Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Ratings459
Average rating3.9
Added to listmoon and sunwith 6 books.
Added to listlivres du secondairewith 14 books.
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This was a re-read for me, having read it around 2005. I recalled enjoying it, enjoying the writing which was overwhelmingly descriptive of the scents and odours throughout the book, and enjoying the dark character of Grenouille.
Reading it again some fifteen years later was equally enjoyable, and I retained the four stars I awarded it when I joined Goodreads (which, lets face it, is just an estimation based on recollection of lots of books).
I don't intend to plot outline - there are loads of reviews to do that, so there really is no need. I will touch on things I thought well done...
The amount of research the author did to describe the methods and techniques used in the tannery and the perfumers was impressive. It was very detailed, and as Grenouille learned, so did we as readers. N0t that I would be in a position to criticise, but it seemed very legitimate and accurately described.
The writing of Grenouille was clever - he was presented as a genius, a psychopath and a repellent man, but all the more fascinating for it. We see his disdain for mankind, his feelings of superiority, and his rapid learning, and his manipulations using scent. Either the translation is brilliant, or the writing and translation are very good!
And one minor quibble - long paragraphs. I am generally not a fan of long paragraphs, and some of them in this book get a bit long-winded. I don't resent them when they suit the tone (which most of them do) - for example the breathless learning of something that take effort to explain, but long for the want of some editorial tidying I dislike. Only a minor quibble here though.
And so to the ending (no spoilers), while it was sudden and I see other reviewers were disappointed, I thought it fitting, and ultimately Grenouille achieves all he can imagine.
Some quotes I enjoyed:
In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.-He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.-In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulfur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master's wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the king himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the queen like an old goat, summer and winter. For in the eighteenth century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition, so there was no human activity,either destructive or constructive, no manifestation of germinating or decaying life, that was not accompanied by stench.
This was a re-read for me, having read it around 2005. I recalled enjoying it, enjoying the writing which was overwhelmingly descriptive of the scents and odours throughout the book, and enjoying the dark character of Grenouille.
Reading it again some fifteen years later was equally enjoyable, and I retained the four stars I awarded it when I joined Goodreads (which, lets face it, is just an estimation based on recollection of lots of books).
I don't intend to plot outline - there are loads of reviews to do that, so there really is no need. I will touch on things I thought well done...
The amount of research the author did to describe the methods and techniques used in the tannery and the perfumers was impressive. It was very detailed, and as Grenouille learned, so did we as readers. N0t that I would be in a position to criticise, but it seemed very legitimate and accurately described.
The writing of Grenouille was clever - he was presented as a genius, a psychopath and a repellent man, but all the more fascinating for it. We see his disdain for mankind, his feelings of superiority, and his rapid learning, and his manipulations using scent. Either the translation is brilliant, or the writing and translation are very good!
And one minor quibble - long paragraphs. I am generally not a fan of long paragraphs, and some of them in this book get a bit long-winded. I don't resent them when they suit the tone (which most of them do) - for example the breathless learning of something that take effort to explain, but long for the want of some editorial tidying I dislike. Only a minor quibble here though.
And so to the ending (no spoilers), while it was sudden and I see other reviewers were disappointed, I thought it fitting, and ultimately Grenouille achieves all he can imagine.
Some quotes I enjoyed:
In eighteenth-century France there lived a man who was one of the most gifted and abominable personages in an era that knew no lack of gifted and abominable personages.-He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.-In the period of which we speak, there reigned in the cities a stench barely conceivable to us modern men and women. The streets stank of manure, the courtyards of urine, the stairwells stank of moldering wood and rat droppings, the kitchens of spoiled cabbage and mutton fat; the unaired parlors stank of stale dust, the bedrooms of greasy sheets, damp featherbeds, and the pungently sweet aroma of chamber pots. The stench of sulfur rose from the chimneys, the stench of caustic lyes from the tanneries, and from the slaughterhouses came the stench of congealed blood. People stank of sweat and unwashed clothes; from their mouths came the stench of rotting teeth, from their bellies that of onions, and from their bodies, if they were no longer very young, came the stench of rancid cheese and sour milk and tumorous disease. The rivers stank, the marketplaces stank, the churches stank, it stank beneath the bridges and in the palaces. The peasant stank as did the priest, the apprentice as did his master's wife, the whole of the aristocracy stank, even the king himself stank, stank like a rank lion, and the queen like an old goat, summer and winter. For in the eighteenth century there was nothing to hinder bacteria busy at decomposition, so there was no human activity,either destructive or constructive, no manifestation of germinating or decaying life, that was not accompanied by stench.
This is an extremely original story. The amount of research that must have gone into it is probably incredible. The story is just cute, not particularly deep and only some of the characters are well developed, while others are pretty shallow and their actions don't really seem well motivated.
This is an extremely original story. The amount of research that must have gone into it is probably incredible. The story is just cute, not particularly deep and only some of the characters are well developed, while others are pretty shallow and their actions don't really seem well motivated.
This is an extremely original story. The amount of research that must have gone into it is probably incredible. The story is just cute, not particularly deep and only some of the characters are well developed, while others are pretty shallow and their actions don't really seem well motivated.
This is an extremely original story. The amount of research that must have gone into it is probably incredible. The story is just cute, not particularly deep and only some of the characters are well developed, while others are pretty shallow and their actions don't really seem well motivated.
What a weird story, I loved it.
The book gripped me from start to finish. The way it's written as if someone is telling the story of the main characters life fits this odd story. It is both very detailed about the making of perfumes and engaging in the character’s views. Each part felt necessary to the whole of the story as it built up. The main character's ability is almost God like and reading about the reckoning of others that use/fight against him brought up questions of divine nature/work.
The ending is certainly odd but still enjoyable. That’s really how I felt about the whole book. I would recommend this book to others but not everyone. I think it's a little bit of an unserious book.
It's worth a read and the film is pretty good as well.
What a weird story, I loved it.
The book gripped me from start to finish. The way it's written as if someone is telling the story of the main characters life fits this odd story. It is both very detailed about the making of perfumes and engaging in the character’s views. Each part felt necessary to the whole of the story as it built up. The main character's ability is almost God like and reading about the reckoning of others that use/fight against him brought up questions of divine nature/work.
The ending is certainly odd but still enjoyable. That’s really how I felt about the whole book. I would recommend this book to others but not everyone. I think it's a little bit of an unserious book.
It's worth a read and the film is pretty good as well.