THE PERFUME: A Story of a Murderer - My review and opinion

This will be my first time to write a book review. I like reading novels as one of my hobby but had never wrote about it online. So I'm giving it a try here on Steemit. Why not?! 

I'm sharing about the life of Jean Baptiste Grenouille: A french orphan with an extraordinary gift of olfactory sense and how his life ends as a murderer in quest of the perfect scent. 

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The  Perfume: was first published in German: "Das Parfum" by well knowned writer Patrick  Süskind . Then  eventually the novel was available in English translation and other language. It has won big hits in the publishing market. In 2006 a film was made to visualize this interesting novel acted by Ben Wishaw and directed by Tom Tykwer. I have watched the movie and it was good but of course reading the novel reveals more  interesting details in the story. 

In 18th Century France, Jean Baptiste Grenouille was born in the foulest place in Paris: the fish market that was an old graveyard many years ago and his unmarried  fish vendor mother gave birth to him at that very same spot under the table where she was selling fish. His mother left him to die as he laid in the pile of rotten fish and mud, the poor infant Grenouille cried out loud as he can and the by standers heard and rescued him. That powerful cry has led his mother  to death in the gallows. He was then sent for adoption in the hands of the cruel and psychologically troubled Madame Gaillard. During his childhood, he never had any friends as the other kids find him really weird because of his mysterious and eccentric behaviour. He can visualize his surroundings by using his nose even when his eyes are closed. He started to speak quite late when he's 4 years old, he seems very different to any normal child, all that matters to him is his hunger for every scent he can have in the world.  For him,  there's no bad or good scent. He smells anything, from the foulest things to the sweetest scents around him. He has this very exceptional sense of smell, he can distinguish a vast variety of scents like in a deep lake he can smell everything in it, from the living creatures to the things around the lake.

When he became a teenager Madame Gaillard sold him to a leather tanner called Grimal who treated him not more than a slave or a working animal. He works all day long and get locked in a closed dark room. Tanning leather is  surely not an easy job as one is exposed to a very unhealthy odiferous environment.

Despite of all such unfortunate fate, he survived and finally taste freedom for the first time in his life. Grimal would often take Grenouille to deliver the tanned leathers they make and travelling has given Grenouille the opportunity to experience other new scents, yet among all the scents he lavished, there's only one scent that stands out and overwhelmed his soul, her name is Laura, the beautiful young maiden selling plum berries. In the novel he didn't really have mutual relationship with this lady, Grenouille fell inlove with her scent and his obsession for it has lead to killing her. By then it was revealed to Grenouille that such incredible scent won't last when life ends. There it begins his murderous quest for the perfect scent, killing more maidens who are all virgins with the hope of making a scent like of Laura and make it last for his own forever. 

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Grimal sold him to an old Perfumer called Giuseppe Baldini, he became his apprentice in making perfume and soon led him to finding the city of Grasse, the place where he learned more about making the finest perfume ever created in his time. He also then discovered the shocking truth that  he has no scent of his own and that made him separate from the rest of the world. Until such time that he finally made the perfect scent that can manipulate the human emotion. He succeeded but he realized that he's still missing out that one special scent he lost forever. 

This story is quite strange that it happened in a well known city of love. The novel may sound quite tragic but I see it as an illustration about the lifelong seek  of mankind for true happiness and love. That feeling of being unwanted and unloved can be the worst feeling that a human being can experience and can be dangerously destructive. Love and happiness plays  a great role in every human survival. Love is something that simply makes us feel alive. I can't really imagine life without love. So if you  experienced love in your life, you are pretty blessed and lucky. 

Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love~Mother Teresa

If you like what you read. Please do feel free to leave a comment. Thank you again for dropping by! Cheers from Cebu! @island-girl

Disclaimer: Some of the photos used on this blog are not mine. All rights/credits reserved to the respective owners of the images I found online with source links.