Review: Perfume

Review: Perfume 

For me, when it comes to literature, there are two things of which I am absolutely certain; a little magic goes a long, long way and I have a definite penchant for the brooding anti-hero of a story.

*CoughSeverusSnapeCough* 

Patrick Suskind's gives me an abundance of both.
Here we have the life and times of murderer and master perfumer, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille. (Just Grenouille, for short.)
Grenouille has the best nose in the world, with the unparalleled ability to catalogue and remember every smell in existence, be it the individual smells of wood, objects and people.
However, by a cruel twist of fate, we discover that Grenouille does not possess an odour of his own. Unable to identify himself olfactorily (and therefore not at all) he ventures out to create the perfect human scent, even if he has to kill to get it.

Although a born villain, Grenouille is a lovable old rogue. You feel gut wrenchingly sorry for him, witnessing him growing up as he tries to 'see' and understand the world through his extraordinary sense of smell.
He is perfectly aware of who he is, an evil opportunistic vagabond and makes no excuses for it. He's a perfect abomination; his brutal honesty and his complete loathing of the world around him only makes you love him that much more.

You only have to look at Suskind's writing style to really capture the beauty of the story and it's definitely where the magic comes in. This author has a magnificent way with words, at times the wording was so romanticised, at one point I had to stop and take a second to remind myself that I was reading a description of sewage and fecal matter and not a rose. In a way, the imagery reminds me a lot of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha. It's so beautifully romantic.

If that's not enough to sway you to read it, there is the most astoundingly, exceptionally messed up hanging scene I have ever read in my life. Ever. You need to trust me and read the book to see what I mean.

Absolutely brilliant!

RATING: ★★★★★ 

Review: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

I've been mulling over this review for months. It's not that I didn't enjoy it, I'm just not quite sure how I feel about it... yet.
Here we have Harold Fry, a socially awkward, painfully ordinary man. Harold lives an ordinary retired life, with his ordinary wife. You get the feeling in the beginning, although he's not quite happy, he's perfectly content to be ordinary.

Until he receives a letter that is. A letter from a terminally ill Queenie, an old work colleague who disappeared; someone who Harold harboured a secret guilt for. Upon posting his reply to Queenie, Harold finds himself walking from one postbox, to the next, to the one after- until he comes to the conclusion that instead he's going to walk to Queenie. Walk across the country from Kensington to Berwick in naught but his yachting shoes. It's up to him, to keep her alive.

Harold is an old man and we come to discover a man who is riddled with regrets. Regrets regarding his wife, his son and the regret of letting an old friend walk out of his life. What we have here, is a modern day Everyman. During this pilgrimage Harold reflects on the choices he's made in an attempt to reconcile and move passed them. He chances upon meeting fascinating characters throughout his journey, each with their own regrets and problems. Harold seems to take these burdens upon himself, to help heal himself and those around him. There was a particularly moving story Harold hears in a tea shop from a white hair gentlemen who admits to partaking in acts of gay sex.

Needless to say, I adore Harold Fry; I'm not quite sure if I want to be just like him, or wish I had a friend that was. Harold has the uncanny knack of warming you from soul to toes, I'm not sure if it's his innocence, his naivety or his sheer will to cling on to hope or just a combination of all three. Whatever it is, I found myself rooting for him with ever cell of my being, I needed him to get to Queenie if not for his sanity then my own. 

What Rachel Joyce has given me, is a wonderfully simple story about faith, hope and love. It's a nice reminder that, regardless of how old we are, we are never too old to discover who we really are. The only drawback in the book is the mention of Facebook and Twitter, which in my opinion, gives it a rather short shelf life; I don't see myself picking up this book in ten or fifteen years time, so against the bigger picture it's nothing but a minor irritation. All in all though, Joyce has done exceedingly well in her first novel- I would definitely read more by her in the future. 

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review: Slaughterhouse-Five

At the age of 21, Billy Pilgrim was drafted into the Army where he was a front line soldier in Germany, 1944. It is here he becomes "unstuck in time," reliving and re-experiencing  certain moments of his life; the time he was prisoner of war in Dresden or when he was abducted and taken to live in Tralfamadore with a porn star named Montana Wildhack. Billy's personal calling in life is spreading the teachings of the Tralfamadorians (well, it seems to be that way anyway). 

I read this book on a whim, it's one of those cult classics you're a bit scared to pick up, just in case you don't like it very much. Or at all.
I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised, not that it was a brilliant read (and a brilliant read it was) but by how much I loved it. Towards the end of the book I started reading at a snail's pace, savouring every single word and quite frankly, not really wanting it to end.

I loved the protagonist Billy Pilgrim. I love him and I adore him.
He reminds me of a less cynical, grown up version of Holden Caulfield, (Salinger's Catcher in the Rye) he was so lovely and kind to every person he comes into contact with. Even when they weren't very nice to him, which is a regular occurrence in the book (I'm talking to you, Roland Weary!) It's the kind of love that makes every fiber of your being ache for their happiness, I really wanted everyone to believe him about Tralfamadore. 

Incidentally, I found the writing style of this book to be very similar to Catcher in the Rye, it's not the only reason I loved reading it but it did relax my nerves once I started to get into it.
I couldn't recommend this enough, it's beautifully written and an absolute joy to read. I hope I get the chance to read it again one day, because it's easily dropped into my favourite reads category!

Rating: ★★★★★

Review: The Invisible Man

If the internet generation has taught me one thing, it's that anonymity brings the best and worst out of people. When it comes to the worst, you can feel empowered and brave- after all, you can do and say whatever you please when no one can see you.
The Invisible Man follows the same social conduct, even though it was written in the turn of the 20th Century. Of course, there was no social media back then but man's search for power is a tale as old as time.

In the novel, we learn of the antagonist Griffin, a seemingly brilliant medical student who becomes fascinated with optics. Upon his research he discovers that invisibility can be achieved through the change of an object's refractive and reflected properties. (At least I think so, the science bit confused me some.) The physical body would remain the same but visually it can not be seen.
The story is based around Griffin's plight, the erosion of his moral compass and his susceptibility to murderous rage. 

I feel Wells made it as easy as possible to dislike Griffin and that was probably the point; I found it to be a distraction in the end as there were no other real characters to form a connection with.
Ignoring my dislike for the main character, it was written wonderfully and I found it to be an absolute joy to read. Often with sci-fi, the science bit can get a little daunting but this was written in a way that most, if not all of the audience can achieve a loose level of understanding. 

This is the first novel I've read by H. G. Wells, it's not my favourite book in the world, as far as science fiction goes but it hasn't put me off reading more by the author.
I don't know if I'd recommend this book to anyone, but if you like H. G. Wells and you like repulsive men doing equally repulsive things that mirror today's society... I'd say this is right up your street.  

Rating: ★★☆☆☆