Perfume: The Story of a Murderer in Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Feb 05, 2007 Francisco rated it it was ok

Shelves: novela, otros-europeos

Novela efectista y tramposa.

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Dec 27, 2007 Michelle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, award_winner, lit_fic, magical-realism, there-s-a-movie-too, gothic

though i can't think of any other time this would be true, it certainly is here: if you've seen the movie, you've read this book. i rented the movie a few months ago, and liked but didn't love it, and assumed that (as is usually the case) the book would be more in-depth, richer, more revealing...just better. nope, same thing entirely.

if you've read the back of the book, or seen the movie trailer, you know the whole plot: low-born guy is obsessed with scents, and kills women in his quest to make ...more

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Aug 29, 2006 Elizabeth rated it it was amazing

Shelves: alltimefavorites, france, fiction, horror, historicalnovels

This is an amazing novel that I've since lost and would love to get another copy of. It was a European bestseller and it has an amazing amount of creepiness in it. ...more

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Jul 23, 2007 Suvi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: 1970-1999, _france, _europe-western, historical, novels, cities_paris

I felt really unattached to this book. Like there was an invisible wall between me and it. I didn't understand the fascination of endless lists of the perfume ingredients and how useless the characters were. I don't mind a weird book but this had some kind of idiotic weirdness around it and overall seemed kind of flat. ...more

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Dec 16, 2009 melita rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: recentreads

wow!!

Great book!!! the strangest ending I have ever read...

This story was like a cross between Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and Camus' The Stranger!!! If you've ever read the three of these books let me know if you agree!

I decided to read this book for two reasons... 1)It came highly recommended by a dear and lovely friend and 2) In Come as You Are, the story of Nirvana (which i just read) Kurt Cobain expressed that he felt very much like Grenouille at some points in his life and wrote the song ...more

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Sep 10, 2007 Duc is currently reading it · review of another edition

"Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor 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."
— Patrick Süskind (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)
Thus the novel persuades and pervades through our imagination the smell.
Why do I want to read this book?
I want to read it to see how the author transcribe a scent on to words.
One incident wh "Odors have a power of persuasion stronger than that of words, appearances, emotions, or will. The persuasive power of an odor 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."
— Patrick Süskind (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)
Thus the novel persuades and pervades through our imagination the smell.
Why do I want to read this book?
I want to read it to see how the author transcribe a scent on to words.
One incident which stood out. It was when Grenouille pays the prostitute to get her scent. Well this explains a lot and it makes the narrative plausible and it makes his motives for murder clear. The prostitute is freaked out by the scrapper and the lard that he applies to extract her scent. If she would have let him do it then he would not have murder other girls. Well, he was to get a scent of the virgins. She was just his test subject. So I suppose that eventually he would murder. It does explain that it is not normal social behavior. So even if he advertised for girls to contribute their scent, they would not have. Besides, he murders her on impulse because he is obsessive about the experiment.
He is only concern with the scent and not even the physical touch.
So this is more then a story, and much more then just murders. It bring in moral questions. In searching for art, science, and perfection, he has committed these crimes. Was there a better way to extract this? In those times, it was not possible it seems.
His motive is more then just money, fame, and power. It was his mere curiosity and he pursuit of the purest and his obsessiveness. To him and to the writer, the scent is the essence: the soul of a thing, or a man or a woman. He had a gift for this sense. He is a freak of nature, like most genius who bares the talent or gift, it is a burden. So this is how the author makes the reader sympathize for the criminal. We, the reader, don't know much about the virgin victims, except for the final precious 13th victim, she has a bit of a story.
I might add here that the writer has a gift as well. Sometimes, he is a freak and is obsessive about certain ideas, theme, and words. The novel is the way he conducts the experiment. The way he can distill smell onto the page is remarkable. Humanity is foul.
Interestingly, Grenouille has no body scent of his own. In some cultures, it is said that the Devil does not have a scent. It is also believed that women possess a keener faculty for the senses and uses this power to their persuasion/seduction. It is believed that animals, and humans attract each other through pheromones. It is one of the sense that is very hard to measure and not debilitating, not like sight or sound which we depend more for survival, although, taste of food arrives with the smell of it and adds to the pleasure.
It is a searching for something elusive. Once captured, our hero Grenouille seems dissatisfied. ...more

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Jan 15, 2010 azi added it

کتاب بدون ستاره مسخره.. اراجیف

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Mar 23, 2007 Lucy rated it really liked it

Shelves: bookclub-books

A really facinating novel. The description is fantastic of Paris and the process of making perfume, and the smells.... Very erotic. Very creative story.

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