"Perfume" by Patrick Susskind

[darioalvarez33]

I enjoyed this book. The villain is one of the creepiest I've ever read. The historical and setting details seem well-researched an add to the book. A very interesting unusual idea!

[Scott]

Are morality and the philosophy of morality major themes in this book?

[thus19]

read the book a few years ago and actually didn't like it so much, although i loved the language süskind uses to depict grenouille's world. he went into the gory details a little bit too much for my taste, though, not that i got grossed out, i just thought them unnecessary.
might reread it though after reading the other posts, see how i'll like it now.

[Montetre']

Rereading is always a brilliant decision!

[mosquito]

had read this book a couple of times before I saw the movie and also think they did not a bad job on the flick

fantastic book

on the perfume subject but off topic somewhat (may be in another thread) Jitterbug Perfume... another great story

[rooserfeather]

Sounds a unique book. I don't recall reading anything similar. May be I should try it.

[OSnowToGo]

I recently read this classic after hearing much hype about it. I had a lot of patience with it because of everything I had heard but I was honestly a bit disappointed.
It is undoubtedly a great piece of writing. Beautiful to read.
However, I thought the story was actually quite lacking and I struggled to keep going. The book became hard work due to the wonderful over-complication of passages. I felt I could read for pages without much actually happening in the story. A work that maybe would have been better as a shorter piece for me. It just didn't hold me. But maybe I am just a slave to the modern, high-octane page-turners!

Did anyone else have a similar experience? Or am I just being a bit of a literary simpleton..?

[Circling Turtle]

This was a brilliant book, rich with dark irony and gritty magical realism. I can't really relate with it being too slow. I loved the short chapters, like vignettes. Such a fascinating, chilling story. And the main character (even though he is a true psychopath) is well constructed.

I agree with Scott that the nature of morality is one of several important themes in this book. More specifically, where does morality come from? Is it taught or innate? Would Jean-Baptiste have become like he did if he had had a happier childhood, with genuine love?

I found the theme of smell so interesting. It governs us subconsciously but we barely give it any thought. It was doubly fascinating for me because up until I was a teen I had an overdeveloped sense of smell (smoking has suppressed that to a large extent, although it is still pretty sharp and distracting), and I was much more affected than other people by smells. Suskind is a truly talented writer to be able to express such an abstract sense.

[Kali0925]

I found this book very compelling and intriguing. The way Grenouille is obsessed with the perfect scent is amazing and at the same time scary, specially the lengths that he goes to try and suffice his obsession. I was also conflicted towards the end, should he pay for his crimes or not. If you're looking for an intriguing and suspenseful book, this is one that I would recommend, but you do need to have a stomach to endure certain scenes.

[aoboshi36]

A brilliant book, I'd definitely say. Never came across a book that would lead me to picture so much imagery. Rather than the thriller, I found Perfume somehow more of tragedy as Grenouille's life seemed to start and end from the same cause, which is the perfect scent. It feels really sad and pitiful that his life should end from what he have been holding dear all along.

For me, the best thing would be how Suskind nails it in describing every detail in such a way that evokes a very realistic picture of mind. However, I was really disappointed with the movie adaptation as I mostly did with most book-to-movie adaptation since it was not anywhere as dramatic, thrilling, and realistic as the book did.