Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

By Patrick Süskind
Originally published in German as Das Parfum
Copyright 1986 by Alfred A. Knopf

In lieu of the movie coming out, I decided to let this book be an impulse read, and I’m very glad I did. This amazing story details the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a street urchin born with no scent of his own but with the capability to store everything he smells in his mind and create fantastic scents from those memories. He cares only for scent and nothing else, and mankind sickens him. His dream is to create a perfume that will make everyone love him and therefore be powerless against him and in order to do this, he begins to murder girls who are blossoming into womanhood and distill their scents from their clothes and hair. This in his mind will create the ultimate scent of the angels.

This book was captivating from beginning to end. Süskind describes France in olfactory details, rather than visual ones, and makes no pretense that Grenouille is not a lost soul but a cold-hearted murderer with a “raven-black soul.” Everyone that he comes into contact with meets a harsh ending and he holds a whole village in the terror of the murder of their daughters. Every character is real, oftentimes to the point of being taboo, and believable. He describes a period of raw horror, savage murder and mixed emotions that leave the reader feeling uneasy and anxious. The book disgusted me during many scenes and because of that, I highly recommend it.