Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Rating:
Summary: Unprecedented!
Review: There cannot be many tales similar to this - using the olfactory sense as the almost exclusive channel into 18th-century France and the mind and heart of a killer. One can only imagine the amount of time and historical research the writing of this book demanded, not to mention the creativity involved in developing such a complex villain. Grenouille, devoid of all feeling except for his paranormal sense of smell and overwhelming desire to develop the ultimate scent at any cost, is the most chilling and engrossing character ever experienced by this reader. The book is a must for anyone wanting to lose himself in a tale of soulless obsession and murder set against the fascinating backdrop of the sights, sounds, and above all, smells of another time and place.

Rating:
Summary: A good and original book
Review: I think this is a very good book, with very stylish writing. Moreover, it is one of the only books I have read which places the reader inside the action, making himself feel the emotion that the author describes.

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Summary: Scentless Apprentice.
Review: I would like to say that I have read this amazing book twice.I have known about it on a Nirvana's leader (Kurt Cobain)interview and there was written that he could not stop reading this book and it was the theme for a song called Scentless Apprentice.I was really impressed by this fact as I am a great Nirvana's fan.Firstly,the place that Grenouille was born called my attention. It was in a dirty city without any hope because of its misery.Suskind created an atmosphere that is very unusual for me.The boy was born with a gift and for this reason he could seduce anyone.It is an excentric book,different from all I have ever read or imagined.Some friends of mine have read the book and were impressed too.Grenouille is not a human as we are.He has no feelings.He is cold,physically weak,weird,but he knows exactly what he want and knows how to get it and does not matter if somebody gets hurt in this process.The book made me think a lot about what caused the author to write it,where has he had such idea.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing short of fantastic
Review: Wow, was this novel ever an experience! I loved every word, paragraph and page and the ending is so incredible that I was utterly awestruck. Patrick Suskind's depiction of 17th Century Paris and environs is so vivid that you can almost smell the putrid stench of the age. Everything leaps out at you from the pages making it nearly impossible to put the book down. This is a mesmerizing and haunting literary tour de force and one that I highly recommend to anyone interested in reading an intelligent, thought-provoking novel. The premise of a seemingly soulless killer born with no scent of his own yet able to, like a fine perfumer, create any scent or odor he desires due to his own extraordinarily developed sense of smell is a stroke of genius. Though the concept seems far-fetched, in Mr. Suskind's capable hands it comes across a highly plausible and eerily frightening concept. An all around great novel and one that will keep you up all night, frantically flipping the pages.

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Summary: French farce which smells of murder
Review: I have just re-read Suskind's novel and must urge others to do so. A peculiar tale of a poverty fuelled child dragged into the world with only the sense of smell undamaged by hatred. The central character is thrown into an environment straight from Dante. Smell and sense become synonomous with revenge and passion. We are taken on an unusual account of the fall into madness that results in the production of a scent to equal the fruits of angels. If you take the historical research of Umberto Eco, mix that with the humour of Ben Johnson and the complex plot of Burgess you'll get the picture.

Rating:
Summary: A Shaky Masterpiece
Review: Be warned! The title misleads.Anyone expecting a murder mystery or psychological thriller in an historical setting (which I did not) will be disappointed.PERFUME is more fable than novel, and thereby would have benefitted from more judicious editing. There is a great deal of detail - yes, often exquisitely written and lovely in and of itself - which burdens the pace of the story. I found the middle section unnecessarily lengthy and redundant - though, of course, the ending more than made up for it.There is a great deal of impressive detail concerning period: place, manner, and most of all the production of perfumes, soaps, etc.....though often this wealth of prose tends to burden the flow of the story. Fables are by their nature basic, spare; magic simplicity is their form and their appeal. Here content and form do not always agree. A beautiful nightmare. Original and memorable? Definitely. A masterpiece of fiction? Almost. (As a footnote, it would have been interesting to see what Kubrick - who was rumored to have been interested in adapting PERFUME - would have done with the story, how he might have reshaped it. Improved it, maybe?... Probably not, considering EYES)

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Summary: Disturbingly seductive.
Review: I read this book when it first came out, and once again each year thereafter, to keep the details and the exquisitely descriptive writing alive in my mind. The author has such a supreme gift for building plot and character, and so clearly evokes all of the intended moods, that I find myself using it as a standard by which I measure all other novels. That which appears to be overtly chilling cannot come close to the subtle messages conveyed through these words. This story raises questions concerning the power of scent, attraction, repulsion, the justification of murder and the overwhelming need to be loved. The brilliant, carefully woven words themselves are as satisfying as the story they tell.

Rating:
Summary: brilliant !
Review: Such a fantastick book ! The type of book that makes you want to cry when you turn the last page, because you would like it to continue forever...

Rating:
Summary: excelente lectura
Review: este libro es excelente y es uno de mis temas favoritos, las mentes desviadas, en este caso la de un perfumista y un criminal. parece ser que desde el principio estuvise guzgado y su destino definido, y la novela parece fatalista, , pero es un excelente libro y espero que lo disfruten de la misma manera que se disfruta de la metamorfosis de kafka y de el tunel de sabato. luis mendez

Rating:
Summary: excellent read
Review: this book which shows an extreme case of madnes is very interesting and powerfully written. it shows a good craftmamnship on the part of the writer he really knows what he is writing about i hope people enjoy reading this, the same way we enjoyed books like kafka s metamorphosis or ernesto sabato's el tunel luis mendez