Rating: 
Summary: One way to start a fire
Review: The best thing to do with this book is use it for kindling. I found this book in a give away pile at my college and saw that it received good reviews. Then, after trudging through it, I realized that I should have left it there. It starts off interesing, but fell drastically short of the expectations I had.
Rating:
Summary: Rather repulsive..
Review: This book is easily the least likeable I have read this year. Although the book's style and evocative descriptions should get it three and a half stars, its smug, amoral character lose it two and a half of these. Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is an utterly inhuman monster, with no capacity for love or decency or any understanding that these might be desirable qualities. I suppose such people exist, though they strike me as rare and, more to the point, not really responsible for most of the world's evil. Concentrating on such characters is inherently contrived unless there is some way of relating their peculiar predicament of pure soullessness to humanity as a whole. As such, this is a "toy novel," a book which exists as a wondrous contrivance, but lacks the fundamental gravity that makes it lasting literature. Perhaps the first example of this genre is Pale Fire, which Mary McCarthy compared to a Faberge gem. Other examples could include Milorad Pavic's The Dictionary of the Khazars. Authors who transcned this genre would include Italo Calvino, especially in such works as the Baron in the Trees, Invisible Cities, and If on a Winters Night a Traveller.As a toy novel, Suskind provides an interesting account of eighteenth-century France filled with details about the perfumery world that some may find boring but I find fascinating. The real problem with the book is its cheap misanthropy. Like many serial killers Grenouille is a petty mediocrity who has somehow arrogated himself the right to kill those "beneath" him. This attitude has itself become a cliche, but it is especially irritating that Suskind should indulge it. There seems to be a special pleasure on Suskind's part on finding unpleasant ends for those characters that Grenouille does himself kill. At one point, Grenouille's search for the ultimate scent produces an outburst of animalistic behavior that Grenouille and Suskind seem to feel superior towards. But since the ultimate scent is a magical device, the "truth" about man's bestial nature is simply an authorial manipulation. At another point a mob of the Parisian underclass is provoked by the scent into a truly vile act, which leads Suskind to comment with heavy irony that this was the only time they had been moved by love. One should read Richard Cobb and Olwen Hufton to realize the falsity on that statement. Suskind has recently been viewed as a new force in German literature, in contrast to the supposedly old-fashioned left-wing moralism of Gunter Grass. But Grass was always more profound and more creative, and one reason why he is so clearly superior to Suskind is that he knows that evil and suffering are cruel and tragic, and not a shallow game. Compared to Grass or to Louis Ferdinand Celine, Perfume is simply a pornographic indulgence.
Rating: 
Summary: Perfume
Review: Perfume is the book I have recommended and bought for more people than any other. Through the story Suskind manages to create perfection from the grotesque by horrid actions. It is superb reading. The most beautful turn of phrase and bend of mind since Tom Robbins.
Rating: 
Summary: Oddly entertaining
Review: Perfume is a novel I probably never would have chosen off the shelf. With that said, the reader knows that I am perhaps biased in many ways. This book was a bookclub selection that apperared under the category of historical fiction.
The story begins with the birth of Jean Baptiste-Grenouille. He is left to die by his mother as she delivers him in her stall at the farmer's market. Grenouille has to be one of the strangest characters ever created. He is repulsive to all his caretakers and is likened by the author to a tick. Grenouille is born with a phenomonal sense of smell but, alas, has no smell of his own.
The reader follows Grenouille through his life and his search for the perfect smell that will make him more human, make him loved and ultimately accepted. Here the plot twists and turns into the most unlikely and downright strange scenarios I have ever read, concluding with what one can only describe as the most unbelieveable ending of all time.
The writing is superb and it is the only reason I continued to read such a convoluted tale. The historical detail and recreation of eighteenth century France was phenomenal. The attention to the smells of that period was nothing short of amazing. Patrick Suskind has written an amazingly odd story that you will not likely read any where else.
Rating: 
Summary: enjoyable, educational
Review: Ah! Strong, unusual plot; imperfect main character; imaginative phrasing; and minutely drawn historical detail. I was frightened at one point to enter a section of about 50 pages that I thought would completely end my interest, hence the 4 star rating. Thank goodness for the strong rebound. Especially recommended for serial murder enthusiasts.
Rating:
Summary: The witty, horrific, sad tale of a perverted soul
Review: This is the story of an orphan in 17th century France, Grenouille, who is possessed of an extraordinary sense of smell. He can smell a person coming before he can see them. He can pick the constituents of a perfume by one whiff, and their proportions. As if in recompense for this, he lacks most other basic human senses. He does not feel fear, pain, is unable to become attached to other humans, and ironically, has no personal odour. Thus "Perfume" tells of Grenouille's attempts to use his sense of smell to make up for what he lacks, particularly the feeling of love. He has been exploited and patronised through most of his life, enduring it only in the knowledge that he will one day be a great, admired man, by creating a personal scent that people cannot resist. And he goes to extraordinary lengths to create this unique personal odour - as the book says, he is a murder. Collecting the personal odours of others and blending them for his own use. And he succeeds. Where before he was not noticed by anyone, now people loose control in his presence. But in the end, what he thought would make him feel loved, only leaves him contemptous of those who are tricked by his scent. Grenouille is cold-hearted, self-absorbed and has no regard for animal or human life. The violence is not portrayed graphically, but you get the import of it nonetheless. You will shake your head, unable to understand how someone could be so totally devoid of emotion. Seeing murder as no more than picking a flower for a perfume. But in the end, you pity Grenouille, because he failed in elliciting love, which is all he really ever wanted. The book is written in a witty, easy to read style, and most of the content is anecdotes of Grenouille's childhood and working life. What made him want, and need to do what he did. Perfume keeps it's pace well, not flagging, and overall it is a highly highly entertaining, original read.
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic read
Review: Perfume is simply one of the most original works of our time. Everyone I know who's read it thinks it's tops.
Rating:
Summary: Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Review: Wonderfully dark and twisted. Book is absolutely engrossing and beautifully written. I wish that the author had more books. I plan on reading this one again.
Rating:
Summary: A really twisted book
Review: It is hard to understand how someone can come up with such a twisted story. I highly recommend this book. It's one of the classics in my bookshelf.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling, fascinating, historically accurate
Review: I was first interested in this book because it inspired Kurt Cobain to write the song "Scentless Apprentice" on In Utero. As a lover of XVIII century French history, I had the welcome surprise to discover that the novel was set exactly in this period and nation. The prose is intense, hits your memory and your senses and makes this unforgettable character come alive and haunt you. Not for prudish, hypersensitive or bigot readers.
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