You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
vanillaprtty 's review for:
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
by John E Woods, Nigel Patterson, Patrick Süskind
I am a perfume lover. Scents, moods, and moments are one in my mind, I’m the type of person who walks into Ingredients (niche/high end perfume store) and says “I’m looking for something that smells like when you take shelter from a summer downpour and you’re a little bit wine drunk and moist with sweat and rain” (I did ask this, I was recommended Rain Cloud by Perfumer H, but it’s lacking a bit of that headiness from the wine imo). I am no Grenouille, but my love of perfume definitely made this book a well-suited experience. It inspired me to breathe in a little deeper out in the real world: what can I smell RIGHT NOW? (I just finished a cup of hot wine from a vendor in a park, it’s a very cool but not freezing evening, I can smell the cold air, some hot dogs or similar, the wine, my own perfume, maybe a fire??).
Beautifully written, compelling, and a perfect example of “none of these people are great but WHY am I rooting for the worst of them?”. Grenouille is TERRIBLE, a product of his experience and being or something more sinister? I like that this idea (of him being some devilish creature) is only ever fully actualised when Grenouille creates a scent to manipulate — his action not his being. I enjoyed that Süskind demonised the only potentially likeable main character by making him a creep lusting over his daughter and protecting her for his own selfishness and gain, not out of paternal love.
I loved a lot about this book, it’s contemporary but written about (and somewhat as if it’s from) the 18th or early 19th century and I don’t read many pieces set in that time so at first it wasn’t easily digestible - not a problem because I obviously understood everything, it was just that the voice wasn’t what I’m used to and I took a little longer to read it than I might another book. That’s not a criticism, if anything pacing myself made me enjoy and appreciate it more.
Beautifully written, compelling, and a perfect example of “none of these people are great but WHY am I rooting for the worst of them?”. Grenouille is TERRIBLE, a product of his experience and being or something more sinister? I like that this idea (of him being some devilish creature) is only ever fully actualised when Grenouille creates a scent to manipulate — his action not his being. I enjoyed that Süskind demonised the only potentially likeable main character by making him a creep lusting over his daughter and protecting her for his own selfishness and gain, not out of paternal love.
I loved a lot about this book, it’s contemporary but written about (and somewhat as if it’s from) the 18th or early 19th century and I don’t read many pieces set in that time so at first it wasn’t easily digestible - not a problem because I obviously understood everything, it was just that the voice wasn’t what I’m used to and I took a little longer to read it than I might another book. That’s not a criticism, if anything pacing myself made me enjoy and appreciate it more.