Perfume by Patrick Suskind
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Book Reviews of Perfume
Book Review: A Unique Tale
Summary: 5 Stars
Paris evokes a plethora of wonderful images, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame cathedral and the Mona Lisa, to name a few. When I think of Paris, I think high fashion, good food and wine. Ask me what Paris smells like and I couldn't say. I have never thought of Paris or any cities in terms of smells or aromas. However, Grenouille, the protagonist in PERFUME does just that. Although there is nothing wrong with his vision, he does not assess his surroundings visually, but purely olfactorily. His olfactory sense is so intensely refined that he is able to analyze complicated smells into individual scents. However, he does not, like all other humans, possess a smell of his own. He never did, even as a newborn. His obsession with smell, his single-minded search for the ultimate scent and total disconnect with humanity- with the exception to what scents he can harvest from them-results in the creation of a unique kind of evil. Peter Suskind does an awesome job of taking us on a journey into the mind of this man. Spinning the tale of Grenouille effortlessly, he make his story believable until the surprising end which came out of left field and left me wondering. I won't say much about the movie version, other than to say that watched without having read the book, it's probably good. However, it totally fails to capture the poetic descriptions of the olfactory circus in Grenouilles mind or the complexity of his personality. I highly recommend this book.Book Review: Olfactory-licious!
Summary: 5 Stars
'Olfactory'- 'to have a smell', a word that is used quite a bit in this novel. I had no idea what it meant until I read this novel. Sounds boring? Not on your life. The protagonist in this novel was a classic SICKO! No, as the author accurately described him, he was a 'tick'. This book had me up late at night anxious to read more about the obsessiveness of this character. The author's style of writing is matter-of-fact, straight to the point, not a lot of emotionalism, almost as if he was writing from experience, from a murderer's mind. On the flip side he was very descriptive in detailing the obsession of this murderer and his pursuit to create the 'ultimate perfume' from the unsuspecting victims. While reading, I found myself slipping into the mind of the character when it came to using my sense of smell. As I was reading this imaginative masterpiece of horror, I found myself identifying with the obsession, trying to identify different smells/aromas in my house! 'OH! Stop it!' The author did an amazing job in detailing the preciseness, the exactness of identifying the components of a fragrance - to the point of obsession, where the reader is consumed, just as the murderer was, in trying to identify what the 'perfect perfume' would be. This story is extreme and the ending will blow you out the water, almost too extreme. I can't imagine capturing the essence of this novel on film! All-in-all it's a very good read!
Book Review: Passion turned violent...brilliantly
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the most disturbing, yet sublime, thrillers out there.
The main character has a heightened sense of smell- essentially, an aromic "perfect pitch" in which he is able to discern every nuance of every smell. He begins training with a perfume maker- the book takes place in 18th century France- and eventually becomes so obsessed with the creation of smells, that his natural born gift becomes a murderous passion.
The brilliance- and disturbing creepiness- of the book and its character's eventual progression towards serial killer comes through the way in which Suskind focuses all his energy on the all-encompassing nature of the passion- completely immersing the reader in details about smells and perfumes, information that could be dull but comes across as fascinating- and dismisses the crimes it leads to in an offhand manner. The murders that eventually takes place are means to ends and are dealt with as merely that, and done so in a straightforward, almost cold fashion. Suskind takes us inside the obsessed man's mind, and while we recognize that the horrors he is willing to commit without a second thought are truly horrific, we are swept away by his own internal, passion driven logic that we tend to retain sympathy for the criminal.
This is a rather short read- dense with very little lightheartedness and dialogue- but it packs a mighty wallop.
Book Review: Beautiful and eloquent
Summary: 5 Stars
I read Perfume on a recommendation by Esquire. The storyline captivated me, and I ordered it right away. Let me first say that I've never really considered myself a fan of period pieces. I find usually the language is too hard to follow fluidly, being that modern English is far different than Old English. I really needn't have had reservations, because as soon as I picked this book up I fell deeply into the story, the character and all the stunning visuals it invoked in my mind. I felt as if I were there. Further, the story is so amazingly imaginative that not only did I love Perfume, I knew I had to read other things written by Suskind (of which there is very little). Reading reviews from other people who say this book was terrible is pretty perplexing to me, and I have to attribute that to people who cannot fathom letting themselves into the deranged mind of the main character or his motives, or who just don't understand the story. After reading it I was thrilled to find they were making a movie (which never made an appearance in my hometown, so I had to wait for DVD), and surprisingly found they were amazingly close in depicting the feeling and perplexity of the story.Book Review: Boy howdy, was this beautifully written, but disturbing!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love gorgeously-written books that leave me trembling with a sort of envy. Hilary Jordan's "Mudbound" and Dorothy Allison's "Bastard out of Carolina" are two books that have made me breathless. Not surprisingly, Perfume has also left me breathless (and not just because of the disturbing end) - it's gorgeous!
I admire how Suskind didn't go the gory route and describe the nitty-gritty where the girls' corpses were concerned, just as he made us have *some* sympathy for Grenouille. Unlike cookie-cutter villains, you're made to feel a little sorry for this man. Twenty-five murders, be damned! He wants to acquire the perfect scent, to have people love him, and (in some ways) fit in. I'm sure a lot of people can at least empathize with that.
If you are an impatient reader, this book does drag in some places (although I found it fascinating on the account of the beautiful language. I'm a sucker for beautiful language, though). The last fifty pages go rather quick, however, and the end is rather disturbing, to say the least. If none of this matters at all, then read the book. It's definitely not your ordinary murder mystery.