It can transport us through time and influence our actions. I am known amongst my friends to comment on how something smells like a certain period of time or memory of mine because that is the power that scent has. This book relies heavily on the description of the smells and it is expertly done so as to be completely understandable and also to conjure up the feelings that certain smells create. It is a credit to the translation that such atmosphere and feeling has survived from the original German. Not only that, he can remember every smell and he catalogues each carefully away in his mind to create the most exquisite perfumes. He can smell everything, things that to you and me have no odour whatsoever. For me there is no better era to set a book why pick anything else? Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born into the most stench filled place on earth, a Paris slum, but he has the most sublime gift, an absolute sense of smell. The story straight away won me over because it is set in eighteenth century Paris. How is something so inconspicuous as perfume associated with the violence of murder? However, the title in itself is also ambiguous. This books full title is Perfume, The Story of a Murderer which is a very accurate description. Perfume, The Story of A Murderer by Patrick Süskind
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