Book review: 'Het Parfum' by P. Süskind (1985)
16 Sept 2025
I found a Dutch translation (Ronald Jonkers) of this book at a flea market and instantly knew it was going to be my next read. I'd seen the movie years ago when I was a teenager and loved it back then. The book turned out different than the movie I remember, so this was also a classic case of trying to let go of what I thought the story was going to be like...
Right away I had to get used to the writing style, some sentences are half a page long (typical for german I think). But I got used to it pretty fast and not only the story but the writing and the words used, and the construction of the sentences was poetic and absurd in itself. In many cases I could not have found a more perfect word to describe a thing, emotion or scent the way Süskind did, and it's probably even better in the original language. It's funny, the story is centered around scent, but the writing also plays on your senses as a reader. Everything is described in such vibrant detail that you can see, hear or smell it, it makes the book an experience and I definitely recommend it. But because of the long sentences I don't think it's an easy read, though I don't know how it was translated in English of course....
(continue reading)
