Perfume by Patrick Suskind Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Perfume
Book Review: Book with no heart
Summary: 5 Stars
Great story, where you can find peaces of society in every life time.
Main character has his own and the only path, to chase smells. And through the book he makes the best parfume out of the pores of innocent girl, but by that time he was already an expert.
The end is also great, very dramatic, and it doesnt let you fell sorry for nobody, not even the dead ones.
It stays in your thoughts for a while.
Book Review: Boy howdy, was this beautifully written, but disturbing!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love gorgeously-written books that leave me trembling with a sort of envy. Hilary Jordan's "Mudbound" and Dorothy Allison's "Bastard out of Carolina" are two books that have made me breathless. Not surprisingly, Perfume has also left me breathless (and not just because of the disturbing end) - it's gorgeous!
I admire how Suskind didn't go the gory route and describe the nitty-gritty where the girls' corpses were concerned, just as he made us have *some* sympathy for Grenouille. Unlike cookie-cutter villains, you're made to feel a little sorry for this man. Twenty-five murders, be damned! He wants to acquire the perfect scent, to have people love him, and (in some ways) fit in. I'm sure a lot of people can at least empathize with that.
If you are an impatient reader, this book does drag in some places (although I found it fascinating on the account of the beautiful language. I'm a sucker for beautiful language, though). The last fifty pages go rather quick, however, and the end is rather disturbing, to say the least. If none of this matters at all, then read the book. It's definitely not your ordinary murder mystery.
Book Review: Disturbing
Summary: 4 Stars
This is definately a good book, but I wouldn't recommend it for my mother. There are many slow parts, that's for sure, for it seems the author knows what he's talking about and goes into detail, which is actually very fascinating if you're patient enough to read it all. I must admit I will probably never read this book again, for it is incredibly disturbing. It is, for the most part, told from the main character's (Jean-Baptiste) point of view, who is the murderer. Call me crazy but it's the first time I've been able to understand and empathize with a cold-blooded murderer, that's how well the author goes into this character's head. You hate him and feel sorry for him at the same time. It was a good experience for me. This book will make you think, and for me, it made me wonder how in the world I myself can rise above mediocrity, for the author makes human beings seem completely stupid, and I just pray I'm not someone who'd fall into one of Jean-Baptiste's traps. Trust me, you will put down the book at the very end, completely sickened and disturbed, and left thinking very deeply (or trying not to). It's worth the ride if you can handle it. Read it!Book Review: Extra-ordinary
Summary: 5 Stars
Patrick Süskind's novel is extra-ordinary. Dedicated to the sense of smell, and equating humanness with possessing a warm, alive animal smell, this is a book unlike any other. It is also a thriller, unlikely as this may sound - given that large parts of the book are about the art of perfume making. (I found these parts very interesting indeed.)
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is perhaps the oddest central figure a novel could possibly have, anointing himself with perfume (because he must), cold, hunched and ugly as a toad : John the Baptist and frog "messiah" all in one. No prince this frog, though, except the prince of darkness, as Grenouille is pure evil, born without any sense of morals, unpleasant to look at, incoherent, self-centred and self-contained.
Seven unending years alone in the wilderness, wearing but a rough robe and surviving on only small wild animals, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille shadows his name sake John the Baptist in many ways - though Grenouille makes it plain that he is not the forerunner of God but God himself. There is no crucifixion for Grenouille however and at the last feast, more than just a head is served up, platters being totally dispensed with.
You will have to read it yourself to make up your own mind about this excellently written book : it is horrible and dreadfully violent, though riveting and fascinating.
I have just seen the Twyker film with Ben Grisham as Grenouille : it's superb, very well managed and very true to the Süskind original. See it!
Book Review: I love it
Summary: 5 Stars
Couldn't believe it that they finally made it movie out of it.
It is dark... it is scary... but all so human... the longing.. the hunt.
I was mesmerizing.