Reviews with content warning for Incest - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Wow, this book was a wild, wild journey. And there was no chance I could have ever predicted the ending! The story felt very immersive, especially with the extensive descriptions of all the smells that 18th century Paris and France had to offer, both the mesmerising and the hideous.

It wasn't as gruesome as expected, but still the gruesome deeds done were enough to form our opinion of Grenouille. Despite these deeds, there is also humour in some parts, especially with the narrator's descriptions of Grenouille. Holy hell does the narrator loathe him sometimes!

Perhaps there are some themes about the loss of meaning and identity when you can't smell yourself, but all in all, it was a thrilling, entertaining story of a guy who smells. Or doesn't smell? It's complicated!

I do feel like I have to pay more attention to perfume after reading this!

Content Warnings

mangonana's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

gentlemanjack's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

25 murders + cannibalism?

very demure and very mindful, felt like an LSD trip, but a good read regardless.

Content Warnings

babewithbrains's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Content Warnings

melissaruiz100's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark reflective

4.0

Content Warnings

alibraryofconfusion's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was an audiobook for me and I think that was a key to liking this. The language is very flowery and having a British narrator really let me get into the story. But I don't think I would have been able to get through the book if I had read it because it wouldn't have hit the same. It really lags in the middle and then the end is very rushed. It's like the author forgot they set up at the very beginning this theme of him being evil and had to put something in there at the end to wrap it up.

And I can only assume the author was bored with their own story because a random orgy is thrown in and some incest for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Content Warnings

keku_25's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

The book started out really strong and fast in a way that really intrigued me, but somehow the rest of the first half went kinda meh. I just procrastinated while reading it. I just felt like some scenes where not that necessary for the plot.

The last third definitely gets .... well it gets something thats for sure.
He imitates smells just like a psicopath imitates behavior. He copies the smell of "human" just like a psycopath would copy a "normal" person response to something.
The incest was unnecessary.

At the end I just ask myself wtf did I just read.

Content Warnings

More...