Genre: Historical fantasy fiction, Magical Realism
Key Stage: KS5+ contains mature often unsettling content including murder, suicidal ideation and scenes of a graphic nature.
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind (1985)
Reviewer: Tamima, Year 12
German writer Patrick Suskind published this literary historical fantasy novel in 1985. It was written in German and later published in English in 1987. Suskind explores a new perspective of scent, comparing it to powerful and psychological human emotions.
The novel takes place during The Enlightenment in France which is most commonly dated from 1715 to 1789. It tells the story of a man called Jean-Baptiste Grenouille who was born with a sublime gift: an extraordinary sense of smell. Growing up, he lived to search and unravel many scents- teaching himself the creation of mixing different oils and herbs. However, Grenouille’s interests do not stop, he pushes forward to find more and soon becomes obsessed with capturing smells of objects. One night in Paris, he tracks an ‘intoxicating’ scent of a young girl and at this point, it takes a dark and pretty gruesome turn. Due to the questionable actions of the protagonist it is easy to feel disconnected from him as he has a possessed hatred of humanity.
I enjoyed reading this book as it had a plot of mystery and desire- it’s a story in which murder and death is a key motif. If you’ve read the book ‘ The Smell of Other People’s Houses’ by Bonnie Sue Hitchcock, then you will definitely love Perfume. They both point out olfactory sense (smell) and are very unique- unlike any book I’ve read.