For people could close their eyes to greatness, to horrors, to beauty, and their ears to melodies or deceiving words. But they could not escape scent. For scent was a brother of breath.

This book stinks.

Perfume is the epitome of sensory overload. Decadently sensual. Profusely sensuous. All in the name of the olfactory organ.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille’s ponderous existence is closer to that of a non-human animal where every choice is dictated by scent. The world is read through the nose rather than the eye. The mind becomes a library of whiffs, and the hand a tool…for murder, in this case.

A bleak comedy. A satirical deconstruction of the human race. A lesson in amorality. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is a pleasure.

I’ve gotta say, this novel is easily one of the most unique, imaginative, and captivating books I’ve ever read.

Spoilers Ahead!

The novel follows the insane yet legendary life of Grenouille, a genius perfumer. He was born under a fishmonger’s cutting board, raised in a foundling home, then sold to a tanner where he worked like a slave. He killed a girl just to inhale her scent. Later, he became an apprentice to a perfume maker and completely turned his business around. He lived in a mountain cave for 7 years, experimented with lethal gases, then ended up in Grasse, where he worked in a perfume shop, murdered 25 girls, and extracted their scents to create the ultimate fragrance. He was sentenced to death but managed to escape, only to return to Paris, where he was literally torn apart and eaten in the cemetery.

"What?" ... yes.

The storytelling is super straightforward, following a stable chronological order - nothing fancy like flashbacks or multiple perspectives. But that’s exactly what makes it feel so unique to me. Lately, I’ve been reading a lot of novels that experiment with structure, so this traditional approach actually felt fresh. And Patrick Süskind’s writing is absolutely stunning - clever, precise, rhythmic, and laced with this cool, detached humor. He somehow makes the description of something intangible - scent - feel completely immersive.

This novel made me realize something about life: disappointment is the norm, and getting what you want is the exception. Grenouille embodies this perfectly. He can smell everything in the world - except himself. He dedicates his entire life to mastering perfume, eventually killing 25 women to create the ultimate fragrance. When he finally uses it in front of 10,000 people, they go wild, losing all control in a euphoric frenzy. In that moment, he is worshipped, adored, deified. But instead of feeling victorious, he feels nothing but disgust. He wanted to be loved, but at his peak moment of success, he realizes - he doesn’t love them back. In fact, he hates them. And the only thing that truly satisfies him isn’t love, but hatred.

After a lifetime of chasing his dream, he finally attains it… only to realize it was never what he actually wanted. And isn’t that the most painful truth of life?

I’m not here to analyze capitalism, lovelessness, or the consequences of power. All I know is that this book showed me how fate brutally mocks human desires. No one ever truly gets what they want - we just live with disappointment. That’s the whole truth of life. It’s honestly kind of crushing.

They said the only heroism lies in still loving life after one has looked it squarely in the face. But in moments like this, that kind of optimism just feels… weak.

5 / 5 stars

To say this book is just a book of murder is to confine Patrick Suskind's words to banality.
It is a story of love and obsession. Of one destined to be a captive of the senses.
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is a slave to scent. As some people are captivated by the scent of roses or lilacs, so Jean-Baptiste is captivated by the scent of women. In his dementia, in his lonely mind, he seeks to forever hold this scent of innocence and beauty, so much so it drives him to the brink of insanity, forcing him to commit the utmost atrocities as his mind takes him down a path of darkness from which he will never return. Perfume is a story of the dark recess of the mind, where some madmen dwell for moments, and some dwell forever.

أسرتني هذه الرواية الغريبة العجيبة التي تُحفّز عقل القارئ ليُبصر ويستنشق حروف الرواية بأنفهِ، فيجنح بخيالهِ مع شخوص الرواية ليقرأ قصة منتنة، شيقة، مرعبة ـ تحفة أدبية نادرة.

كل ما في الرواية خارج عن المألوف

لا أدري ماذا سيقول أصحاب مقولة " اتبع شغفك " بعد قراءة هذه الرواية

هل سيستمرون بنصحنا أن نتبع شغفنا حتى لو كان في النهاية أن نسلخ رأس الجميلات ههه !!

Needless to say, this book will not be everyone's cup of tea; but it takes a particularly talented writer to make you pity and sympathize with a murderer, and Süskind just happens to be that kind of writer. I remember when I first read this books years ago, the finishing paragraph left me breathless, and as I placed the book down the first thing that came across my mind was, "What the hell did I just read?" However once you understand the unique motivation behind the protagonist's cruel art-form, you might love or hate him, but I guarantee this book will make you feel something.

This was a re-read for me, having read it around 2005. I recalled enjoying it, enjoying the writing which was overwhelmingly descriptive of the scents and odours throughout the book, and enjoying the dark character of Grenouille.

Reading it again some fifteen years later was equally enjoyable, and I retained the four stars I awarded it when I joined Goodreads (which, lets face it, is just an estimation based on recollection of lots of books).

I don't intend to plot outline - there are loads of reviews to do that, so there really is no need. I will touch on things I thought well done...

The amount of research the author did to describe the methods and techniques used in the tannery and the perfumers was impressive. It was very detailed, and as Grenouille learned, so did we as readers. N0t that I would be in a position to criticise, but it seemed very legitimate and accurately described.

The writing of Grenouille was clever - he was presented as a genius, a psychopath and a repellent man, but all the more fascinating for it. We see his disdain for mankind, his feelings of superiority, and his rapid learning, and his manipulations using scent. Either the translation is brilliant, or the writing and translation are very good!

And one minor quibble - long paragraphs. I am generally not a fan of long paragraphs, and some of them in this book get a bit long-winded. I don't resent them when they suit the tone (which most of them do) - for example the breathless learning of something that take effort to explain, but long for the want of some editorial tidying I dislike. Only a minor quibble here though.

And so to the ending (no spoilers), while it was sudden and I see other reviewers were disappointed, I thought it fitting, and ultimately Grenouille achieves all he can imagine.

Some quotes I enjoyed:

n  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.

-

He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.

-

In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulfur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master’s wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the king himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the queen like an old goat, summer and winter. For in the eighteenth century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition, so there was no human activity,either destructive or constructive, no manifestation of germinating or decaying life, that was not accompanied by stench.n

4 stars.

In 18th Century France a baby is born who lacks any scent. He does, however, have a deep and strong survival urge. Although he is treated as a pariah by many for his condition, he possesses a parallel condition, a heightened sensitivity to aroma. It is his quest to experience life through smell, and he does so. He is also a cold-hearted sociopath who seizes opportunities where he can to advance his particular desires. It ends badly for him, but that is a good thing.


The author

This is a very interesting book. I was rapt. Until I was done it was an unhappy thing to have to put it down unfinished, due to interruptions like work, sleep and eating. Thankfully I was able to complete it. Perfume is an odd story, perhaps, but also very interesting, providing some payload in depictions of 18th Century Europe and information about aroma in general and perfumery in particular. Much recommended but not for all tastes...or olfactory receptors.

n  nn  nn  nn  n

Una de mis novelas favoritas de todos los tiempos... tiene su pelicula, pero no termina de hacerle justicia.

Situada en Francia, en el siglo XVIII, donde el autor describe el ambiente como apestoso, caótico y nauseabundo. Por lo qué en medio de todo esto conoceremos a nuestro protagonista: Grenouille, que nada más nacer es abandonado en un mercado por su propia madre. A pesar de ello él pronto descubre que es especial, tiene la capacidad de oler todos los olores del mundo, y a la vez él mismo no huele nada, por lo que es capaz de pasar desapercibido. Algo que lo llevará a obsesionarse por crear el perfume perfecto, lo que incluirá, por desgracia, la esencia de las más bellas mujeres.

Está novela es de esas que tiene bien merecida su fama, la leí cuando adolescente y no podía despegarme de ella, las descripciones de los personajes, lugares, situaciones ¡y olores! son magníficos. El protagonista, Grenouille, es de esos personajes tan bien construidos, que amas y odias a la misma vez. Su habilidad con los olores resulta fascinante, pero su retorcida forma de ver el mundo es repugnante. Grenouille es el ejemplo perfecto de un psicópata sin remedio, cargado de un profundo resentimiento y odio hacia la humanidad. A lo largo de la trama veremos como éste personaje escala desde lo más bajo, gracias a su habilidad, que lo llevara a creerse dueño del mundo, sin pensar que su mismo virtuosismo será también el causante de su perdición.

Novela que a mi criterio tiene un ritmo perfecto, aunque he escuchado que a algunos se le ha hecho algo pesado el exceso de descripciones. Grenouille va armando su propio mundo en base a olores y el autor se toma su tiempo para transmitirnoslo, lo que en mi caso agradecí enormemente ya que logró acercarme mucho más al personaje y comprender su tan peculiar (¡repugnante!) psicología.

¡Obra maestra a mí criterio!
¡Muy recomendada!

4.5⭐️ I wanted a dark gruesome read with a tint of passion. This had so much passion, extremely descriptive and the experience of reading this book was like nothing I've ever known.

Grenouille wasn't even normal as a baby. One of his first nursing maids reported him as having no smell. It's interesting to see the irony that he grew up to be a masterful perfumer who could scent and distinguish thousands of smells and makes/compositions of various scents and learn how to use them to manipulate human emotions.

His obsession with scents leads to murder and hence a beginning of a passionate, visceral reaction to claim these scents and the innocent, clueless lives that wear them.

I just realized that so many literary fiction/classics books I have read lately are made into films. I think this will probably be the most challenging to depict in motion picture. I can't wait to how it's done. ✨️

Wow, was this one disturbing. Our main character was born with an incredibly good sense of smell, but without any smell to his own body. He uses these anomalies to work his way from being a detested orphan to a celebrated parfumier, but ultimately, he's looking to acquire power over other people. He uses his gifts in the most grotesque ways to achieve this.

It's so weird describing a book this dark as anything pleasing to the senses, but I suspect that's the whole point. This book will have your nose on alert; the smells described so evocatively are, at turns, repellent and luscious. It's a sensory rollercoaster and it's deeply unsettling.

average french person activities