Tim’s Reviews > Perfume: The Story of a Murderer > Status Update

What do you think so far?

So far I think it's pretty damned good, Stephen. I'm using it in a class called The Senses which seeks to push writing students to incorporate more and more vital, vibrant concrete language in their writing. It was a natural choice for the sense of smell, for obvious reasons. But I underestimated how adeptly Suskind would handle the slippery relationship between smell and language, the notorious resistance that olfaction has to being snared in language. I encountered this directly with my students the other day as they (and I) attempted to capture certain aromas in words: star anise, coriander, elderberries, birdseye peppers. Effortlessly, or rather thwarted by the effort to try to put words to something that is at once so primal and elusive, we all found ourselves gravitating toward simile and synesthesia, and falling back on the other senses in spite of ourselves (a crumbly powdered substance smells like "caking dust," turmeric starts to seem "luminous," and eventually one embraces the other senses for being willing to rush in to help).

Given all this, Suskind's achievement seems that much more noteworthy and impressive: he finds smells hidden under every rock, every frock, even while he engages the philosophical issues--what is this substance that is so insubstantial to most people, and thus what is substance itself? And can a world in which meaning emerges from the material yield a morality worth speaking of? All while telling a ripping good yarn in language that somehow manages to feel visceral and elegant at once, and creating a protagonist who is utterly strange and opaque, yet with whom we begin to become comfortable, uncomfortable as this might be. As a reader, sniffing one's way along the narrative trail, one scowls and sighs on the same page, and that describes almost every page. I'm into the second section right now, and he continues to surprise me--there's an epic, almost Gilgamesh-like feel to the quest that Grenouille has undertaken; I dig that his search for his place in the world has borne him beyond Paris and into largely unpopulated realms.

Tim wrote: "So far I think it's pretty damned good, Stephen. I'm using it in a class called The Senses which seeks to push writing students to incorporate more and more vital, vibrant concrete language in thei..."

Tim: Thank you so much. You put a lot into this response, especially considering the time-bind you may be in teaching and writing. I am well convinced now that this book is much more than a light read for between difficult books, a best seller off the racks. You have me very intrigued as well as curious-just how does one put the sense of smell within the limits of language?

My pleasure, Stephen--great to make your acquaintance. I'm lucky that I get to talk about books as a day job and then keep on reflecting after hours in places like this. I was sort of expecting bestseller lite from Perfume, too, although I'd read his followup short novel The Pigeon, and recall it being somewhat dark and existential with an absurdist streak, so I knew Suskind was no mere panderer to popular taste. Still, I've been pleasantly surprised.

Tim wrote: "My pleasure, Stephen--great to make your acquaintance. I'm lucky that I get to talk about books as a day job and then keep on reflecting after hours in places like this. I was sort of expecting bes..."

This is just the way Tim gems and jewels are turned up in GR. Thanks for pioneering the way and your thoughtful words.