Perfume by Patrick Suskind

I started this book with a little apprehension.  I’ve read some difficult foreign literature before (this book was translated from German), but I truly enjoyed this read.

Beginning in the stink and squalor of 18th century Paris, Perfume follows the life and exploits of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a boy born with no body odor, but who has an exceptionally acute sense of smell.  After surviving his childhood against all odds and memorizing every odor in Paris, Grenouille acquires an apprenticeship to a failing perfumer in order to learn how to harness smells.  His ultimate goal becomes the perfect perfume, one that will awaken desire in all those who smell it, and the creation of which will require the deaths of more than a score of young girls.

Perfume takes you into the mind of a strange, independent young man who is not disturbed so much as maladjusted.  An abused, ignored child, all he wants to do is–pardon the bad Froot Loops allusion–follow his nose.  Even if you don’t agree with him (and you won’t; he’s completely out of his mind), you will understand him and sympathize with him.

I’ve never read a book that describes everything in terms of scent.  It was very interesting.  It certainly made me pay more attention to the scents around me.  You see Paris not just as the bustling, stylish city it has been described as for centuries, but as a place full of rotting food, sewage, and the offensive body odors of the vagrants and aristocrats alike.  Just reading it makes you long for the fresh openness of the countryside.  I was particularly intrigued with the passage in which Grenouille has confined himself to a cave to meditate, and creates a world of scent, a world in which he is God.  He doesn’t want love or possessions.  He just wants smells, good smells, and he fears his own scentlessness.

I want to think of something negative to say about this book, but it escapes me.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, which isn’t all too common for me.  If you enjoy disturbing literature, I certainly recommend Perfume.  It’s not particularly gory or graphic, but the way it immerses you in the character’s psychosis will certainly give you chills.