Reviews - Парфюмер: История одного убийцы

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10.2k reviews for:

Парфюмер: История одного убийцы

Patrick Süskind

3.9 AVERAGE

ish7's review against another edition

4.5

dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This has to be the most lush, sumptuous writing I have read in a very long time. A whole book brimming with descriptions of scents and it never got old. I am mindful that this is a translation and I read the 1986 John E. Woods' English translation which I loved a lot. Parts three and four particularly appealed to me. Grenouille is a fascinating character, he is like a blank slate with a single-minded focus on smell, the sense that permeates and defines his whole world. He lacks morality. He is not immoral, he is amoral. Smell is one of our oldest, most primitive scents and indeed Grenouille is like a creature of olde who has somehow been birthed into a modern human society. The book's ending is dark, macabre and almost camp. It has orgies and incest and cannibalism and murder. Weird, grotesque, fragrant, repugnant, strange, creepy and lovely.

Content Warnings

meg_masters's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

biblioslut's review against another edition

4.75

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

OMG the details in this book are 🤯! Truly multi sensory writing. Plus it’s dark and macabre with a disturbingly climactic ending.

Fun fact: It was one of Kurt Cobain’s favorite books!

reader_astray's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 17%

Stopped at the part where he murdered the girl and sniffed her body…big nope, cannot get past that

trichurit4's review against another edition

4.0

Un viaje maravilloso el que me ha regalado este libro. Sinceramente maravilloso.

Más allá de que invita a la reflexión en todo momento si se lee con esa intención, la forma de presentar cada personaje con su arco completo y conciso, por secundario que sea, me parece brillante.

Me deja con muy buen sabor.

elizafay's review against another edition

2.5

dark informative slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I had a feeling this would be a heady, pungent, fever dream of a novel—and in many ways, it is.

The book begins strongly. The world-building is vivid and evocative, and Grenouille’s early story is compelling. Süskind has an undeniable gift for atmosphere, and the initial chapters pulled me in with their dark, sensorial allure.

However, I gradually found myself losing interest. The descriptive writing, though impressive, often veers into the excessive. There are passages that feel more like indulgent detours than necessary elements of the story. While the level of detail might appeal to readers especially interested in the history and art of perfumery, I personally found it overwhelming and, at times, tedious. There were entire sections I could have done without, and it wouldn’t have affected the core narrative.

This is not a fast-paced thriller, despite what the title might suggest. The plot takes its time—perhaps too much time—to unfold. If you’re hoping for a murder mystery that leaps into action, this isn’t that kind of book. That said, Süskind clearly put significant research into this work, particularly regarding scent composition and historical detail, and that effort deserves recognition.

By Chapter 40, my interest picked up again, and the story gained some momentum. Perhaps it’s best described as a literary slowburn—though not one that fully paid off for me.

Overall, Perfume is a unique novel with a distinctive voice and vision. It’s undeniably well-crafted, but also quite polarizing. For some, it will be a richly layered, intoxicating experience. For others—including myself—it may feel like a long, meandering journey with too few rewards. An acquired taste, certainly. Just not one that suited mine.