Resumo de The Perfume - Patrick Süskind

Born and left lying on a heap on fish left-overs is how Jean-Baptiste Grenouille begins his life in 1738 in Paris. A few people take in this unloved child until he ends up by a nursemaid. He grows up without love or warmth, not leastbecause of the fact that his body gives off a repulsive smell. In his youth he alreadyshows an exceptional talent for developing fragrances. In spite of contact with poisonous gasses whilst working for a tanner, he survives and searches for unusual fragrances throughout the city. The well-known perfumer Baldini notices the boy?s talent and takes him in as an apprentice. He develops an excellent perfume that makes his master a rich man. When he tries to distil the smell that exists inside his own body he fails. As he lies in bed dying from the Black Death he finds out that another technique exists apart from distillation. He recovers, graduates and leaves Paris. In the country the smell of other people disgusts him more and more. He withdraws and hides in a cave on the Volcano to get away from the smell of humans. That is where he stays for seven years, developing his own fragrances. After a nightmare and the realisation that he does not have a personal scent, he returns to humanity. He deceives the people by claiming that he was captured by thieves and after a few spectacular performances, in which he shows his talents, he makes his way to Grass and meets Madame Arnulfi who teaches him a new method to produce fragrances. Suddenly the town is in a state of alarm - a women murderer is on the loose. He breaks into the houses and leaves his victims behind naked and with sheared heads. After 24 murders the killing suddenly stops, but a rich salesman recognises the system of the murders and realises that his daughter Laura will be the next victim. He tries to leave town with his daughter but Grenouille follows their tracks and steals her scent, as he did with all the other girls. He is captured and sentenced to death. Whilst he is tortured he admits nothing. He only says that he needed the scents of the girls. On the day of his execution he is surrounded by a fragrance that encompasses him like an aura and the crowd start cheering. He is pardoned and recognises the power that his fragrances have given him. He returns to Paris where he realises that he can only achieve satisfaction through disgust and hatred. Power has not made him happy. He remains unloved. He meets some primitive people who make love by an open campfire and he becomes accepted in the group. Hedeliberately applies his secret perfume and it has such an effect that the group tear him to pieces and eat him. Süskind has his main character go through so many different stages in which he meets diverse people from all levels of society and this creates an exciting novel. Especially the contrast that Süskind develops between Grenouille and the rest of the world produces an amusing read that is simultaneously a biting criticism of the double standards of modern life. The novel is not just interested in the pre-revolution state of France, but it is also a parody of today's middle-class society.

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