Perfume
Patrick Süskind's Perfume follows the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, abandoned at birth in the slums of eighteenth-century Paris, but blessed with an outstanding sense of smell. This gift enables Jean-Baptiste to master the art of perfume making, but one scent evades him: that of a virgin, whom he must possess to ensure her innocence and beauty are preserved. Laced with sense and suspense, this is a beguiling tale of lust, desire and deadly obsession.
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7recommend
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2012–2023years
54% recommend46% neutral
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What Hacker News says
- I, too, failed to finish Lolita. The prose is interesting, but I just couldn't get into the story.
I'm sure I'll be derided for this, but I think a good alternative that you might want to consider is Perfume by Suskind. It has a similar over-the-top style of prose, but it was very enjoyable to me and it had an interesting story. Only the ending was a bit strange, but it was well worth my time.
Give it a shot!
- Since I read Perfume by Patrick Süskind, I smell everything. And the sense I had associated with good or bad smells is disappearing. Now I just smell things and etch the moment in my memory.
At night, I lay down and replay my day. I can still smell the moist in the air before it rained today.
- Off-time but not off-topic, an exceptionally good story is narrated in Perfume by Patrick Süskind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Süskind
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfume_(novel)
What many people forget today is that we are now (with the obvious exception of smog/pollution and related) mostly living in odourless environments whilst the air in a city, at least until the 18th or 19th century was full of very strong smells.
Only think of:
1) open gutters/sewers
2) "side effects" of ubiquitous animal traction
3) small shops/industries (using fires, chemicals, etc., one example for all tanneries) were often side by side with homes
- If scent is of interest to you, I suggest you read Perfume by Patrick Suskind. I couldn't help but notice the distinct smell of everything and everyone after reading this book.
- For those interested in the olfactory world, there is this beautiful novel „Perfume: The Story of a Murderer” by Patrick Süskind. I read it as a teenager and it changed my world. Unfortunately, the title already suggests that the English translation may not be as good as the original in German.
- "Perfume" by Patrick Suskind, and the movie is great as well. The main character is a horrible person but so is everyone else. Possibly the funniest nihilist book ever written.
Also interesting to those of us with no sense of smell.
