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3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
dark
funny
fast-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:
Complicated
Favorite book
3.5
It started out really strong with the clever descriptions of cities from an olfactory perspective, and the villain’s Dickensian childhood. His mother delivers him in a pile of fish guts above a mass grave. This was the fifth time she had welcomed a new life in that very place, known as the most putrid spot in the kingdom, where:
“the bloody meat that had emerged had not differed greatly from the fish guts that lay there already, nor had lived much longer, and by evening the whole mess had been shoveled away and carted off to the graveyard or down to the river.”
Her story ends there. She is spotted abandoning the child, confesses to multiple counts of infanticide, and is promptly beheaded.
The boy is christened Grenouille (Frog) then placed with a wet nurse who can only endure him for a few weeks and leaves him with a priest. The priest, in turn, finds lodging for him with a Mme Gaillard, where in the course of his childhood he survives among other hardships:
“measles, dysentery, chicken pox, cholera, a twenty-foot fall into a well, and a scalding with boiling water poured over his chest.
Whoever has survived his own birth in a garbage can is not so easily shoved back out of this world again.”
When he turns eight Mme Gaillard is relieved of her obligation and turns the child over to a tanner, believing that:
“Grenouille would have no chance of survival in Grimal’s tannery. But she was not a woman who bothered herself about such things.”
There he slept on a dirt floor in a locked closet and spent his days learning skills like chopping wood, scraping meat from rotting hides, mixing poisonous fluids and dyes, and hauling hundreds of buckets of water.
That part of the novel was good fun. The buildup was more compelling than the meat of the story itself. The second half, where the action ramps up—the murders and his sense of smell evolving from extraordinary to absurd—lost some steam. Still, it’s a fairly quick read and an original and entertaining tale,
It started out really strong with the clever descriptions of cities from an olfactory perspective, and the villain’s Dickensian childhood. His mother delivers him in a pile of fish guts above a mass grave. This was the fifth time she had welcomed a new life in that very place, known as the most putrid spot in the kingdom, where:
“the bloody meat that had emerged had not differed greatly from the fish guts that lay there already, nor had lived much longer, and by evening the whole mess had been shoveled away and carted off to the graveyard or down to the river.”
Her story ends there. She is spotted abandoning the child, confesses to multiple counts of infanticide, and is promptly beheaded.
The boy is christened Grenouille (Frog) then placed with a wet nurse who can only endure him for a few weeks and leaves him with a priest. The priest, in turn, finds lodging for him with a Mme Gaillard, where in the course of his childhood he survives among other hardships:
“measles, dysentery, chicken pox, cholera, a twenty-foot fall into a well, and a scalding with boiling water poured over his chest.
Whoever has survived his own birth in a garbage can is not so easily shoved back out of this world again.”
When he turns eight Mme Gaillard is relieved of her obligation and turns the child over to a tanner, believing that:
“Grenouille would have no chance of survival in Grimal’s tannery. But she was not a woman who bothered herself about such things.”
There he slept on a dirt floor in a locked closet and spent his days learning skills like chopping wood, scraping meat from rotting hides, mixing poisonous fluids and dyes, and hauling hundreds of buckets of water.
That part of the novel was good fun. The buildup was more compelling than the meat of the story itself. The second half, where the action ramps up—the murders and his sense of smell evolving from extraordinary to absurd—lost some steam. Still, it’s a fairly quick read and an original and entertaining tale,
dark
informative
tense
fast-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:
No
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Great book. I always wanted to read it after seeing the movie as I knew with the movie being decent, I could FEEL the book would be so much better. It was. It’s creepy, sad, exciting and loving, crammed together into a sweet little book about adoration.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The beginning of the book is awesome, beautifully written. But as you keep on reading it becomes slower and slower than when you get to the climax of the story you are not excited about the destiny of our main character. I find anything very remarkable besides the beginning and the end of the story. The message is powerful thi: we care too much about appearance and we care too much about other's opinion, in the story this premise is taken to the edge
This book was beautifully written- the descriptions of scents were absolutely stunning and I was blown away by the almost lyrical style of writing.
The story itself was just okay for me.
The story itself was just okay for me.
dark
funny
medium-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:
No
Dit is waarschijnlijk een van de beste boeken die ik dit jaar heb gelezen. Het Parfum ging verder dan mijn verwachtingen. Ik dacht dat ik min of meer wist wat er zou gebeuren, maar het ging verder.
Het boek is vrij sober geschreven, tot het bij een beschrijving van geur komt. Het boek barst open en beschrijft de geur zo uitgebreid. Ik heb in mijn leven nog nooit zo vaak gedacht aan de geur van willekeurige objecten.
De humor en de leeservaring deed mij denken aan theater. De manier waarop het verhaal wordt verteld, voelt als verschillende acts. Verschillende personages vervullen een bepaalde rol. Deze personages zijn een beetje dramatisch, karaktervol en zorgen voor comic relief. Het contrasteert met de persoonlijkheid van het hoofdpersonage. Hij heeft amper een persoonlijkheid, buiten zijn geniale neus. Hij vervulde een soort donker, afschuwelijk verlangen en fascinatie. Hij deed mij vaak denken aan Erik uit The Phantom of the Opera.
Wat mij opviel, was de rol van de vrouwen in dit boek. Of beter de rol, die ze amper hadden. Ik kan mij geen enkele gesproken zin van een vrouw herinneren. Vrouwen waren geen personen, maar een middel. Ze vervulden twee rollen, ofwel die van de moeder ofwel een lustobject. Iets om in het achterhoofd te houden bij een reread.