Reviews

The Perfume Thief by Timothy Schaffert

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catfactory's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

kittykornerlibrarian's review against another edition

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3.0

I am not in the mood for bleak, World War II era historical fiction. So much World War II era historical fiction. So. Much.

wordssearched's review against another edition

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informative mysterious reflective

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I struggled with how to rate this one because it wasn't poorly written, and if you're into World War 2 historical fiction, then this might be for you. My reaction is based entirely on high expectations from an enticing premise: a queer woman in Paris at the height of the Nazi occupation must find and secure a book of formulas by a famous perfumer before it falls into German hands. Sounds great, right? But the execution doesn't quite follow through. Schaffert did his research and is a solid writer, but in the end, I could get into the narrative or connect with any of the characters, and the plot sputters along until a ho-hum conclusion in which very little happens. Not bad, per se, just boring.

louismunozjr's review against another edition

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2.0

2 stars, maybe closer to 2.5? Couldn't really get into the book, if I'm honest. The characters felt inauthentic, as did some of the period atmosphere. Maybe I wasn't paying attention, especially since I ultimately skimmed large swathes of the book. I could see this book exciting and fulfilling others' expectations, but color me uninvolved and disengaged from pretty much the first page.

Many thanks to #NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.