The extraordinary life of Jean Baptiste Grenouille could have been the title of this novel, whose action takes place in the 18th century, in a society still steeped in superstitions and witchcraft.
Jean Baptiste Grenouille is born under his mother’s fish stall, where she has already given birth to stillborn babies. This one is expected to suffer the same fate, except that he cries… His mother is executed for infanticide. Jean Baptiste’s life begins, shunted from nurse to nurse, each in turn refusing to care for him because he has no smell, he smells of nothing! Scents and aromas will be the guiding thread of his destiny.
Firstly working for a tanner where the most pestilential and harmful odors should kill this young apprentice, this child. Except that once again fate brings him to a perfumer where he will showcase all his talent. Jean Baptiste is both amoral, devoid of feelings, without remorse. A perfectly insensitive being. A monster, some would say.
To achieve his quest for the absolute perfume, he will soon start murdering young virgin girls. Here we see a hint of ancient beliefs where the devil is very present. We are in the 18th century, and despite the Enlightenment, old beliefs intertwine with religion, the devil, and black masses.
Jean Baptiste will flee Paris; is he seeking purification when he locks himself away for seven years in a cave in Auvergne? When he finds himself in Montpellier with a probably mad charlatan, when he goes to Grasse where he will kill young girls in search of an absolute perfume. His death sentence, his pardon obtained through the perfume, then his death when he returns to Paris, all due to the perfume.
A novel bordering on the fantastic, a work full of flavors, aromas and scents. The perfume, the very pages of the novel emit their effluvia through these sacrificed young virgins to capture the musk of their bodies.
Thierry Jan
