Review: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Picked up Patrick Süskind's Perfume, because recommended to me by a friend, I liked the movie a lot, the first time I believed wholeheartedly that images can transcend odours.

I believe I have the paperback in the UK, for now I'm stuck with a badly formatted digital version.

But gosh the scents that are described seem to attack my brain directly. I believe I'd be stuck with it for a while still... very strange..., can't seem to put it down, but I worry about my mentality when I try to understand Grenouille's mentality... and I cannot help it, the books seems to draw readers into it...

The words seem to shower me with their description of mentality and scent... making me feel lost and confused but enthralled all at once. I have to constantly stop because I get drawn in too easily... it's a masterpiece indeed.

I get to peek into the mind of a socio-path... or is that the mind of a psychopath? I think it is both, but more inclined to the latter. And I can almost see the reasoning, I can almost understand, and comprehend what is going through the head of Grenouille, how his mind is set.

Babies are born with a pure and simple mind. It's been a debate going on for thousands of years: were they born evil, or were they born good? Süskind seems to believe in the former, since Grenouille was born with a defect in character, as in he saw the world as he saw it, without love and without hope. But would he have changed if he had someone to love him? Would it have been different were someone able to offer him warmth?

I think I'd be stuck with finding out the answer. I wonder what I'd do if I was facing a person with no personal, human scent. I wonder what I'd do if I was such a person.



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