Patrick Suskind - Perfume

[Freewheeling Andy]

Jean-Baptise Grenouille was born in the most foul-smelling place in the foulest smelling city in the world, Paris. Yet despite (or perhaps because) of the place of his birth, he had no odour of his own, but a preternaturally refined sense of smell.

In the end, he knows no pain, and has no real emotions, except for those associated with smell. He never develops morality, or drive, except for that related to his nose.

This book is a fantastically evocative tale of someone with no "soul", brilliantly written, wonderfully dark. Grenouille is the master perfumier, has the greatest nose of all, and begins a quest to create the perfect odour for himself, the blank cypher.

The book itself is full of feeling, despite the main character being basically soulless, being self-destructive, and the book itself being one of the blackest, most quietly brutal books I've ever read.

A great book, I think.

[abecedarian]

I just read Perfume the other day. I have to agree its a great book. Due to the subject matter, its probably not for everybody, but its a great look into the mind of an amoral killer.

[Freewheeling Andy]

Not for everyone, probably true. But I think it's probably better "horror" than most horror novels that are about.

[abecedarian]

Not for everyone, probably true. But I think it's probably better "horror" than most horror novels that are about.

True, because its so matter-of-fact..No mumbo-jumbo or hocus pocus...just a really evil human being.

[Kell]

Ooh, i think this is another one to add to my ever-growing list - it's intriguing me!

[magdadh]

I agree, it's very scary. And the ending .... ouch. I read it years ago and still remember. Excellent.

I still have no idea what the point of it is, though, unless of course we count providing exquisitely written, bit sick entertainment...

[Lilywhite]

I tried it but it failed to capture me. I was quite bored by the halfway point and wishing it would pick up story wise. I wasn't captivated by the huge descriptive passages of, well, not much really, and I do feel like I missed out on something great but I just couldn't see it. A bit like those magic eye pictures..... I never was too good at them either. :(

[Philip Stein]

Perfume is superb, and has one of the best closing scenes I've read. I wonder if the film will be any good?

My only regret is that Suskind has written so little in the 20-odd years since - a couple of novellas and a few stories.

[Angel]

I remember reading this one when it was first published 20 yrs ago. I really enjoyed it very much at the time and found it to be a great horror

[Sugar]

I can remember the smells that float out of the book more clearly than I can remember the smell of my favourite foods! Suskind is so very evocative in Perfume's descriptions.

[Freewheeling Andy]

I spotted a trailer for this in the cinema the other day, too. I can't imagine how they're going to film it, though.

[princessponti]

..thought I'd stick my Perfume movie post here (originally posted in the cinema thread), to catch the people that have read the book and seen the film, I'm quite interested in the crossovers. I'm not sure I want to read the book, knowing the harshness of the story (think I'm too delicate to read it!).. let me know what you thought of the movie!!

__________________________________________________ ____
I went to see 'Perfume' last night (I think, or the night before!). I haven't read the book and knew a little of the story. What I had imagined the story was, was completely different to what was revealed, so it had me pretty well gripped for the whole 2 and a half hours! The scenery is spectacular; the landscapes and the scenes of France were incredibly beautiful. I loved the way the movie captured the smells (difficult to do I imagine!). The movie used disgusting images that were very dully lit, which worked really well for the horrible smells, they really did repulse you. There were alot of 'urghs' in the audience! The nice smells were encapsulated with beauty, succulent fabrics, very nice lighting and a sense of euphoria or lust. It was very well done!

The worst part of the film for me was that the movie was set in France, yet some characters spoke with a cockney accent, or an ordinary 'british' accent or american...or...in the case of Dustin Hoffman, an american accent with a hint of france thrown into the odd word (which annoyed me even more!). I think it would have enhanced the film for me if it had remained true to being set in france, I would even have enjoyed it with subtitles!!

The story was great though, a really original and interesting idea; and really quite tragic to my mind. I may have to have a search for a thread on Perfume when I'm more awake to discuss the ins and outs of it more (hopefully the film isn't too different from the book).

[Sofia]

read this book about 10 years ago....completely forgot about it till I had some old boxes of books that I'm donating brought down from the attic....this gets to stay:)

[princessponti]

You should see the film! I want to know how it compares to the book.. :)

[dogmatix]

Perfume: a disapointment.

What a great concept for a story. A man with an exquisite sense of smell, driven mad by it in fact, but with no smell of his own. I had high hopes for a gritty, and eerie story of murder and madness, with a touch of the historical; but alas this book failed to deliver. The plot was ill crafted, disjointed, and in some places - pointless filler. The denoument; an orgy with cannibalism to boot, how can you fail to horrify with that?....well Suskind did. The book is 255 pages and about 100 of them a pure extraneous **** and serve no means. Perhaps in the hands of a gifted editor this could become a great short story.....

Not recomended.

[Angel]

I first read this one 20yrs ago and I still remember feeling disappointed. It did not live up to my expectations

[dogmatix]

I know, I really wanted to like this book and it had potential. Oh well....

[Renniemist]

Oh dear! It is on my TBR pile and I was thinking about reading it soon. Perhaps I will put it to the end.:roll:

[Angel]

I wouldn't want to put you off Renniemist, but I personally would not get excited by it!! Read the whole list first!!

[Renniemist]

Thanks:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Freewheeling Andy]

Just in case you missed it, here'smine and some other peoples' thoughts (http://www.bookclubforum.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1367). I loved the book.

[Renniemist]

Well now I am really confused. Only thing to do is to read it and make up my mind. Thanks everyone I will read it soon.:)

[Louiseog]

I read it quite recently and liked it! Thought it was an easy read. Perhaps a bit of a gloss over quite a serious topic but loved the whole premise.

[dogmatix]

Well there you go. :lol: That clears everything up.

[Freewheeling Andy]

Well there you go. :lol: That clears everything up.

Yep. Some people really like it. Some people don't.

[Angel]

Although it's several (20 yrs) since I read it, I found the concept of it enjoyable, but was disappointed because if I remember correctly it was nominated for an award. It did not live up to what I thought at that time an award winning book. It's certainly not a book that I would reread - in fact it was one of a very few books that I sold. It's one of those books that you have strange mixed feelings on :10_confused:

[princessponti]

(( hello Dogmatix! haven't seen you for a while, just wanted to pop in to say hello, hope you're well!! :) ))

[dogmatix]

Aww thanks pp.

[Amanda1]

I really enjoyed it. I read it about 5 years ago after a word of mouth recommendation and I hadn't heard any hype about it and it was obviously before thoughts of a film. I wonder whether its a case of a book not living up to the hype or people having too many expectations of what a book will be like

[Renniemist]

Well I have finished reading Perfume. The descriptions of the smells are amazing. The mood created is particularly dark when Grenouille lived in Paris, but it is when he moves to the south of France that he really begins to work on his goal. He extracts scents through extreme violence, but we do not witness most of this: we hear of it second hand. Even the murders that we do witness are very cold and methodical. It would seem that in having this one great gift Grenouille has had to sacrifice all other feelings or values. He is certainly a man without a conscience.

I really enjoyed this book and the ending is the most bizarre ending I have ever read.

[dogmatix]

One of the things about this book that I disliked was the sidetrack/foray into the cave. It seemed that there was no plot or character development during this portion of the tale and it really added nothing to the book.

I do agree that the ending was unusual, but again I feel it missed it's potential to horrify.

[Renniemist]

One of the things about this book that I disliked was the sidetrack/foray into the cave. It seemed that there was no plot or character development during this portion of the tale and it really added nothing to the book.

Yes I can see what you mean, and I agree. The book was very slow at that point.

[rosegarden]

I really enjoyed this book, it's one of the most unnusual and descriptive books I've ever listened to.
I kept thinking about it for quite a few days afterwards.......particularly the ending :eek2:

Carole
:jump:

[katy]

I read the book recently due to the movie release (never saw the movie - prefer to read a book), the ending was the strangest thing I had ever read. I enjoyed the writing style but it took me a long time to get into the book. The first three quarters were mostly drivel and resulted in it being quite put-downable. It wasn't until he started trying to extract the scents from something other than plants that I became more absorbed by it.

[Kell]

Here's my review to add to the others...

Title: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Author: Patrick Süskind
ISBN # 0141029048
Publisher: Penguin Books
First Published: 1985
272 pages
Format: Paperback
Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:
Survivor, genius, perfumer, killer: this is Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. He is abandoned on the filthy streets of Paris as a child, but grows up to discover he has an extraordinary gift: a sense of smell more powerful than any other human's. Soon, he is creating the most sublime fragrances in all the city. Yet, there is one odour he cannot capture. It is exquisite, magical: the scent of a young virgin. And, to get it, he must kill. And kill. And kill...


Review:
I was surprised at how little violence there is in this book - honestly, it's quite the most gentle murder story I've ever read! Grenouille is a fascinating character who lives only for olfactory sensation and feels nothing for anything else, but surprisingly, I still felt sympathetic towards him, despite him being the "villain" of the tale.


I found this a surprisingly refreshing read and not at all what I would have expected if I hadn't already seen the film. And although I enjoyed the film a great deal, I definitely thought the book was a far richer experience (as one would expect) and found that it made me think about how people perceive one another. It also featured one of the most profoundly fitting last sentences I’ve read in a very long time.


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