Published 1985 / Length 272 pages
Perfume tells the extraordinary tale of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, who is born on a heap of fish guts at a fish stall in the sweltering heat and stinking squalor of eighteenth-century Paris. Abandoned by his mother, and later orphaned, the young Grenouille is notable for two strange characteristics: from birth, the boy is completely odourless, but conversely he has a heightened sense of smell. An odd character whose weird demeanour makes him a social outcast, his life is dominated by sampling the many smells of Paris, which he catalogues in his own internal library. After finding work with a second-rate perfumier, he transforms the business thanks to his natural olfactory creativity. However, Grenouille’s fascination with the aromas of the city takes a more sinister turn when he embarks on a murderous pursuit to source the most perfect human scent, which he intends to recreate and use for himself to compensate for his own lack of odour. Disturbing, but vivid, Perfume is a horrifying, fantastical work of historical fiction, utterly unique in its subject matter, which makes for a compelling read.
‘I was blown away by this book. Not only was the sheer originality of the story amazing, but the descriptions used to convey Grenouille’s incredible sense of smell and the filth of eighteenth-century Paris were enthralling. A bizarre but intriguing tale.’ – MARK, 32
• Does Grenouille inspire pity or hatred in you? Is he a protagonist for whom it is possible to have sympathy?
• Is Süskind successful in conveying to the reader the many different smells that bombard Grenouille’s every waking moment? What sort of imagery does the author use?
• In addition to Grenouille’s lack of smell, what other human characteristics does he appear to be missing?
• How much is his mother’s early rejection of him to blame for Grenouille’s apparent detachment from society? Or is this a result of society’s negative response to the odourless young man?
• Is Grenouille the victim of circumstance, or is he simply an evil, inhuman individual?
• Perfume is Patrick Süskind’s debut novel and was originally published in German as Das Parfüm before becoming an international bestseller.
• It was awarded the prize for Best First Novel by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, but the author turned it down because he did not wish to accept awards for his writing.
• His next work of fiction, a novella entitled The Pigeon, was similarly unusual: a man’s sanity is threatened by the presence of a pigeon roosting outside his front door.
• The Invisible Man by H. G. WELLS – a brilliant young scientist makes himself invisible, but things don’t work out quite how he intended.
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• Frankenstein by MARY SHELLEY – another tale of a scientific experiment gone wrong.