Review of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

A dense and sensual exploration of human nature. 

Wish fulfillment. A super-antihero novel.
Our antihero smells everything it is possible to smell, was born to make perfume, and defines his own morality in the manner of a classical Übermensch. His journey through the underbelly of French society was poignant, and very aromatic. The language was frilly and achingly descriptive, unhurried, dreamlike, and infused with rich textures.

The author clearly read about or studied perfume-making, the industry, and went for realism when it comes to the manufacturing process, even delving into the business components, the nitty-gritty and the fun categorizations of ingredients.

It boggles my mind that smells, in and of themselves, are merely conglomerates of disparate particles. Each is a recipe for the source, a telegraph. The endless theorizing about human effluvia, our radiance of particulate matter is quirky and fascinating. Jean-Baptiste represents a pure artist, willing to sacrifice anything to achieve the highest expression of his art. He is well-equipped to perform the miracle of his culminating masterwork, and the reader must either sympathize with him after his abused and battered upbringing, or condemn him as a monster.

Very readable, thrilling, and memorable. A visual feast and a cornucopia of literary devices. A rich confessional with splendid psychological insight.

Brilliant, chilling, ripe, and almost nauseating. Frequently striking for its leaps in logic, pointed satire, and decadent eloquence. Reminds me of Huysmans and Gabrielle Wittkop.