Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Das Parfüm

I am not going to do my usual review style for this book because it is very..... unique. This story is about the character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille but it also tells the story of those who come into contact with him throughout his life.

The story begins the day he is born, his mother left him to die and wet nurses are scared to take him in because he emits no smell (meaning he is possessed by the devil). This also leads him to be a social outcast throughout his entire childhood and teenage life while also surviving a deadly illness that scares him making an even bigger outcast. He finds comfort in the scent of small to the point of needing it to be perfect to be able to live in peace. This leads to him eventually becoming an apprentice to a perfume maker and this leads him on the trail of creating the greatest smell to ever be smelt in the world.

This is a story about the obsession and pursuit of perfection at all costs and when achieving said perfection the outcome not being what is expected (if you have read Frankenstein, you know the theme I'm talking about). This leads to everything he had done being meaningless and thus is life being meaningless and at the end allows himself to die because he has no need/drive to live anymore.

This book was interesting but, it was written in the way of literary books in the 80s were written (book was published in 1985). This could lead to the book being boring in sections and really exciting in others. The story itself is great but, like I said, it could get really boring at times which is why it gets such a low score. I would recommend to anybody who likes books written in an old fashion style that like books like Frankenstein.

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schmetterly's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Best book ever!

Though the end was a little bit... macabre. But it fit the story.

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sp00kyx's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

*Read in German.

My fiancée showed the movie to me and I really liked it, so I decided to read the book. I loved the way Patrick Süskind describes smell. Every single scent he described was so vivid in my mind. I also loved the way he wrapped up the storylines and guided the reader through the different stages of Grenouilles life. It felt a little dragged on at times and it took me a really long time to read, but it was easy to read and the text flowed and I was interested the entire way through. The book was funny at times and thought provoking. The ending was crazy.

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ed_moore's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Süskind’s ‘Perfume’ to no surprise places a lot of emphasis on scent, both in its plot, character and descriptions, and never before when reading have I considered scent so much especially given I have a very limited sense of smell myself. This book was just as brilliant as the pigeon, but in an extremely different way. It was so carefully crafted yet weird, harrowing, uncomfortable and shocking (the series of twists at the ending!)

‘Perfume’ follows a child Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, as he grows into a young man and his super-human nose leads to huge successes in the perfuming business yet he seeks aims beyond profit, to create the perfect scent and also discover his own, for despite the power of his nose he himself lacks smell.

It really made me consider the impact of smell where it’s not played much of a role in my life (as I said earlier) and somehow was conveyed through words which led to the phenomenon of so intimately accessing one scent through the use of another.

The book also had a similar feeling to Dumas’ ‘The Black Tulip’ for some reason which I too thoroughly enjoyed, though was a lot more unsettling.

I am quickly falling in love with Süskind as an author.

though the orgy scene was really weird I didn’t love that…

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