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: Sumaiya, Year 12
Brief Synopsis: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer details the life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, an ostracised orphan who is devoid of any body odour yet has an astonishing and unusual gift: a highly developed sense of smell. This fuels an obsession of capturing specific scents he views as perfect. As Grenouille grows up, he becomes a skilled perfumer and acquires learn new skills such as smelling rotten vegetables before their sell-by-date or knowing when someone approaches a house. However, Grenouille’s obsession with preserving the perfect scent and creating the ultimate perfume leads to the horrifying deaths of young girls which, in turn, enables him to make perfumes that manipulate people. It’s almost as if after years of being rejected by society that he realises his purpose in life: to be a master perfumer, and sees nothing wrong or strange about committing murder in order to achieve this.
What I enjoyed/learnt/disliked: Personally, I was very amused by how the protagonist, Grenouille rejects societal norms and expectations and, with the ability of expectational smell, how he uses it in his favour to create meaning of his life. The lack of morality and care he shows all for a scent is unsettling. The macabre tone of the book makes it entertaining, creating tense and suspense moments throughout. This book was revolting yet fascinating because it makes you question how can perfumes have a psychological effect? How do we become self-aware of an obsession? I do Definitely recommend this book as it is unique journey / experience of a person’s life involving murder and desire.
Recommended books: Sense & Second-Degree Murder, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder and Enduring Love.