Perfume - Patrick Suskind

I thought I'd read this before I saw the film (am I the only person who like to do it this way round?) - and what a shock I got! This book is translated from the German by someone who seems to be using and online translation device! The sentences are long and cumbersome, and many of the words are frankly out-dated. One sentence I read was five lines long! I realise I can't blame all this on the translator. It is probably a reflection on the cultural difference between two countries' styles of wiritng. I am used to a punchier style. So does the style fit the story? Well, not necessarily. The hero (or anit-hero, really) Grenouille stumbles through life as a ...  Read the complete review

Sniff your fingers. What do you get? I’ve just done it and mine are onions that have perhaps seen better days. My index finger is the strongest and as I conquer mount middle digit and descend to the valley of the small the smell begins to wane. At my little finger the onions disappear and there is something there, something I can’t place and yet something that is essential to me. That smell, that tiny note that is imperceptible and ever present, is my smell. The effects of preparing roasted onions aside, imagine if you had no sense of your own smell. How would that affect you? Perhaps not that much, given the lynx and Givenchy juices that ...  Read the complete review

Perfume was first released in the original German in 1985, followed the following year by the English translation. This is a book that I have had on my "to be read" list for literally years, and only finally got round to recently. You know how these lists work, they are forever growing and titles get displaced as priorities change and new books are released and people recommend things that "you really must read". Well, Perfume is one that should have been read a lot sooner than it was. If you haven't already read it, I strongly recommend that you do. The plot is straightforward enough. A boy is born into late 18th century Paris, a ...  Read the complete review

I was given this book to read by a friend of mine, who knew I had an interest in criminology. Halfway through the book and I was racking my brains to figure out why I'd never heard of this guy and his crimes. A bit of checking later and I discover it's a novel, not based on anything factual. This threw me a little. This is a book about a serial killer. This particular serial killer was French, and carrying out his horrendous crimes in Paris during the 1800's. Grenoule is presented as something of a tragic and pathetic sort of creature, who has a phenomenal talent. His nose is his fortune, and it is able to pick up and define every nuance ...  Read the complete review

First published in German as 'Das Parfum' in 1985, the English translation was first published in 1986. ISBN: 978-0-141-02904-7 263 pages. Author: Patrick Suskind. £6.99 This book was also released as a film 'Perfume: The story of a Murderer' in 2006, I remember going to see the film after having read this book but I really remember nothing about it so I'm guessing it wasn't as enjoyable as the book. It is set in the 18th century in Paris. The beginning is quite disturbing; A woman is giving birth as she works on her fish market stall and just tosses the baby onto the pile of fish ...  Read the complete review