7 years in a cave? Please. I don't believe it, at least not from the description Suskind gives us. It was all downhill from there I'm afraid. I ended up feeling slightly queasy, it seemed a bit grotesque in places - especially the end. Where did that come from? I just got the impression that Suskind couldn't think of another way for Grenouille to go.

To back track slightly...the first murder is unexpected (unless you know in advance what the story is about) so so far so good. But all the others happen in a neat little cluster almost at the end of the book. It felt rushed, but then maybe that was the point.

Anyway, sorry to have rambled on. I gave it 2 stars because although I didn't like how the plot unfolded I thought the emphasis on smell gave an interesting narrative style.

I found it an amusing and witty read. Suskind satirizes the characters of Gimal, Baldini, the Marquis de la Taillaide-Espinasse and their subsequent deaths.

The characters all use Grenouille in order to profit from him, and he in turn learns thing from them - he weedles his way into their businesses in order to survive in a ruthless world, have a roof over his head, food etc.

I thought it amusing that a drunk Gimal takes a wrong turn and walks into the quay, and the way Suskind describes Gimal's body floating under Baldini's house just as Grenouille was making his way to bed. Then when Grenouille left Baldini's perfumery, the place collapsed into the river. It made me smile - I couldn't help but think it collapsed because it was loaded down with perfume products. I loved the imagery of the cloud of perfume over the spot where Baldini's was. I'd like to see how all this was done in the film - the bridge still standing and a gap where Baldini's was. I can just picture it.

On a deeper level, each character's demise is significant. Grenouille is described as a mite, lying dormant until an animal passes by that he can latch onto. Grenouille latches onto these characters and after he bleeds them dry, they collapse and die. And Grenouille moves on and is stronger after feeding on them.

He is a repellent character and I kind of admire his fearlessness of the dark. I've read in online reviews that he can be likened to Jesus when he spent 7 years in the mountains, but I didn't see the connection myself!! He's not like Jesus at all. The way he lived in that cave reminded me very much of a vampire - another symbol of a bloodsucking creature.

Grenouille is a predatory creature. He is outside of the laws of society. He is base and uncivilised. He lives to survive with no consideration to the consequences of his actions. He will go out of his way to obtain what he wants. I know the characters in the book see him as a pathetic person, but we know more about him. He's a really scary individual, a psychopath. He has to satisfy an inner primal urge. That is more important to him than using his amazing sense of smell & genius as a perfumer to make his fortune in the world and therefore be admired by people. But of course in his world, you're only loved and admired if you emit a certain scent. I liked this idea. (Earlier in the novel I imagined a modern day Grenouille but realised the idea of having a certain scent that makes people love you wouldn't work in a modern setting - why would people adore the Beatles, for e.g. when they can't unwittingly smell their scent through a TV screen ).

I was aware of smells around me as I was reading the book. Did anyone smell the crook of their elbow?

I think this is at the core of the novel. Is Grenouille such a macabre person because he's never been loved? Once he works out that he can get away with murder and that certain people emit a scent that makes people love them, he chooses to attempt to bottle the scent so that he can be loved and revered by many. I suppose the desire to do so is a combination of being turned on by the person's scent (not the kill; I don't think he would kill if it was socially acceptable to approach someone and start sniffing them!!) and needing to be loved.

Perhaps Grenouille is disappointed in the experience of having hundreds of people adore him because he knows they don't really adore him. It's all a masquerade. So he gets no satisfaction from the love as it's not genuinely about him. It could happen to anyone if they possessed his secret perfume. I could imagine the experience left him feeling empty especially as everyone ended up physically loving each other and not him!

Once again, Grenouille bled them dry (they were ashamed post-orgy) in order to survive (his execution), but he didn't see any point in going on as the perfume didn't satisfy his need to be loved. A sad tale if looked at from this angle.

That's my take on it all anyway!

I don't see Grenouille as evil. He doesn't get a kick out of killing women. I'm sure I remember reading that he hated the killing bit. He simply wants what he needs and doesn't think about what effect his actions have on his victims' loved ones. He's like a wild, untamed animal in that respect.

I did agree with Nicnic on two points. I thought the first murder was unexpected and a bit of a shock, after all he was still a boy at that point. I also thought the seven years in a cave was a bit far fetched. But the fact that he emerged after seven years in a similar state of mind he had at the start, when any normal man would be completely mad, makes a point about Grenouille. He seemed to be a man with no soul as well as no odour. He was totally unfeeling both mentally and physically – he could with stand torture and ill treatment.

The demise of Genouille was quite a shock and a bit gruesome but near the end of the book he did seem know that he was different and would never be like other men with or without an odour. There had been attempts on his life when he was a child so maybe he realized that his death would have to be dramatic and final or he may have survived and he didn’t want that.

Genouille was an unpleasant character who had about the worse upbringing any child could have, but I think he would have turned out the same whatever his start in life had been. But I found I could't hate him for what he did and in fact did have a certain amount of sympathy for him.

I loved this book; such a great idea really focusing on a neglected sense - smell. The characters were brilliant - life-like and varied. The plot was fab, and the language too. I really loved the setting - I love reading about Paris. I felt like the streets around the Seine were being conjured up before my eyes. The ending was really good and kept me guessing until the end, but was a very fitting ending. I often don't enjoy books in translation eg. The Alchemist and I am not Scared as I think the language becomes oversimplified, but not so with this book. Overall a great read and highly recommended.

Seriously after Part 1 I said 'wow' out loud. The lab collapsing was just a strange picture in my head - something more out a cartoon. I thought the first murder was a bit unexpected and like it was just glossed over then there was nothing else for ages while he did live in the cave. Part 2 in the book did seem a bit far fetched - I know I couldn't survive like that - especially in winter.

WTF happened at the end... orgies from this amazing perfume he created and then he gets eaten... like OMG and ewwwwwwww.

I did 'enjoy' it but wow.