrick Suskind
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Book Reviews of Perfume
Book Review: A perverse journey through eighteenth century France
Summary: 5 Stars
"Perfume" almost instantaneously joined the indefinable constellation of books that includes "Geek Love", "A Confederacy of Dunces" and other works which inspire a proprietary loyalty and an instant kinship between their readers. It might be described as a book about 18th century Paris - if "The Wizard of Oz" can be described as a book about Kansas and witches. It certainly unobtrusively incorporates a great deal of research about that time and place (enough that it is surprising when the author gets a key fact wrong, like having a commoner beheaded), but what makes the book truly inspired is to have extracted one key sensory element from the wealth of facts about the time (the ubiquity of strong odors) and to work that up - almost like a ghost arising from smoke, then taking solid form - into a central obsession that increasingly, relentlessly drives the protagonist, and with him the reader, forward. Any pretext of reality quickly gives way to acceptance of what is, in effect, a super-power: a heightened sense of smell. This in turn endows the protagonist with the kind of overarching concern that, in a more down-to-earth tale, might be associated with an autistic idiot savant. Though he goes through something vaguely equivalent to a crisis of faith, in fact his consciousness is a step away from that of a shark or a spider, a single-minded predatory drive that is almost, if not quite, the same as a primitive need to survive. There is a great deal of (very dark) humor here, but it is in the narrative voice, or, more precisely, in the narration itself, which takes sudden turns touched with irony and a macabre sense of justice. The protagonist himself is almost without personality, except for his obsession. The latter leads him to a series of thoroughly impersonal murders and through changes in locale which delight and divert the reader even as they leave him untouched - this in, to some degree, a travelogue through eighteenth century France. En route, too, he meets various characters we are able to care about in a human way, even if we find ourselves, somewhat perversely, ultimately more interested in the less than human cipher leading us on. The novel does not so much have a plot as a progress and its conclusion is more a surrender than any earned resolution of escalated events. And yet the latter satisfies, just as the novel itself entertains and stimulates en route, and seduces us into caring about someone who himself does not care for another living human being.Book Review: An Engaging and Disturbing Masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
"Perfume" is one of the most fascinating and unique books that I have ever read. It deals with a simple uneducated young man, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, in eighteenth century France, who has a unique gift: he is capable of sensing any smell whatsoever and analyzing it in terms of its basic components. This otherworldly sense of smell becomes the source of his driving obsession of creating a perfect perfume. In contrast to his extraordinary gift of smell, Jean-Baptiste has a very hard time dealing with normal human emotions and relating to other people. He shows traits of both Asperger's and Anti-social personality disorders, and he is willing to go to any length in order to achieve his goal. Because of this unrelenting drive and ambition that is not restrained by any moral norms, he very quickly becomes a danger to all those who stand in his way, and his journey of self-realization and discovery increasingly acquires a more sinister tone. His desire for a perfect perfume stems primarily out of his sense of being marginalized and unloved by anyone, and a sense that by creating a smell that everyone would appreciate and admire, he himself would finally be able to achieve some form of belonging in the world that has been ostracizing him since the day he was born. However, it remains to be seen if artificially inducing other people's emotions can bring a genuine sense of happiness and contentment.
Patrick Suskind is a brilliant writer and his ability to recreate the world of eighteenth century France is truly remarkable. Even though many of the historical events and personages are highly stylized, they exude life-like qualities that are seldom found in works of fiction. This is one of the more memorable and significant literary works of the past half century, and is likely to remain fresh and fragrant for a foreseeable future thanks to the original writing and the timelessness of themes and situations that are dealt with.
Book Review: A Sensual Pleasure
Summary: 5 Stars
I had heard nothing of the film but was curious when I saw the DVD on the rack at a supermarket. The cinematography was sumptuous and the story was so different and unique that I felt I had to read the book. I read it in French, but nevertheless I was surprised how similar were both the book and movie. For me, the book was a very dark fairy tale, on the same order as the film "Pan's Labyrinth." As rich as it is, I think the book could be analysed from a number of viewpoints, however, to mention one, in the book, the protagonist, Grenouille, secludes himself in a cave in an isolated part of France. The book covers his seven years of isolation, spent mostly dreaming, over a number of pages. The movie pretty much avoids this period for time constraints and for movement of the story line. However, what struck me about this passage was how it highlighted just how removed Grenouille was from society and the world. I'm unaware of any literary subject described as living in such a solipsistic universe as Grenouille. His talent for decrypting the world of smell is so keen that he is the 18th century version of a super-hero (or villain in this case). His ability married to a childhood of abuse and neglect projects him into such sociopathy that his murder of 25 young virgin girls means nothing, but is only a means to an end, that of distilling their essence into an olfactory remnant. Grenouille's creation, the ultimate perfume, is so powerful that it completely overwhelms anyone encountering it such that they lose all inhibition, all reason, all ego boundaries. Nevertheless, even holding the most potent force on Earth in his hand, Grenouille rejects the power and comes to a well-deserved end. While sometimes the book drags a bit, and some characters are introduced who don't particularly add to the overall development, the ideas posed by the book should, like the aroma of lavender soap, stay with you for quite some time after reading.Book Review: A dark, macabre gem
Summary: 5 Stars
Synopsis: Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born in the eighteenth century, abandoned at birth in the slums of Paris. There is something odd about him, he has no personal smell, yet he has the most incredibly developed sense of smell, able to separate and identify every particle of every scent and store it in his memory. Through his cunning and planning he is able to become a perfumer, learning the skills necessary to create scents specific to his own plots and schemes. One day he chances upon a smell unlike anything he has ever come across before and begins a plan to take it for himself.
What a dark, macabre gem of a story this is. It opens with 'In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.' With this line I was hooked and stayed hooked right the way through to the fantastic ending. Grenouille is such a weird, vile little creature, utterly repellent and yet so sympathetic at the same time. Suskind describes him so well I could not only see him in my minds eye but feel him as well, making shudders up my spine. One example of this is: 'Grenouille was now standing up, completely unfolded to full size, so to speak, in the doorway, his legs slightly apart, his arms slightly spread, so that he looked like a black spider that had latched on to the threshold and frame.' This is such a unique story with an ending that is unexpected but so perfect. It has such a dark humour and is rich with desire, sensuality and lust. I really haven't read anything this different for a very long time, and strongly recommend it. I've now got my eyes out for Suskind's other works, they are very high on my TBR list.
Book Review: Extra-ordinary
Summary: 5 Stars
Patrick Süskind's novel is extra-ordinary. Dedicated to the sense of smell, and equating humanness with possessing a warm, alive animal smell, this is a book unlike any other. It is also a thriller, unlikely as this may sound - given that large parts of the book are about the art of perfume making. (I found these parts very interesting indeed.)
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is perhaps the oddest central figure a novel could possibly have, anointing himself with perfume (because he must), cold, hunched and ugly as a toad : John the Baptist and frog "messiah" all in one. No prince this frog, though, except the prince of darkness, as Grenouille is pure evil, born without any sense of morals, unpleasant to look at, incoherent, self-centred and self-contained.
Seven unending years alone in the wilderness, wearing but a rough robe and surviving on only small wild animals, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille shadows his name sake John the Baptist in many ways - though Grenouille makes it plain that he is not the forerunner of God but God himself. There is no crucifixion for Grenouille however and at the last feast, more than just a head is served up, platters being totally dispensed with.
You will have to read it yourself to make up your own mind about this excellently written book : it is horrible and dreadfully violent, though riveting and fascinating.
I have just seen the Twyker film with Ben Grisham as Grenouille : it's superb, very well managed and very true to the Süskind original. See it!