Lush Library discussion

Okay, and here is the place to spoiler away to your hearts content.

I'm reading it in german, so I won't be posting any quotes, but please quote away if you are so inclined.

I'm also planning on re-watching the film as soon as I've finished the book, maybe some of you will want to do this too, to compare?

anyway, I'll hopefully think of some more-or-less interesting questions to stimulate discussion but so far I can say: I love the beginning of the book, and the in-depth description of the incredible stench of Paris. I did want to take a shower after I'd read it, but it's beautifully gross, just as I found Grenouille's birth among the fishguts disgusting and yet fascinating.

I've only just recieved this from Waterstones this morning, so as soon as I've finished Mockingjay, I'll be reading this.. So realistically, I'm looking at starting this in the next couple of days... Ah well, Bernie's biography is going to have to wait for a while I guess...

you can take your time, the discussion threads stay open (as far as I know), so even if anyone can't finish one of the monthly books in the month we've assigned it, or if they didn't participate for some reason, but read the book at a later date anyway, they can still comment on them at any time they wish.

it might take me a couple of days to finish, too. I've started a really fascinating auto-biography today, and I will probably want to finish that first, so I can give Grenouille my undivided attention and not get distracted. I don't really like reading two books at once.

I don't have a problem reading two books at once, but for something like this, I'll take my time... Ah well, looks like Bernie will be the next book - I need a fiction break! *Grin*

I finished this last night. I like your way of putting it, morgaine_cat, the whole book is "beautifully gross". I thought it was a really interesting way to look at whether finally possessing what you most desire makes you happy, and the ending has to feature one of the most unique deaths in fiction. I loved the detail in the descriptions, and I think Grenouille is a fascinating character with complex motivations. They'd be interesting to consider from a nature/nurture perspective, I think. I can't say I really enjoyed it, though. If anything, it made me feel a bit nauseous. You don't need to enjoy something to appreciate it, I don't think, but I prefer to! A good one-off read, but probably not a book I'd come back to for pleasure.

well I'm glad you got some enjoyment out of this read, Sarah, even if it wasn't a completely pleasant experience to you.

I'm loving it. yes, there are bits so full of ick that I feel quite nauseated, too, but all in all I really like that it's such a different approach.
in so many books, particularly historical fiction, I find that everyday life is often so romanticised and many thinks are being glossed over. that doesn't mean I would want an in-depth description of this heroines toilet habits or how bad that hero's breath really is, but I like that here there are smells, and not just good ones. scent is so often overlooked and I think it's a very important sense, so I really appreciate that it's a completely different approach to almost any other book I've read.

reminded me a bit of the perfume, since it's also a rather gritty, dark and sometimes yucky look at victorian london, and while no-one in it is quite as horrible as Grenouille, every person in the book is flawed.

also had lots of vivid descriptions of scents, all nice ones if I remember correctly, but still not something you find in many other books.

I also like that Grenouille is such a complete anti-hero, there's really nothing redeeming to him, he's horrible, selfish and ruthless through and through, yet I still find myself rooting for him.

I finished it, and it was just as great as I remembered.

what did everyone think, it says "the story of a murderer" on the cover, but since the murders aren't described in horrible gory detail were you able to sort of overlook them and did you actually take this as a crime story or more the history of an unusual life?

do you think Grenouille would have turned out differently if he had loving parents or at least a less difficult, cold upbringing?
Sarah already mentioned nature vs. nurture in her post.
is he just a victim of his circumstances, a misunderstood genius?

or do you think the author gave his main character that particular flaw and skill on purpose to make his readers think about the results of this kind of one-sided thinking and reducing people to just one of their traits?

and is he bad luck to almost everyone who crosses his path because he is evil, or is this just the greedy people who are using him getting their comeuppance?

I would say it's more the story of an unusual life - the murders are not described in detail - it's more a passing mention to say, "oh, by the way, Jean-Baptiste killed these people".

I think Grenouille may have turned out differently if his mother had taken an interest, but would he have been able to make such a difference with the perfumes that he has created if he hadn't been born with the "disability" of a lack of a personal scent...

I think his lack of personal scent makes scent more important to him, but I'm in two minds about whether that's the sole reason he commits the murders. Even if he'd had a scent of his own, he still might have found the scent of virgins alluring enough to want to capture it.

It was the story of s murderer and not murder which I for one am glad about given the authors aptitude for description. Ick. The book was so descriptive that I was surprised when it glossed over the murders of the other girls but I thought it in fitting with Jean-Baptiste's character and his matter of fact attitude. In the end he explained his methods and his enjoyment and I was relieved that he hadn't went in to much detail before - it would have just seemed unnecessary gore.

It was implied by the description of how the wet nurse and priest reacted to him as a baby that they could sense there was something not right about him from the offset. I'd like to think that if he had had a nice upbringing then he could have used his talent for good but because of the sense of evil about him even as a baby I doubt it would have alleviated his dark desires - he probably would have had to struggle against them his entire life. I think it was his nature but a lack of nurture meant that if he ever had the capacity to feel empathy towards other humans it wasn't nurtured so it never became apparent in his character. His mistreatment, whether abuse or being taken advantage of, meant that he was never shown how to love and care for someone other than himself and even then his only indulgence was to satisfy his need for scent (or lack of) and the rest was survival and existence.

We are all given attributes and whether we use them for good or bad depends on our nature and how/if we are nurtured.

I got the impression that it was the lack of scent that put the wet nurse off him, though she didn't consciously realise that was what was wrong with him. His incredible nose also came about because of this; his nose was pure and able to detect nuances in perfumes because it had no scent of its own to conflict with them.

Perhaps the author is also saying that the sense of smell is so closely related to emotion that a man with no scent can have no personality. The only time he really feels anything is when he's pursuing other peoples' scents.

It was unnatural that he didn't have a scent - I'm surprised it took him so long to notice himself. Breathing without the taint of his natural smell would account for a purity but his sense of smell was extraordinary. In reality I think it's impossible and the author created a kind of paradox that the protagonist spent his life subconsciously, then conscientiously, trying to resolve. He needed to possess the ultimate scent to attain adoration and power - things that he had lacked throughout his life which he attributed to his lack of personal scent.

I was more upset by the death of the puppy than the girls :O

I would like to touch upon the feeling of him being 'different' as a child. I have known many people have a similar feeling, not that they hate their child of course, but that something isn't right...

My brother for example, my mother and I quite often thought there was something not right,there was not a reason that you could put your finger on. Just like a knowing sense ifyswim. He was diagnosed with Asperger's when he was 10 as we knew something was 'wrong' and pushed for help as he was due to start secondary school.

Would Grenouille have been different if he had been loved? I like to think so. I do feel sorry for him yet he disgusts me at the same time. Although situations can make us feel one thing or another the choices that we make are ours alone. We have a feeling of what is right and what is wrong whether taught or not.

My mother was quite often beaten as a child for the smallest things yet she is a wonderful mother and extremely loving. So if my mother who wasn't really shown any love can now be such a loving person, would Grenouille have been a different person had he been loved?

Now I am doubting myself lol!

Why did everyone that had done him wrong end up dead? Divine intervention? or did Grenouille himself do these things but the author left those parts out?

"Why did everyone that had done him wrong end up dead? Divine intervention? or did Grenouille himself do these things but the author left those parts out?"

That's an interesting speculation, Sam. Not knowing who the narrator is makes it hard to judge whether events are being presented reliably. I don't think he was motivated by revenge, though, so I doubt he would have had a hand in the deaths of all those who did him wrong.

Perhaps it's more to do with the wrongness that surrounds Grenouille. Other people sensed it, as you say, but maybe their bad ends were a result of being "infected" by it, for want of a better word.

Like a bad energy kind of deal? I can't believe I'm going to say this but maybe karma? It is rather strange that these things happened, I liked it though...

I almost said karma, and then I stopped myself lol. I think it's strange that they all had bad ends, though. Probably not just coincidence.

I finished Perfume a few days ago. I was very impressed with the book, I'd seen the film previously and loved that too. The film is aesthetically brilliant and Ben Grisham made an excellent Grenouille. I was pleased to finally read the book and be able to understand the story more, as the film left me not quite 'getting' some parts. Oh I need to watch it again now.

Loved all the detail in the book about the perfumer's trade, as this has always kind of interested me. Suskind obviously did a lot of research.

I agree that it wasn't really a 'murder' story and I'm glad about that, as I don't really do gore. I even found myself rooting for our villain Grenoiulle, most of the time ... and then I'd catch myself and think ... erm this is weird, he's a detatched killer - he shouldn't really be getting my sympathy!

What a bizarre ending too. But then after the other strange events, I wasn't too shocked.

4 stars. A very original story, it pulled me in.