A review by elaichipod
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

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

5.0

This was the most twisted and gruesome book I have read in awhile, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was incredibly unique storyline, as equally disturbing. The story starts off with Grenouille's birth and infancy, which are probably the most eventful beginnings I have read. I like that the story not only focuses on Grenouille, but also traces the events of all the characters he interacted with. It almost seems like Grenouille carries a death curse with him that activates once he leaves that town. This story is also filled to the brim with terrible people, including money-driven bosses, a marquis obsessed with the possibility of the earth releasing poisonous gases (he is also a real person, interestingly), and fathers with pedo tendencies. I found the last couple chapters in which Grenouille uses the ultimate virginal perfume to trick everyone into participating in his "odoriferous victory banquet" and unwillingly have Richis adopt Grenouille as his son. The final chapter felt even more ludicrous, but it was cathartic and felt "right." The scent imagery and perfume making process was documented perfectly. 

He was an abomination from the start. He decided in favor of life out of sheer spite and sheer malice. Obviously he did not decide this as an adult would decide, who requires his more or less substantial experience and reason to choose among various options. But he did decide vegetatively, as a bean when once tossed aside must decide if it ought to germinate or had better let things be.

He disgusted them the way a fat spider that you can't bring yourself to crush in your own hand disgusts you.

He dreamed of an odoriferous victory banquet, a gigantic orgy with clouds of incense and fogs of myrrh, held in his own honor.

They could inhale his concoction of cat shit, cheese, and vinegar as an odor just like their own and accept him, Grenouille the cuckoo's egg, in their midst as a human being among human beings.

For the first time he had succeeded in robbing a living creature of its aromatic soul.