I don't have a specific genre which I prefer but I most certainly enjoy a good historical fiction book. Lately, I have decided to retreat to the Classics. The beauty of language is so evidently seen in classics, so incomparable to all John Green books put together, in my opinion that is.
Not long ago, I was talking to a friend of mine. I asked her what was her favorite book and she said
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind
I remember feeling surprised that my friend who has a very eclectic taste in things would be intrigued by a murder related book. However, knowing her, I'm sure she had a good reason to say so.
I now know why it is her favorite. It all made sense after I clasped the book in my hands after having finished reading the last line of the book. My mind was distorted. I couldn't comprehend the magnitude of realization that hit me.
After reading a few analysis on the book, watching the movie adaptation and talking to the same friend who introduced me to the book, I thought I will attempt to write my take on Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.
Here is the summary of Perfume which I unashamedly copied from Goodreads.
In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift — an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and fresh-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume" — the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity.
I won't go into a detailed retelling of the book to avoid any spoilers for those who might want to read or watch the movie but I'll give my opinion on the most morbidly fascinating book I've ever read thus far.
I found the writing style to be greatly witty and amusing. I was taken into the story almost immediately into the first chapter. There is such a wide usage of vocabulary used. I dare say I have learnt almost 50 words and it's meaning in reading just this book. With that, I constantly found myself referring to my Merriam Webster phone dictionary.
What strike me as very different from most books I've read is the exploration of human nature from a very primitive aspect. As what my friend shared with me, it showed the animalistic side of human beings. The fact that is was stringed together with aestheticism and art was a plus point.
The concept that something so simple and uncomplicated such as scent could appeal to mankind's base nature so immensely that it could influence people to behave in a way they would never have if they were not manipulated by scent was blew me away.
It also displays how far one would go for flourish their art and preserve beauty, in an olfactory manner in terms of this book.
Certain events in the book caught me off guard especially the sex related scenes. I have to qualms about books or movie having sexual content. For this book, it was necessary as it was to portray the sexual depravity of human beings. I'm not too keen on the idea of sex for the entertainment or pleasure tools in a book or movie but I understand the usage of it in the context of this book and with many other books as well. This one was rather morbid so I won't go into the details of it.
Here and there, I got a little bit overwhelmed with the explanations of creating scent and the process involved. It it welcome many distractions to my reading time. It felt a little bit long winded in the middle but it picked up it's pace after a while.
All in all, I think Perfume: The Story of a Murder was a genius depiction of when man indulgence in their greatest passion and what one would do to procure art and beauty.
“For people could close their eyes to greatness, to horrors, to beauty, and their ears to melodies or deceiving words. But they couldn't escape scent. For scent was a brother of breath. Together with breath it entered human beings, who couldn't defend themselves against it, not if they wanted to live. And scent entered into their very core, went directly to their hearts, and decided for good and all between affection and contempt, disgust and lust, love and hate. He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.”
- Perfume: The Story of a Murder, Patrick Suskind
No comments:
Post a Comment