‘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.’
This is the second time I have read this book but the first time I’ve attempted to review it. Mr Süskind drew me deep into a world centred around smell. Yes: what we smell, what we smell like, the components of scent and the impacts of scent. An olfactory overload.
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was born in a Parisian slum. While he has no discernible scent, he is gifted with an incredible sense of smell. We follow him on his journey through life, through hardship and largely being invisible (and certainly unimportant) to those around him. Grenouille apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer from whom he learns the art of mixing oils and herbs. Grenouille learns quickly and is driven to try to capture the scents of every item.
After a long period of self-exile, experimentation leads to murder. Grenouille is driven to create the ‘ultimate perfume’—the scent of a beautiful young virgin.
This is a clever novel: a gothic gallimaufry of crime, depravity, horror and history. And the ending? Surprisingly appropriate.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large 