Perfume by Patrick Suskind

Yes. It inspired the song "Scentless Apprentice" by Nirvana. I also have "The Pigeon" by Suskind, which is also good, but in a different way.

Suskind disappeared pretty much didn't he?

This is one of those rare books that I am able to recall vividly, even though I read it about 10? yrs ago. So sad and wonderful.

Hated it. Terrible ending. No empathy or sympathy for the protagonist at all. One of the most humourless books I've ever read.

Liked the Pidgeon and the one about the man with the stick who walks into the lake.

I'm agree with everybody...more or less! Surely, in my opinion, the description of birth og protagonist under the fish desk in the Paris general market is one of the most incredible pages I've ever read! The rest of sory is not at the same level, I think. And was interesting the big problem of the protagonist about his smell... Anyway Suskind never wrote other interesting thing!
In Italy it was issued on Corriere della Sera (our first daily paper) in a summer of late '70 or first '80...I remember the beaches were full of people reading "Profumo" on the news paper..It was funny...

Holy cow! What an ending! I didn't feel much empathy/sympathy for him either, but he was quite the character. I think, in the end, he did everything he could do with his life. He took scents and perfume to the ultimate point.

I did find humor in it. There were a few parts where I giggled. One example: His perfume master in Paris sitting by the fire, telling him stories and stories and stories about his life, war, thoughts, etc etc. Next paragraph: Grenouille wasn't listening to any of it, he didn't care about the stories. He was more interested in the process of extracting the delicate oil from the plant, blah blah blah. I had to laugh because the passage was writen like it was going to be a tender, sharing, touching moment between the two, but you see it's completely one sided.

And all the things that happens to people after Grenouille leaves them? As soon as he takes off and the next paragraph begins about the person he left, you think, "Uh oh... That Grenouille guys is baaaaad news, man." That made me smile because you KNEW something bad was going to happen, you just didn't know what.

I also liked all the talk about how to make perfume and extract essential oils, the various kinds of scents Grenouille invents for himself, etc.

I thought this book was fantastic.

I didn't like it either on the whole. I remember it had too much of an intellectual appeal on me, so I found the end "unemotionally disturbing"...
but yes, I still remember and appreciate a few passages (like the one you mention about babies, I'll let you know about mine as soon as she comes out ;)

You're having a baby? Was it that night we got snowed in together and all you could find was a bottle of wine?

whereas you insisted on clutching that dirty towel...

I think you should call our product of that stormy night, Grenouille.

Call me crazy, but naming him/her Grenouille may be bad luck. I don't know, I'm just thinkin' out loud here...

yeah, and then, you know, it's just a suspicion I have, but I'm afraid she'll be much smellier than that!

Fine, have it your own way. Just don't expect me to dress in tight pvc next time you 'fancy a role play'. And you can throw out that old fashioned leather diving helmet. I'm not wearing it ever again.

Was a while ago, but I remember the book not really working for me. The idea was interesting and all, but something about it was maybe a little too detached. I just couldn't quite get anything from it.