Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a man born without a scent but with an extremely sensitive sense of smell. It’s a murder story, but it is not all about the murder, victims, or evidence. There is no brilliant or cunning detective here. It is a period piece, set in the eighteenth century, yet does not feel overly historical. It’s a magic realism examination of the overlooked world of scent.
The main character, Grenouille, is not sympathetic. He is as cold hearted as he is talented. His motives are simple, create the the most appealing scent so that he can be loved by all. I found myself uninterested in the characters and most of the plot, I found that it drags in the first half f the book, yet drawn in by the vivid description of the smells, the people and, later, unlikely circumstances of the novel. It was similar to my experience reading Candide in high school, but without the complex social satire.
Though a very enjoyable and interesting read, in the end it came to more of a ‘hu’ than a ‘wow’.
Tags: books