Celor care au urechi să audă le-aș sugera un mic adevăr: Cel mai afrodisiac parfum rămîne absența oricărui parfum. Totuși...

În librăria din Podu Roș, prietenul DS m-a tras de mînecă și mi-a șoptit: „Să vii săptămîna viitoare. Primim o carte ieșită din comun”. Era în 1988. Cărțile se vindeau pe sub mînă, trebuia să ai „pile” pentru a prinde și a citi un roman bun. Așa am cumpărat Parfumul. Se tipărise în colecția „Globus” a Editurii Univers.

Am găsit în acest roman povestea unui nefericit și am înțeles că o înzestrare ieșită din comun (simțul mirosului, în cazul lui Jean-Baptiste Grenouille) îl poate transforma pe individ într-un monstru. Funes al lui Borges e stăpînit de văz, nu poate uita nici o nuanță de verde, nici o nuanță de roșu. Grenouille nu uită nici o nuanță a unui miros, poate descompune un parfum în toate elementele alcătuitoare. Nici unul dintre aceste ilustre personaje nu e în stare să gîndească abstract. Sînt lipsiți de rațiune și se situează în afara oricărei morale.

Cînd ucide, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille nu intenționează neapărat să ia un suflet, el soarbe însăși mireasma victimei. Pentru el, frumosul absolut nu are nici o legătură cu văzul („frumusețea stă în ochi”, credea David Hume). Pentru el, frumosul absolut e un miros sau un mănunchi de mirosuri. Și, deci, ar putea afirma, dacă ar fi capabil de gîndire abstractă (și nu e), că frumusețea stă în nări. Iată:

„O sută de mii de miresme îi păreau mai puţin preţioase decît acel parfum. Era principiul cel mai înalt, al cărui model se cuvenea să le ordoneze pe toate celelalte. Era frumuseţea pură. Lui Grenouille îi era limpede că viaţa sa nu mai putea să aibă vreun sens dacă nu va poseda acel parfum. Trebuia să-l cunoască pînă în cel mai mic amănunt, pînă la ultima, cea mai suavă înrămurire; doar amintirea lui, oricît de complexă, nu-i ajungea. Voia să apese apoteoticul parfum ca pe o pecete asupra învîrtejirii sufletului său negru” (pp.39-40).

P. S. În Bestsellers, John Sutherland menționează că Parfumul e ultima carte a unui prozator german care a intrat în topurile americane. Das Buch als bestseller :)

P. P.S. Oare ce au spus filosofii despre miros? Ofer numai un exemplu. Pentru Immanuel Kant, care va admira, totuşi, aroma amăruie a cafelei, mirosul este mai degrabă nociv și antisocial: „Cel care îşi scoate din buzunar batista înmuiată în parfum le impune tuturor celor din preajmă mirosul lui preferat, în pofida voinţei lor, obligîndu-i astfel să se desfete cu el, dacă vor să mai respire. Acesta este şi motivul pentru care obiceiul nici nu mai este la modă”. În opinia gînditorului german, parfumul este, de cele mai multe ori, o modalitate de a-ți impune subtil-agresiv prezența. Într-o încăpere - mai e nevoie să spun? -, atmosfera se cuvine a fi inodoră. Pentru filosofi, cel mai prețuit miros rămîne, așadar, absența lui...

A cross between The Silence of the Lambs and a period drama. That's how I would describe Perfume, the great German classic of the 1980s. Basically, it's an eighteenth-century murder story, except that it doesn't focus on the victims and the hunt for the killer, but rather emphasises the life and times of the murderer, who is an unusual protagonist to say the least.

Perfume tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an eighteenth-century Parisian with a unique gift: a prodigiously well-developed olfactory sense which allows him to recognise pretty much any scent or smell. After a childhood full of hardship, he is apprenticed to a perfumier who teaches him all he knows about distilling smells. Unbeknownst to the perfumier, however, Grenouille isn't in it for the fashionable perfumes. Rather than extracting scents from flowers and petals, he wishes to extract smells from living objects -- more specifically, from the beautiful virgins he comes across every now and then, who smell like heaven to him. And so he plies his trade, hoping to learn that elusive trick which will enable him to trap the scents of the lovely young ladies he covets from afar, so that he can create the perfume he really wants -- essence of maiden.

Perfume is a riveting look into the mind of an obsessed man -- a murderer whose immorality and eccentricity put him on a par with Thomas Harris' unforgettable serial killers. As unlikeable and depraved as Grenouille is, you almost sympathise with him. He may be a monomaniac, but his perseverance and creativity and the originality of his quest are such you almost wish him to succeed, or at least to see how far he will get before he gets caught. Suskind does such a great job describing his obsession that you simply keep turning the pages, waiting to see what fate has in store for this horrible yet ever so original murderer.

The writing on display is beautiful. A tremendous lot of research went into Perfume, and it shows. The descriptions of the various perfume-making techniques are rich, detailed and thoroughly impressive. Suskind frequently devotes whole pages to explanations of parfumiers' secrets; it is testimony to the quality of his writing that they never get tedious. He also does a marvellous job evoking the odours of Grenouille's world and the way in which they affect him. With its many powerful descriptions of odours (both pleasant and unpleasant), the book is a veritable smellscape which makes you increasingly aware of the smells surrounding you. However, it is not without its problems. The middle chapters are a bit of a drag and the ending is so over the top that many readers will be put off by it. I was a bit put off by it myself, yet I can see why Suskind went for the grotesque touch. For all its scientific detail, Perfume is essentially a fairy tale, and anything but a strange ending would have been a betrayal. It's weird, but if you read the story as if it were fairy tale, the ending makes sense. It's a fairy tale with a fairy-tale ending, and then some.

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. ✨️

Lo primero que quiero comentar es que este libro no es lo que yo esperaba. Pensé que sería un thriller trepidante, pero me encontré con un relato lento, que se centra en desgranar la psique del personaje principal y en narrar las circunstancias que lo acompañaron durante toda su vida, para que el lector pueda comprender su forma de pensar, actuar y ver el mundo. La verdad, también me gustan mucho ese tipo de libros, pero en el caso de El Perfume, el autor utiliza un estilo en exceso reiterativo, se detiene cada página a enumerar cosas sin importancia, alarga capítulos de forma absolutamente innecesaria y, al final, se transformó en una lectura muy tediosa, que acabé a pura fuerza de voluntad y que no me mantuvo enganchada en ningún momento; ni siquiera en aquellas partes por las que es más conocida esta obra y que ocupan menos del último tercio del libro.

No niego que el argumento es en extremo original y muchos aspectos te invitan a una reflexión bastante profunda, por lo que le doy las dos estrellas. Pero para mí la lectura tiene que ser una experiencia placentera y esta definitivamente no lo fue.

n  Reto #44 PopSugar 2017: Un libro que tenga lugar a lo largo de la vida de un personajen

This book starts out interesting, I will give it that much. It is a story of a reclusive man, who, born without a personal odour, becomes obsessed with creating the perfect human scent. The description is interesting, and while Suskind paints a perfect picture of the scene, the idea itself is void of true substance of meaning, and tires quickly. The only thing to be valued in this book is Suskind's style of writing. The underpinning values or morals in this book is simply non existent, there is no need to probe into it, as its concepts lay obviously on the surface, with no real meaning to deduce from the work. As a read for entertainment, it may be worth it. It seems to be a fairly empty novel; which is supported by a brief synopsis. - Man kills 25 virgins, wraps them in lard to collect their scent, creates a perfume, wears the perfume on the day of his exucution, and since the scent is so "divine" it catalyses love and captures the town, weaving a spell over all its people. An orgy follows, and then Grenoiulle decides he wants to die and covers himself with the perfume, walks into a derelick park and allows himself to be eaten by those who want a piece of him due to his amazing scent. All in all, the crazy perfumer gets eaten by cannibals. Wow! - Shitty read if you ask me

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