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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Patrick Süskind

Start date: August 1, 2015

Finish date: August 31, 2015

Discussion: New School Classics- 1915-2005

Why we're reading this: August 2015 New School Group Read
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New School Classics- 1915-2005

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What Members Thought

Mar 31, 2023 Nina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2023-aty

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind is a horrifyingly seductive chronicle of the life of a serial killer with a superhuman sense of smell and his quest to capture and bottle the most intoxicating aroma that ever wafted through his hypersensitive nostrils, to wit, the scent of a beautiful young virgin. This is a difficult novel to describe without sounding like a complete lunatic and it’s the kind of book that one should go into with as little prior knowledge as possible. The pros ...more

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Mar 02, 2011 Glynis rated it really liked it

Shelves: favourites

Contains spoilers to a degree.

A surprisingly amusing, witty read. A well-crafted allegory/fable/fairy story and fantasy novel. Suskind satirizes the 18th century, the Age of Reason, via the characters of Gilmal, Baldini, the Marquis de la Taillaide-Espinasse and their subsequent (and funny) deaths. They all use Grenouille in order to profit from him, and he uses them to ensure his survival in society. He is a repellent character, but I admire his fearlessness (of the dark etc.) and especially h Contains spoilers to a degree.

A surprisingly amusing, witty read. A well-crafted allegory/fable/fairy story and fantasy novel. Suskind satirizes the 18th century, the Age of Reason, via the characters of Gilmal, Baldini, the Marquis de la Taillaide-Espinasse and their subsequent (and funny) deaths. They all use Grenouille in order to profit from him, and he uses them to ensure his survival in society. He is a repellent character, but I admire his fearlessness (of the dark etc.) and especially how he walks away from these characters unscathed while they perish in freak accidents. Suskind writes in a style that ridicules and pokes fun at them; I can't help but smile at their demise. Yet he writes sensitively about Grenouille, and seriously. He does not ridicule him but observes and describes him with respect. Grenouille is a force to be feared; an anti-hero, outside the laws of society. A scary protagonist, unlike his fellow characters who view him as pathetic, idiotic. I like the use of the 'tick' metaphor, describing him as a parasite that feeds off the characters unfortunate to cross paths with him. He is feral; he'll go to any length to satisfy his inner primal urges. That is more important to him than using his unique and otherworldly sense of smell and genius as a perfumier to make his fortune in the world. He is a base, complex creature with no need for material wealth. Grenouille has no thought other than to quench the inner lust that urges him to make people revere him. His ultimate goal: to bottle and wear the scent of those humans whose odour inspires love so that people will love, respect and idolise him in return. Grenouille learns it is not looks or personality that makes a person attractive and popular to others, but body odour. He works out only certain people exude this exquisite and rare scent. A vampire who craves, not blood, but premium human odour.

The writing/translation is such that I was aware of Grenouille's amazing sense of smell and my own. And yes, I did the elbow thing!

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Mar 28, 2010 Lori rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, horror

While I classified this title as "horror" due to its "protagonist" being a serial killer, it seems a bit harsh a judgment. The protagonist is born in horrid circumstances and with a serious defect - he detects all smells more potently than anyone around him, yet he, himself, has no scent of his own. This defect drives him to the perfume trade, where he can learn about smells and how to create them. At one point, he secludes himself from the world of smells around him because he can no longer sta ...more

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