| Product: |
Perfume - Patrick Suskind |
| Date: |
28.10.07 (105 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Famous - a 'to read' book
Disadvantages: Boring
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 misfit, using his sense of smell instead of his eyesight to guide him. He is locked in a world of his own, as there is no-one who understands his world who could be his confidante. Nor does he want to share. He is quite happy being solitary - in fact, at one stage he spends seven years alone in a cave!
You can understand from this that the story is very mono-dimensional, most of it refelcting Grenouille's state of mind and reproducing his ponderings.
The book is 272 pages long. At about page 200 it starts to get a bit more interesting. I did persevere until the end,but it was a struggle. I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else, although the film is OK.
Summary: A hard book to read, but probably worth doing just to say you have.
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