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

Reviews tagging 'Excrement'

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

30 reviews

ryleee's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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nebulscatters's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

booktok people will say jean-baptiste grenouille was just a misunderstood french bad boy and not one of the most psychotic murders in all fiction
"what's the spice level?" miss that is a man (TW animal cruelty)

killing a baby dog in front of it's mother so that he can replicate it's scent

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babewithbrains's review against another edition

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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

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ninahuynh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

2.75

That ending stank like how the beginning started! How is it he goes

and kill all these people and animals all for him to end by basically mob-suicide?! Unbelievable!!

Mister Suskind, I need an explanation now!!!! A 3-star book knocked down cause that ending has me raging 😤😡

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gingervandorsten's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense 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

4.75

I have rarely read a book as weird and gross and generally unpleasant as this one, but I also think this book is so, so good. The writing, the descriptions, the tension, the ingenuity of everything in here is striking and so impressive.
And then

he murders a dog. And then there's a detailed description of a young girl's breasts. And then there's a father borderline lusting over his daughter. And then there's a huge orgy.

And I think I understand the reason that Süskind put in these things, made these choices; they clearly have the desired effect of making the reader uncomfortable, and showcasing just how f-ed up Grenouille really is, but some of this was a little too messed up to me to be pleasantly disturbing in the way that horror can be, you know?
Regardless - I don't think you should avoid this book because of the amount of disturbing things that happen in it, because if you appreciate the weirdness (to an extent) it's honestly a really masterful tale of hubris and humanity and gross and beautiful olfactory imagery. And the last line. Good lord.

Side note: it's very amusing to me that most people who read this book seem to consider it with a kind of "What in the actual fuck is going on here this is sick"-view but also see it as one of the best books out there. Mainly because I agree. I guess Süskind enamoured us with this gross little book through the perfume of his gorgeous, ironic and self-aware prose.

Also, the Dutch translation by Ronald Jonkers is very good!

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