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I had never heard of this book until it was picked as my book club’s read for May. I immediately fell in love with the cover, as well as the blurb which I know is wrong, but I love a good, messed-up book, which is exactly what I would call this. I can’t tell you how many people reached out to me after I posted I was reading this book to tell me that it is the strangest and most horrific book they’ve ever read, as well as the film which doesn’t seem like a popular choice for my fellow bookstagrammers! However, I was so excited to give it a go, especially because it was Kurt Cobain’s favourite novel too!
SYNOPSIS: In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift—an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odours of Paris and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"—the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brilliance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
REVIEW: I found this book to be addictive. I found myself wanting to pick the book back up whenever I had a spare moment, which is always a sign of a great book for me. However, as much as I loved the story, I’m still unsure how I feel about the main character and murderer, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. At moments, I felt sorry for him and I found myself rooting for his success in becoming a great perfumer but my thoughts and feelings quickly changed once his behaviour became malicious and dangerous. Yet I also can’t picture him in my mind, which is also strange for a protagonist who I’ve invested so much time in reading about. I think perhaps because it was written in the third person, we weren’t allowed to make a personal connection with him, and maybe that was for the best too.
There were so many great moments in the book, especially in the final third part of the novel but I did struggle with some of the book, especially when Suskind goes into great, intricate detail about how perfumes are made and how smells are captured. I felt like although interesting at first, it became very repetitive and didn’t provide anything to the story/plot. However the overall story was so well written and it was interesting to think about the 18th century in the way Suskind wrote about it - smelly, foul, impoverished and superstitious.
The ending was BIZARRE and although shocking, kind of made sense to me. I definitely felt like the book was leading up to something BIG and my god, Suskind came through with one of the most bizarre endings to a book I’ve ever read but so worth it. I would urge anyone thinking about reading this book to go into expecting nothing and enjoy the ride. A fantastic, f*cked-up modern classic.
READ THIS IF:
👃 You’re looking to read more modern classics
👃 You enjoy strange books
👃 You enjoy books with complicated protagonists
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