Perfume
1 journaler for this copy...
DIFFERENT COVER!
The blurb:
'A murder was the start of his obsession.
It was after that first crime that he knew he was a genius - that he understood his destiny. He, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the fishmonger's bastard, was to be the greatest perfumer of all time. For he possessed the power not just to create beautiful scents, but to distil the very essence of love itself.
And as the obsession began, so would it end ...
'Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbing ... menace conveyed with all the power of the writer's elegant unease' - Observer
'Intoxicates the reader' - Der Spiegel
'A fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity ... Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading' - Literary Review
'Until the very last page the masterly blend of delirious self-disgust and bland irony never falters' - Sunday Times
'A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay ... a remarkable début' - Peter Ackroyd in The New York Times Book Review
'An enchanter who knows the whole literary machinery of myth' Le Nouvel Observateur'
This is a paperback copy from Penguin, published in 1987. The book was originally published in German in 1985. This copy has a sticker on the inside front cover with the name and address :-) of a previous owner. Her name was/is Trine Thorbjørnsen, and she was a member of the Norwegian Homeopaths' Association. :-D
This book is #243 on the 1001 Books You Must Read list.
I don't remember exactly where I got this book. Probably at a flea market here in Oslo somewhere :-) sometime this winter or early spring.
The blurb:
'A murder was the start of his obsession.
It was after that first crime that he knew he was a genius - that he understood his destiny. He, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the fishmonger's bastard, was to be the greatest perfumer of all time. For he possessed the power not just to create beautiful scents, but to distil the very essence of love itself.
And as the obsession began, so would it end ...
'Witty, stylish and ferociously absorbing ... menace conveyed with all the power of the writer's elegant unease' - Observer
'Intoxicates the reader' - Der Spiegel
'A fantastic tale of murder and twisted eroticism controlled by a disgusted loathing of humanity ... Clever, stylish, absorbing and well worth reading' - Literary Review
'Until the very last page the masterly blend of delirious self-disgust and bland irony never falters' - Sunday Times
'A meditation on the nature of death, desire and decay ... a remarkable début' - Peter Ackroyd in The New York Times Book Review
'An enchanter who knows the whole literary machinery of myth' Le Nouvel Observateur'
This is a paperback copy from Penguin, published in 1987. The book was originally published in German in 1985. This copy has a sticker on the inside front cover with the name and address :-) of a previous owner. Her name was/is Trine Thorbjørnsen, and she was a member of the Norwegian Homeopaths' Association. :-D
This book is #243 on the 1001 Books You Must Read list.
I don't remember exactly where I got this book. Probably at a flea market here in Oslo somewhere :-) sometime this winter or early spring.
I started reading this book today. It's this month's assigned book in my reading group. Haven't gotten very far yet, but it seems like a fascinating read.
I finished this book on Sunday, May 27th, 2007. I know ... !! I am the slowest journaller ever. Shame on me, etc. Time flies ... especially when I know there's no one else waiting for this JE ...
But better late than never, here's hoping I actually remember enough about the book to review it. ;-) I liked it a lot. It was rather disgusting at times but always beautifully written and a fascinating story. Not entirely credible at times (especially the time Jean-Baptiste spends in the mountains) but the setting was so well worked out, so detailed, that it was easy to suspend my disbelief. :-)
This whole book was very intriguing and, sorry for repeating myself, fascinating - the story, the background, the whole concept of the overdeveloped sense of smell and of course the characters, which perhaps were what fascinated me (sorry!) the most. The main character is so OT that the reader just gets drawn in. It's a very impressive creation.
I had a lot of deep thoughts about this book after reading it, but of course I don't remember many of them now. We had a really good discussion in my book group, the opinions varied very widely - some people loved the book, one person hated it to the point where he though Süskind must be insane! and one person was very intrigued by it as she had tried to read the book years ago when it first came out and loathed it, couldn't even finish it ... but this time she was completely into it and could hardly put it down. I'd say this is a book that stirs a lot of emotions in people. It is a sensuous story both in the subject matter and in the way it's written ... and it's so detailed, it's deeply convincing. I'd like to read more by this author, definitely.
I'm going to keep this book in my Permanent Collection at least for the foreseeable future. It's a book that I can actually see myself rereading. But it will be available for loans at my discretion. :-)
But better late than never, here's hoping I actually remember enough about the book to review it. ;-) I liked it a lot. It was rather disgusting at times but always beautifully written and a fascinating story. Not entirely credible at times (especially the time Jean-Baptiste spends in the mountains) but the setting was so well worked out, so detailed, that it was easy to suspend my disbelief. :-)
This whole book was very intriguing and, sorry for repeating myself, fascinating - the story, the background, the whole concept of the overdeveloped sense of smell and of course the characters, which perhaps were what fascinated me (sorry!) the most. The main character is so OT that the reader just gets drawn in. It's a very impressive creation.
I had a lot of deep thoughts about this book after reading it, but of course I don't remember many of them now. We had a really good discussion in my book group, the opinions varied very widely - some people loved the book, one person hated it to the point where he though Süskind must be insane! and one person was very intrigued by it as she had tried to read the book years ago when it first came out and loathed it, couldn't even finish it ... but this time she was completely into it and could hardly put it down. I'd say this is a book that stirs a lot of emotions in people. It is a sensuous story both in the subject matter and in the way it's written ... and it's so detailed, it's deeply convincing. I'd like to read more by this author, definitely.
I'm going to keep this book in my Permanent Collection at least for the foreseeable future. It's a book that I can actually see myself rereading. But it will be available for loans at my discretion. :-)
