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Synopsis

Perfume takes place in eighteenth-century France and is about a man, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who had no scent of his own but had been gifted with the most extraordinary sense of smell.

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille was born in 1738 in Paris, in the most horrid conditions, and was abandoned by his mother. Brought up by a succession of wet nurses, he started working for a tanner who, when Grenouille was thirteen, allowed him to go out and wander around the streets of Paris for one hour every day. It was then that Grenouille started his quest for the perfect smell and, with it, began his reign of terror.

Perfume is a bizarre, hypnotic and absolutely brilliant tale of horror. The depictions of the decadence of 18th century France are so vivid, you can almost smell the reek of the age and Grenouille is a mesmerising character, whose gift from God also proves to be his greatest weapon against good.

Reviews

Customer Review: 11 September 2002

Reviewer: A reader from Brooklyn, NY, USA

Perfume is a creative, well-written, erudite and sensual work of literature. The author demonstrates a dark sardonic sense of humour that I really enjoyed. I found the character of the main protagonist, Grenouille, to be absolutely fascinating, and was captivated by the story. I'm looking forward to reading more of Patrick Suskind's work.

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Critic Review:

Born in sweaty, fetid eighteenth century Paris, Grenouille is distinctive even in infancy. He has "the finest nose in Paris and no personal odour". With wit, a Gothic imagination and considerable originality, Suskind has developed this simple idea into a fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity ...Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading.
Literary review

His reeking pages offer not only a rattling good treatise on scent manufacture, but a sly denunciation of human depravity, an exercise in the chillingly surreal and an excursion into the stink and sweetness of Old France.
David Hughes in the Mail on Sunday

A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay ... a remarkable début.
Peter Ackroyd in The New York Times Book Review

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