Perfume: First Impression

spoiler alert

Perfume Blog post

When first opening perfume i did not know what to think of it, i had been told a variety of different opinions on the book. I was told it was a great book all the way to that it was the strangest book they'd ever read. With this in mind I started reading the book. my initial thought on the first few pages where mixed. While i enjoyed how descriptive the book was, i did not like the fact it was all done through scent as i felt that i could not get into the book, and visualize the setting as well as if it was done through sight. Overall though i enjoyed the beginning of the book. Relatively early on the book takes a sudden turn and shocks you with a sudden outburst of violence. early on in the book the protagonist of the story Grenouille suddenly smells a scent that is more beautiful than anything he has ever smelled. Following this scent Süskind describes in great detail, over several pages, the scent of this girl.

For a moment he was so confused that he actually thought he had never seen anything so beautiful as this girl - all though he had only caught her from behind in silhouette against the candle light. He meant of course, he had never smelled anything so beautiful.

After following her around he then suddenly kills her just to get her scent. The way Süskind describes the murder you as the reader are not really sure what just happened as it is all over so quickly. This effect is enhanced as the build up to this moment is faster paced so when the short paragraph describing her death is shown it is almost over looked and as the reader you get the sense that Grenouille did not even realise he killed someone. if you have read perfume, where you able to sense and smell what Süskind was trying to convay?