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Feb 02, 2008

Martine rated it:

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 we More...

5 comments like (33 people liked it)

Apr 11, 2008

Patrick rated it:

This book was different and brilliant. The story of an orphaned boy born without a scent, but with an incredibly refined sense of smell, the book drags a bit in parts, but the ends justify the means, in more ways than one.

All things considered, the book is a valentine to the beauty, elegance, and power of smell. A truly underrated sense, Suskind reminds the reader of just how powerful an effect our sense of smell can have. Although Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (one of the great names in More...

0 comments like (39 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2010

Christy rated it:

Let me begin by telling you that this book is hilarious, and I am mildly obsessed with it. I loved it. Grenouille is my new favorite literary character. I’ve even started doing little impersonations of him when I'm feeling particularly annoying, which I think is going over pretty well around my house. He lurks in the shadows, is mildly hunchbacked, and sniffs the air like a total freak.

Anyway, as you may know, Perfume is the story of Grenouille, a man born with the ability to smell More...

4 comments like (21 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Tedb0t rated it:

I'd like to make something very clear with my review of this book. I normally don't go overboard with the whole "the movie vs. the book" argument because I'm not interested in making people's decisions for them, even though I'm strongly opinionated about the subject. But this is a case where I have to speak out. Süskind has created here a work of literary art in prose, and I take that seriously. I admire lots of books but I wouldn't say this about any old novel. The movie "Pe More...

7 comments like (32 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

John rated it:

I had a heck of a time thinking who I'd recommend this to. It won a Fantasy award, yet I can't call it Fantasy. It's set in a by-gone period, but it doesn't play with history, so it's not historical fiction. It's about a murder, yet it's not terrifying like horror, nor is a mystery. It's just the story of a peculiar boy who became a dangerous and most interesting man, obsessed with smell. He was born without an odor, you see, and lacking that part of identity, became obsessed with it. That ident More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2008

Jacob rated it:

This book was lent to me by a friend. This friend was really a great writer and kind of a genius but also an asshole. I should have known about this friend. Her name means sadness and she carried herself either in awkwardness or fierceness or hipper than you savagery or a combination of all of those or none of them and I’m just constructing a mythic version of her. Her writing was amazing. It was zany, rich, violent and grotesque. It would reach down into intense emotional depths and then get co More...

8 comments like (29 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2010

La Petite Américaine added it

UPDATE: I do have to admit that going through the first trimester of pregnancy did have me thinking back to the main character in this book. I mean, smelling everything just SUCKS.Who knew everything stank so bad?? I mean, I wouldn't go around killing redhead virgins like he did to rectify the situation, but the time he spent alone in the scentless air of the mountaintop in France suddenly sounded so appealing. :)

I only finished this book for 2 reasons, 1)my brother recently pa More...

3 comments like (12 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

eleonora - rated it:

Sublime. Irriverente. Geniale.
Solitamente le 5 stelline le riservo ai quei romanzi per i quali provo un certo valore affettivo, che ho riletto più volte o che so che rileggerò più volte. Romanzi che sono diventanti come degli migliori amici o che lo diventeranno.
Probabilmente non rileggerò Il Profumo, perché penso che sia uno di quei libri che ti rimangono talmente impressi da non aver bisogno di un rilettura per essere meglio compresi.
Ma passiamo a lui. Passiamo a Jean-Baptiste More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2011

Bonnie rated it:

'Perfume' tells the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille a boy who grew up on the streets of Paris. Jean-Baptiste was no ordinary boy, he had a gift... a sense of smell that could not be rivaled. Naturally he found his niche by becoming an apprentice to a master perfumer who teaches him the art of making perfume. He excelled at this and people were scrambling to buy his product. As he branched out and started searching for new scents to include in his perfumes, his fascination with trying to find t More...

3 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Angela rated it:

this book sounded really interesting, but i really didn't like it. couldn't wait to be done with it, but also had a hard time just finishing it cause i really didn't like it. felt like the writing and plot was just very amateurish. hopefully the movie is better.

8 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Anastasia rated it:

Avevo deciso di leggere questo libro dopo averne sentito parlare in Come un romanzo di Pennac. Il pezzo citato dal caro professore mi era piaciuto così tanto che nella mia testa era subentrato un altro promemoria: leggere il sicuramente sensazionale libro di Süskind.
E fortunatamente non me sono scordata, miracolo.

Questo libro parla col naso. No, non è una sorta di anormale ventriloquio, semplicemente si esprime attraverso l'olfatto. Che, se ci pensate, è un organo molto sottoval More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

Rania rated it:

الجميل في هذه الرواية انها تطرح موضوع لم يطرح مسبقاَ، في الحياة نتسأل دائما عن سبب انجذابنا لأشخاص و نعزو الاسباب لتجاذب الأرواح، الشخصية، و الكاريزما.
نعزو الانجذاب غالبا إلى حاسة النظر... الكتاب يحول انظارنا لناحية أخرى

الرواية تتحدث عن شخص ولد من غير رائحة و ايضا بحساسية عالية للعطور،و في حياته يتلقى فقط النفور و التجاهل و الإهمال ، لسبب واحد وهو أنه إنسان بغير رائحة.
فيسعى لتكوين عطر يتفرد به وحده.

تصور الرواية العطر او الرائحة البشرية و كأنها هالة تجذب او تن More...

6 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Aneen rated it:

يعتقدون أنهم يشاهدون كل شيء بعيونهم "

.
.

أكان شيطاناً ، مسخاً أم شبحاً لانسان؟ جسده الضئيل قد يوحي بذلك
هذا الكم الكبير من اللامبالاة ، البرود والحياة وحيداً هي ما تشير لذلك

.
هل كنا في يوم ما نهتم بحاسة الشم أكثر من النظر
أو اللمس أو التذوق ، هل كنا نرى الاشياء بعدة حواس
أم نكتفي بتكثيف حاسه واحده فقط ؟
كان "غرينوي" يشم ويرى ويتذوق بأنفه
استنشق كل شيء ما عدا أهم شيء
وهذا ما صنع منه هذا الشخص البالغ في ال More...

7 comments like (12 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2011

Petra X rated it:

Original story, well-written, a bit creepy, a lot silly, morality turned on its head for sex and drugs, it put me in mind that it was the Pied Piper in reverse. Not an exact analogy, just what it put in my mind.

I've just downloaded the film. It will be interesting to see how much humanity is allowed Grenouille.

4 comments like (11 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2010

Yulia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Evil_Dead_Junkie rated it:

Because sometimes you just have to read about an 17th century perfumer who may or may not be the Anti Christ and goes on a killing spree, before starting aa giant omnisexual fuckfest and being voluntarily cannabilized.

Ah literature. That's why I read you, the class. The class.

1 comment like (33 people liked it)

Jul 07, 2011

مهدي rated it:

رواية العطر عمل بديع
باتريك زوسكند يملك سحراً خاصاً ولغة مدهشة ومفرطة في عذوبة الوصف وإحساس عميق في حقل الروائح الطيّارة
كيف استطاع أن يصف لنا العطور والروائح وكأنه يتبختر في كل صفحة بعطر جديد أشمه بنقاءوتركيز عال
باتريك الكاتب الألماني الذي درس التاريخ كتب هذا العمل بثقافة عالية وأسلوب جديد وباهر جداً
الرواية التي تدور في القرن الثامن عشر - ومزامنة مع أحداث تاريخية لا تبعدنا عن أحداث القصة - كانت بفكرة مستحدثة , اللغة كانت جميلة والمفردات كان مُعطرة , الوصف عميق جداً ومُتقن More...

6 comments like (5 people liked it)

Apr 20, 2009

Molly rated it:

I want my last 2 weeks back. I dove into this book expecting a hell of a lot more than I dragged out of it. From the very beginning I did not like the author's writing style and should have known then that this book just wouldn't be for me.

This book is set in the mid-1700's France and centers around a horrid man who has no redeeming qualities other than the fact that he has likely the most perfect sense of smell in the history of mankind. But he uses this skill for selfish and evi More...

13 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 28, 2008

Madeline rated it:

Creepy, amazing, beautifully written, with another dose of creepy.

Perfume is the story of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who is born into absolute poverty, but is gifted with an extraordinary sense of smell. The book describes his life, beginning with his birth in a fish market (his mother gives birth to him under her fish stall and then leaves him there) to his totally bizarre death. In between, Grenouille becomes obsessed with preserving scents - human scents in particular, because Gren More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 21, 2008

Nina rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Dec 09, 2007

أروى rated it:

قرأته بالعربية
(العطر..قصة قاتل)

مذ قرأت هذه الرواية وأنا أشعر أن حاسة جديدة لدي قد تيقظت إلى أقصى مدى ..

ولعلي منذ زمن مولعة بذلك الأثر الساحر المخفي المربك لمجرد "رائحة جميلة"..

دعوني أبدأ قصة هذا الكتاب من البداية..!

كنت أضع هذه الرواية ضمن قائمة طويلة من الكتب والروايات التي قرأت عنها أو سمعت عنها كي أحصل عليها ريثما تيسرت الأمور..

صادف أن قرأت تقريراً عن السينما الأسبوعية ومن ضمن الأفلام المعروضة More...

12 comments like (11 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2009

Morgan rated it:

Cold and inhuman look on humanity. Cynical and dark, but humorous at times injecting a Voltaire like quality. Beautifully described and detailed, without bogging down. Sharp and to the point at all times while still exuding a rococo quality. It never wastes time despite the extreme amounts of perfectly detailed flourishes. The text always feels like it accelerates the plot.

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Aug 13, 2011

Deviant rated it:

Absorbing indeed!! This is one of my favorite books.. I knew that it would be my favorite even before I purchased the book because I've seen the movie many times before and the movie was my number 1. I must say, the book (as all books that got turned into movies) much more detailed and vivid.. In which the details were of great importance and not an excess jib jab.
A favorite book to me means that the idea, content was genuine and that I've never encountered a similar work.. And let me just say More...

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 25, 2011

Cindy rated it:

"Odours have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions or will. The persuasive power of an odour cannot be fended off, it enters into us like breath into our lungs, it fills us up, imbues us totally. There is no remedy for it."

"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. Together with breath it ente More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2007

Tora rated it:

picked it up after i saw a woman reading it on the paris metro. i wouldn't list a book (or finish reading it) if i didn't like it, but this is to all the people who chimed on and on about how great this book is (i'm talking to you, frat boys on the subway). it's a shallow mass-opiate, or a blunt object, at best.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 03, 2011

رذاذ rated it:

أنا مأخوذة بالوصف كان أكثر ما يميز رواية العطر
لـ باتريك زوسكيند مقدرة مهيلة في الوصف ، والتخيل وأبعاد الصورة
التي تأخذك إلى مشاهدة الصورة وضاحة في ذهنك
بـ الإضافة إلى فكرة (الرائحة) لا أعتقد أنه من السهل كتابة
رواية كاملة عن الروائح بـ هذه الطريقة العميقة
والمتطرفة في الجنون والدقة
الشخصية لم تكن سوية عائد لـ الولادة والتربية والظروف التي مرت به
لأنه حين تمكن منه جنون الرائحة لم يكن هناك خوف أو مبدئ
يردع جون باتيست غنروي عن ارتكاب أي جنون
من أجل أن يحضى More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2010

Robyn rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

The detail given into the processes and manufacture of perfumes is fascinating.

Suskind's skill in descriptive prose had me:
- believing that I really could smell what he was describing!
- actually liking and sympathising with the obnoxious little man(?)!
- laughing out loud as the events in the parade ground unfolded (much to the amusement of my daughter who assured me it got weirder) IT DID!

The thought that we co More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 05, 2011

Ken rated it:

Im Frankreich des 18. Jahrhunderts, beginnt die Geschichte von Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, einem Waisenkind mit außergewöhnlichem Geruchssinn, das ironischer Weise ohne Eigengeruch auf die Welt kommt. Von den Menschen ausgegrenzt, begibt sich Grenouille auf eine olfaktorische Reise zu sich selbst. Nach der Lehrzeit beim Pariser Parfümeur Baldini, flieht er vor den Menschen in die Natur, bevor er beschließt seinen fehlenden Eigengeruch durch das weltbeste Parfum zu kaschieren. Wie der Untert More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 29, 2011

Safae rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

9 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Zeruhur rated it:

Solo per un altro romanzo ho provato la stessa sensazione, nel leggere le righe iniziali, di essere trasportato tra la sozzura delle strade del passato. Solo Michel Faber mi ha dimostrato la capacità evocativa propria di Patrick Suskind, ma le similutidini forse di fermano qui.
Suskind è un autore pungente e, mi passi il termine, diabolico. La storia narrata ne "Il profumo" è paradossale di per sé, ma il destino dei personaggi che si muovono sul suo palcoscenico può definirsi solo beffa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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