Customer Reviews: Read 403 more reviews...
 255 pages total, 155 being blah blah blah December 1, 2008
Tara (Utah)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was inspired to read this after watching the movie over a year ago, thinking that the novel would be even better as movies tend to butcher novels and do them no justice. This novel needs butchering!!! Pages 33 to 37 nothing but a long list of what this fellow smells all over Paris. Pages 53 to 59 nothing but the bellyaching of a perfumer unhappy that the times are changing and advancing. And so on the book continues in this manner. Terrific story but could have been told in one hundred pages. I was appalled at all the lists and so on and so on.
 A scentillating examination of a murderer's mind! October 6, 2008
Medusa (Troy, MI)
Humans that are deprived of one or more of the senses naturally compensate by focusing and overdeveloping the remaining senses. Suskind brilliantly chose to deprive Grenouille of something other than senses, the ability to be recognized. I don't believe any human in history had a complete absence of a body scent, whether it's a pleasant or unpleasant one; we all associate places, loved ones, memories and incidents with special scents.
Jean Baptiste Grenouille was born a strange baby who lacked a body scent and emitted a freaky feeling to every body around him, so much so, that even his "mother" tried to get rid of him soon after his birth.
Surprisingly, baby Grenouille survives all the hardships associated with growing up poor in an orphanage, deprived of any human affection. The one thing that guided Jean Babtiste was his sense of smell; scents were burned in to his mind and could easily compare them with other scents he remembered and he could easily tell the source of a smell from a far distance. Through pure coincidence Grenouille landed a job with Baldini, a Parisian perfumer, where he was able to mix scents and experiment using his unique sense of smell to make great new scents. Grenouille's mind had no other focus but organizing and inventing perfumes.
One day, Grenouille was attracted to a lovely new scent that led him to a red headed virgin. He tried to capture the scent and accidentally killed her. The scent vanished shortly after the girl's death, and now Grenouille is on a mission to find a way to keep the lovely scents associated with beautiful pre-pubertal girls.
Grenouille embarks on scent focused research, fed like a monster by his desire to capture the perfect scent. Grenouille goes on a killing spree, capturing one scent after another and finally creates the perfect perfume that elicits all kind of affectionate and emotional reactions in people.
The shocking ending will take place when Grenouille finally gets the attention he wants.
Suskind created a work of great artistry, taking the reader to the 18th century streets of Paris. He painted a very vivid picture of the dirty Parisian streets, the lovely world of scents and the weird mind of a killer.
Still, Suskind's genius isn't in his descriptions of the chaotic corrupt life in France prior to the revolution, or in the detailed depiction of art of perfume manufacturing. Rather, Suskind managed to separate himself from the villain of his story in a way that even Dostoyevsky did not achieve in "Crime and Punishment".
From my personal research into the psychology of serial killers, I concluded that they are very focused on their own pleasure and don't actually feel the pain they inflict on others. A predator's mind is incapable of experiencing suffering or pain if it's separated from their body. Suskind brilliantly showed how Grenouille is totally focused on his pleasure and totally indifferent in his interaction with the dead body. The way Grenouille thought of the different scents and listed them was completely systematic and his actions were accordingly automaton like.
This novel got a lot of attention because of the shocking and strange nature of the story, but I predict more success and appreciation in the future due to the accurate psychological analysis of a murderer's mind, along with the artistic way in which the story is told.
Patrick Suskind created a brilliant masterpiece that will leave readers breathless, shocked, and possibly angry. I hope the reader will understand that this is the point; just because a villain's inner world is described doesn't mean it's a bad novel. Evil is one concept in life, and the job of great authors like Suskind is to present us with the naked truth. Perfume is simply a great work.
 Totally creepy - in a completely absorbing way . . . October 4, 2008
J. E. McDonough
PERFUME reads like a grotesque fairy tale - but you can't put it down! If you have a taste for the bizarre AND a well-written novel, give it a try. But you've got to be able to stomach a little ickiness . . .
Thank you may I have another? September 25, 2008
Mitchell Marubayashi
A masterpeice of literature, a page turner with epic themes and characters. Literary In-N-Out Burger, treat yourself to an engrossing narrative with an intriguing anti-hero and a whimsical plot full of satisfying surprises and climaxes. If only all authors could put together novels like this!
Morbid boring and graphic August 3, 2008
Dawn Dellarocco (SHELTON, CT)
I read this book and didn't care for it at all. Certain parts of the book were depressing and morbid. All it talked about the scent of perfume and murders. The story was really weird and did not care for it at all. The writing was a bit confusing and boring. I'm just glad I bought the 1986 trade paperback edition at a supermarket used book drive for charity. I forced myself to finish this.
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