Fairy-tale of Horror! Perfume

"Set in 18th-century France, Perfume relates the fascinating and horrifying tale of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, a person as gifted as he was abominable. Born without a smell of his own but endowed with an extraordinary sense of smell, Grenouille becomes obsessed with procuring the perfect scent that will make him fully human. " (from Library Journal)

Such description hardly does justice to the lush and hypnotic beauty of the narrative that gives voice to this bizarre, yet amazingly original premise of the book which unfolds into one of the most unique stories I've read. In reading the first third of the book, I was simply mesmerized at the incredible narrative that brings to life the world of 18th century Paris, seen (or rather, smelled) through the eyes of Grenouille; the sights of the world is not blinded by colors or distored by sound, but exhaustively and thoroughly comprehended through smell. Often times, you get to hear about how beautiful the sunrise is at Newport, or what medly of sound and noise fill the streets in Manhatta, but you almost rarely get a picture of a place described entirely on the thousands of different smells that hang in the very air that saturates you when you are taking in the sight or deafened by noise. I cherished every page of the book, in sheer fascination as if a the same world unfolded in a totally different sensation felt through the olfactory sense.

As wonderfully amazing the first half is, the latter half gets, simply... bizarre and macabre. Yes, it leaves an awesome impact on the destructive nature of the fate many of these 'geniuses' face, but this tale ends up as a fairy-tale of terror... both to the victims of Grenouille's maniacal obsession as well as the reader. At the same time I very much appreciated the powerful impact of how the story unfolded at the end, it was a bit too bizarre and chilling for my taste. Nonetheless, I definitely recommend a reading for anyone (beyond adolescence); it's a unique literary treat.

Why I keep thinking about my reaction to reading The Hunchback of Nortre Dame, especially the ending of that book, while I am posting this Blog... I do not know...