Reviews with content warning for Incest - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Reviews tagging 'Incest'

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

36 reviews

guccishoestrings's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-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

2.75

I am not going to do my usual review style for this book because it is very..... unique. This story is about the character Jean-Baptiste Grenouille but it also tells the story of those who come into contact with him throughout his life.

The story begins the day he is born, his mother left him to die and wet nurses are scared to take him in because he emits no smell (meaning he is possessed by the devil). This also leads him to be a social outcast throughout his entire childhood and teenage life while also surviving a deadly illness that scares him making an even bigger outcast. He finds comfort in the scent of small to the point of needing it to be perfect to be able to live in peace. This leads to him eventually becoming an apprentice to a perfume maker and this leads him on the trail of creating the greatest smell to ever be smelt in the world.

This is a story about the obsession and pursuit of perfection at all costs and when achieving said perfection the outcome not being what is expected (if you have read Frankenstein, you know the theme I'm talking about). This leads to everything he had done being meaningless and thus is life being meaningless and at the end allows himself to die because he has no need/drive to live anymore.

This book was interesting but, it was written in the way of literary books in the 80s were written (book was published in 1985). This could lead to the book being boring in sections and really exciting in others. The story itself is great but, like I said, it could get really boring at times which is why it gets such a low score. I would recommend to anybody who likes books written in an old fashion style that like books like Frankenstein.

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mayg's review against another edition

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4.0

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thefriendlydragon's review against another edition

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Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.5

The writing style is nice, though there is very little dialogue and that usually bothers me.
CWs: the n word and g word are used in the text!

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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

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crustywhitedog's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny informative tense 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

4.5

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ladynocturnal'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

3.25

This is a character study of a twisted man. The violence is mostly understated, there is not a lot of gore or blood in this book. The focus on scent and perfume gave some much needed originality. My only compliant is that the author makes some gross comments about the female victims in this novel. I do not need to know how the breasts of a dead teenager look. The middle section gets a little boring. The beautiful writing makes it worth a read.

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stephanieanneauthor's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is wild! Sure, the story had it's dark moments, but it's also ridiculous (in a good way). I genuinely was not expecting some of the things that happened - especially in those final chapters. I also love the fact that it focuses so much on scent. It's an underused sense in literature, but so good as conjuring up emotions. Just do listen to the audiobook on public transit like I did - I was VERY aware of the scents on the bus that day.

But I think my favourite part is that it reads like a text from the 18th century. I've read a lot of Victorian literature for both school and for fun, so I'm very familiar with the writing style of the time. I had to double check that this book was actually written in the 1980s - you could've fooled me.

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