Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

42 reviews

crustywhitedog's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny informative tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Incest, Pedophilia, and Cannibalism

Minor: Infidelity, Torture, and War

ladynocturnal's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.25

 This is a character study of a twisted man. The violence is mostly understated, there is not a lot of gore or blood in this book. The focus on scent and perfume gave some much needed originality. My only compliant is that the author makes some gross comments about the female victims in this novel. I do not need to know how the breasts of a dead teenager look. The middle section gets a little boring. The beautiful writing makes it worth a read.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Pedophilia and Violence

Minor: Incest, Sexism, and Torture

stephanieanneauthor's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is wild! Sure, the story had it's dark moments, but it's also ridiculous (in a good way). I genuinely was not expecting some of the things that happened - especially in those final chapters. I also love the fact that it focuses so much on scent. It's an underused sense in literature, but so good as conjuring up emotions. Just do listen to the audiobook on public transit like I did - I was VERY aware of the scents on the bus that day.

But I think my favourite part is that it reads like a text from the 18th century. I've read a lot of Victorian literature for both school and for fun, so I'm very familiar with the writing style of the time. I had to double check that this book was actually written in the 1980s - you could've fooled me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Suicide, Torture, Xenophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Incest and War

zauet's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

bgick's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Racism, Xenophobia, and Cannibalism

strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

challenging dark funny sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

sporadically good; a waft of flowers after rain

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Cannibalism

Moderate: Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

scarletkeiller's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

3.0

This was nothing to write home about. I think this would have been a very compelling novella - there were parts early on which were excellent, shocking and made me want to keep reading and then suddenly, the pace would drop to a glacial level, with nothing happening for chapters at a time or unrelated, unimportant background lore being established when really, you’d like to be reading something dark and salacious about murder. It is called the story of a MURDERER after all, not the story of the guy that trains a murderer to make perfume. The final act was very good and was worth the struggle it took to get there, but it’s a shame the rest of the book is such a disappointment. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Minor: Incest and Pedophilia

gnothiseauton's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book made me feel like I needed to take several showers in order to feel clean again. No notes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Vomit

Minor: Incest and Pedophilia

sabrinaleaf's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

Si un livre qui a pour personnage principal un tueur en série avec un don extraordinaire de l’odorat est plate, vous savez qu’il y a un problème

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Incest, Cannibalism, and Murder

Minor: Death of parent

lunsbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I really enjoyed the writing, some quotes are beautiful and the metaphors are well-executed. The main character  is not a textbook villain or

serial killer

, but instead a very strange human that you grow to empathize for but also hate. I could've done without the

incest/pedophilia towards the end, as well as the animal death

. That, combined with the pacing being inconsistent and some parts feeling a bit dragged out or irrelevant, is what prevented the rating from being higher. Either way, I believe it's an interesting and thought-provoking read that will definitely make you feel uneasy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Cannibalism, and Murder

Moderate: Body horror, Incest, and Pedophilia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Torture