Review of the book Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
This book has been sitting on my shelf for many years. Brand new, untouched. A few months ago, while watching an interview with Kurt Cobain, he mentioned it was his favorite book and that he carried it everywhere with him. He also wrote the song, “Senseless Apprentice” on the album In Utero about the book. I read the lyrics to the song recently and while short, it pulls a few basic themes from Perfume. It inspired me to finally read the book with an “Okay, what the hell is this all about?” attitude.
Patrick Suskind was born in Bavaria to a literary family and studied history at the University of Munich. In the mid-1970’s he quit college and moved to Paris to become a writer. In 1981 he finished the play “The Double Bass”. This one-man play was successful enough to propel Suskind to finish his first novel, “Perfume” only 4 years later. Suskind didn’t expect Perfume to take off like it did and disliked the attention. Suskind stopped doing interviews, photo ops, etc. and is known as a recluse living between Munich and Paris with his wife and son.
This book has been applauded as a “sophisticated horror story” since its publication in 1985. It spent nine years on the German best seller list and has been translated into 50 languages and sold over 20 million copies. The English have said this is one of the best 100 books of all time. I understand why the book has been so well accepted. I’ve never read anything like it. The book is set in 1730s France, but its story could fit any era. It was an interesting time for France as King Louis XVI was getting things back together as the plague began to subside, The Fox Wars in America were over and the Polish War had just ended. Still, the streets were muddy and full of rats and syphilis. The people were poor and life had little value.
What is this book about though? What’s the big deal? Reviewing this book is difficult without spoilers, as every part is compelling. It begins with the birth of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a French protagonist whose name means “frog”—an allusion woven into his character. The plot follows Grenouille’s life, guided solely by his remarkable sense of smell.
One of the major reasons this book works is because it juxtaposes this dark European time with the story of a destitute and hopeless boy who becomes a driven and ambitious perfumer. The sense of smell with its flowery and sweet delights is heavily weighed upon through all 4 parts of the book. At least this is the main plot line, with an undercurrent of the search for love. It’s easy to label this a “sophisticated horror story”, but the author put a great deal of thought into exactly what he was doing. There are several literary tricks taking place in this novel. Patterns appear and dissolve, important plot points are generalized with a sentence while pages of poetry wash across the landscape on the breezy whim of a honeysuckle vine. The adjectives are thick and haughty. Expensive words are spread thin and used in their 3rd sense at times. I’m not sure how much of this was lost in translation, but the book reads like a scholar slumming in all the right ways.
Suskind wrote a few more novels and stories before stopping altogether 20 years ago. He’ll turn 77 next spring so I’m guessing he’s happy to live out his days knowing he wrote a really great book. And Perfume is a great book. Certainly, one of the better books I’ve read this year. It’s memorable, well written and without question a literary work of art.
I don’t plan on carrying it around with me like Kurt Cobain did, but I can kind of see why someone might. It’s easy to get lost in the scent of the instantly classic lines of Perfume. A book so potent and intense the murders… I almost forgot about all the murders.