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Perfume | 
 enlarge | Author: Patrick Suskind
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy Used: $0.03
You Save: $13.92 (100%)
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Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 304010
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7
ISBN: 0307277763
Dewey Decimal Number: 833.914
EAN: 9780307277763
ASIN: 0307277763
Publication Date: November 7, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More.
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Product Description
An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion—his sense of smell—leads to murder.
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
Translated from the German by John E. Woods.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
Macabre but not gory March 22, 2008
Michele Ankduda (New York, New York)
What an unusual concept for book, this story of a man obsessed by capturing the ultimate perfume.
The book is very descriptive of 18th century settings in France and the lead character's incredible ability to recognize, save and catalogue every scent he has ever encounterd. Each of the characters has selfish motivations for their actions, which all come together in this highly unusual tale
I expected to book to be more violent and gory than it actually is. Most of the violence occurs in the background, so the heart of the book is focused on the murderer's various schemes and methods of capturing scent. This asexual murderer uses scents to unconsciously control the people around him and methodically create his ultimate perfume.
Thought provoking and unsettling, but very well written. I admire the translator's work as well, it is never heavy handed.
 interesting but not riveting March 19, 2008
love_to_read (CT)
I'm not sure what to think of this book. It was definitely interesting in its vivid description of Paris and various places in France. The imagery that the author used was fantastic and really made you feel as if you were there. I did not really enjoy the story and plot. I didn't really think it was that entertaining even with the crazy ending....I would say skip this book unless you really enjoy reading about stories that took place in France.
 Synthetic Scent March 3, 2008
Tough Customer (LA, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book reeks (pun intended) of warped teenage sentimentality and middle-aged male perversion. It might appeal to a teen as provocatively profound and disturbing. (Hmm a Nirvana song is based on it.) It might appeal to those whose fetishes tend toward violence. For the rest of us, the story tries so hard to be bizzare in an artistic sort of way that it ends up being monotonous. Parts of the book really drag. The end is more comical than harrowing. The end is just too fantastical. The characters are like deaf mutes on sedatives. There is no reason to believe in, care for or justify the main character.
You'd get red in the cheeks if you had to tell your Mother about this book you just read. She'd know immediately that the emperor has no clothes.
The author tried to make literature but he ended up with a cartoon, granted a cartoon set in an interesting time and place (hence the 2 stars), but a color cartoon nonetheless.
 I would not recommend January 22, 2008
Meredith L. Schuermann (Atlanta, GA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I did not like this book. I thought the imagery was interesting but I did not enjoy the storyline and it was nothing like I expected. I was on vacation and had nothing else to read and that's the only reason I finished the book.
 Olfactory-licious! January 17, 2008
R. Towles
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
'Olfactory'- 'to have a smell', a word that is used quite a bit in this novel. I had no idea what it meant until I read this novel. Sounds boring? Not on your life. The protagonist in this novel was a classic SICKO! No, as the author accurately described him, he was a 'tick'. This book had me up late at night anxious to read more about the obsessiveness of this character. The author's style of writing is matter-of-fact, straight to the point, not a lot of emotionalism, almost as if he was writing from experience, from a murderer's mind. On the flip side he was very descriptive in detailing the obsession of this murderer and his pursuit to create the 'ultimate perfume' from the unsuspecting victims. While reading, I found myself slipping into the mind of the character when it came to using my sense of smell. As I was reading this imaginative masterpiece of horror, I found myself identifying with the obsession, trying to identify different smells/aromas in my house! 'OH! Stop it!' The author did an amazing job in detailing the preciseness, the exactness of identifying the components of a fragrance - to the point of obsession, where the reader is consumed, just as the murderer was, in trying to identify what the 'perfect perfume' would be. This story is extreme and the ending will blow you out the water, almost too extreme. I can't imagine capturing the essence of this novel on film! All-in-all it's a very good read!
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