Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Perfume

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Perfume by Patrick Süskind

25 reviews

ed_moore's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Süskind’s ‘Perfume’ to no surprise places a lot of emphasis on scent, both in its plot, character and descriptions, and never before when reading have I considered scent so much especially given I have a very limited sense of smell myself. This book was just as brilliant as the pigeon, but in an extremely different way. It was so carefully crafted yet weird, harrowing, uncomfortable and shocking (the series of twists at the ending!)

‘Perfume’ follows a child Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, as he grows into a young man and his super-human nose leads to huge successes in the perfuming business yet he seeks aims beyond profit, to create the perfect scent and also discover his own, for despite the power of his nose he himself lacks smell.

It really made me consider the impact of smell where it’s not played much of a role in my life (as I said earlier) and somehow was conveyed through words which led to the phenomenon of so intimately accessing one scent through the use of another.

The book also had a similar feeling to Dumas’ ‘The Black Tulip’ for some reason which I too thoroughly enjoyed, though was a lot more unsettling.

I am quickly falling in love with Süskind as an author.

though the orgy scene was really weird I didn’t love that…

Content Warnings

gabbynasty's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense fast-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

5.0

Content Warnings

windspice's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.0

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bgick's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Content Warnings

strabbyfieldz's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

sporadically good; a waft of flowers after rain

Content Warnings

uly_mckown's review against another edition

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

4.5

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emmaj_xo's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

3.0

My expectations were high for this. A dark, erotic tale of murder set in mid-18th century France should have felt made for me. But I felt the more “disturbing” parts of the plot pushed too far into the realm of silly. That’s not to say the content wouldn’t be upsetting for some readers, just that the villainy is almost cartoonish.

An easy, well-paced read with some interestingly inventive description that kept me entertained throughout. And on that note I think the translater is deserving of praise. But overall not as impressed by the plot as I’d hoped I’d be.

Content Warnings