Has anyone read perfume?

[McDreamy]

It has been recommended by a friend. Just looked it up on Amazon but not sure if it looks like my kind of book. `is it gruesome?

I read it in my teens and liked it. Not sure if I would like it now, about 20 years later.

I read it about a year ago.

Very well-written, very sensual.

But I did feel the end let it down.

I read almaost anything... but Perfume is up there with that dan Brown(?) book the name of which escapes me now... but, anyway, I just couldn't read it... I did read the alchemist by Paulo Coelho and I enjoyed it... does that help?

I think book recommendations should come with a list of books the person who is recommending the book also likes...

Perfume wouldn't be on my list of good books.

'I think book recommendations should come with a list of books the person who is recommending the book also likes...'

What a genius idea! I couldn't agree more.

I hear people repeatedly rating 'The Lovely Bones' so highly, but I have to say it's the only book I've actually burned - on a campfire - because I thought it was such bollocks I didn't want to pass it on and inflict it on someone else's unsuspecting psyche.

Lol at burning it Expat. I did that with Emma Tenant's "Pemberley" which made me so angry that I shredded each page into tiny little crumbs of crap masquerading as "literature" first.

I like the idea of reviews that say what else the reader has enjoyed. Eg: if anybody said they liked "We Need To talk About Kevin" I would be duty bound to seriously doubt any opion they ever uttered - sorry, that is very judgemental of me and I am (at least three quarters) joking.

Have to add my two cents here because I thought it was terribly overrated too, but have never met anyone else who agreed! What a relief to find I'm not totally alone. I think the basic idea of the book has a lot of promise, but it's so appallingly overwritten, and the plot is so lame and it's so self-consciously 'meaningful' ... aargh. Pants. Total pants masquerading as important modern fiction.

sorry just to clarify, I am still talking about Perfume and not any of the other titles people have mentioned on the thread!

sorry just to clarify, I am still talking about Perfume and not any of the other titles people have mentioned on the thread!

read it years ago, thought it was a bit unbelievable but a good read

I totally lost any 'meaning' - just a beautifully written (and translated) book. Didn't feel that it was trying to 'tell me' anything except the story (do I need a ?).

I don't always want some deep meaning in books... I just wanna read a story.

We were watching a film documentary thing the other day and they were analysing every little detail. Me n DH decided that that is why we can happily watch crap films - we don't analyse

Read it in German whilst at uni and enjoyed it. So what if it's unbelievable? Suspend your disbelief!

I loved it.

that's the thing, it's a story that ends shit.

the end just lets it down and seems like a big acid trip. a lame one.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't complaining that it lacked meaning. I just think it was one of those books where you're supposed to be impressed by the philosophical implications of the story like some sort of fable. But unfortunately I didn't think that really worked and didn't like the story either, and most importantly, I thought it was far from beautifully written it just read like totally overwrought prose. Like a room that is decorated entirely in gilt and velvet and fake marble in the name of "exquisite taste".

But hey, no book makes everyone happy and I appreciate it has a lot of devoted fans ...