Perfume Book vs Film

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Book VS Film spoiler alert

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer is no doubt a strange book all the way through out but for me the ending definitely takes the prize. Basically what the end of the book made me think was in one word, what?!? When reading it trough I had to go back and read it again simply because reading it once does not do the detail and complexity of it justice. Although I overall do not enjoy the book or the sensory language of the use of smell. The ending of the novel really is a pretty good job at mixing together a lot of different elements . I found most of the ending pretty weird especially the orgy and the very end where he gets torn apart and eaten. Personally I preferred the ending of the book over the ending of the movie, and for the sole reason that the movie cannot deliver the message nearly as well as the book. In the book the entire ending of the book is described through his sense of smell, which is just not possible in a movie (although they did a good job trying). And while I generally did not enjoy the book or the movie, the book to me had a sinister tone and felt serious whereas the movie felt almost comical in comparison. Many of you will not agree with me on this but hear me out. I found the scene of his “execution” and the events afterwards somewhat amusing but in the book you are far too involved in the intensity of it all to notice how ridiculous it all is, but take that sensory language away and the whole thing to me is a joke. The only part of the ending I liked more in the movie than in the book was when at his “execution” the people start worshiping him, in the movie you get much more of sense of him standing tall and proud in front of a crowd that only moments before wanted to kill him. Overall I preferred the book to the movie, as I usually do, because it is so much more descriptive.. What do you prefer the book or the movie in the cases of perfume and generally and why?