Monday, April 13, 2009

ON BOOKS ~ Perfume: The Story of a Murderer...

MizB asks you to:
  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
  • Share the title of the book the teaser comes from…that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
  • Please avoid spoilers!

From pg. 81 of PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER by Patrick Suskind (fiction)...

"I took him to be older than he is; but now he seems much younger to me; he looks as if he were three or four; looks just like one of those unapproachable, incomprehensible, willful little prehuman creatures, who in their ostensible innocence think only of themselves, who want to subordinate the whole world to their despotic will, and would do it, too, if one let them pursue their megalomaniacal ways and did not apply the strictest pedagogical principles to guide them to a disciplined, self-controlled, fully human existence.

"There was just such a fanatical child trapped inside this young man, standing at the table with eyes aglow, having forgotten everything around him, apparently no longer aware that there was anything else in the laboratory but himself and these bottles that he tipped into the funnel with nimble awkwardness to mix up an insane brew that he would confidently swear - and would truly believe! - to be the exquisite perfume Amor and Psyche."

WHEW! I am tired just typing all that out. Yes, that is only 2 sentences. This guy needs an editor to shorten those thoughts. That is my biggest trouble thus far - not getting lost in the sparsely punctuated thoughts. Maybe it is just the translation from German? But this passage does paint a pretty clear picture of the main character, Grenouille. And since this book came recommended to me by Betty @ Betty's Books, I am looking forward to seeing how Grenouille develops.

13 comments:

Wanda said...

I don't imagine this young man would take to kindly to being described as a child, at least not if the title refers to the same person.

Margot said...

That is a lot of work for a fun book. However, very interesting.

Janet said...

I read this book last Summer...it was interesting!

Sandy Nawrot said...

I've always been intrigued by this book. Wasn't it a movie also? I'm going to go look...yes! I was right. I think that fact was stored in my mind because Alan Rickman is in it, whom I love. Please give us a head's up if you love this book. I may want to read it.

Valerie said...

Wow, are ALL the sentences like that?? The descriptions are great but seems like the book might require a bit more care in reading.

Jo-Jo said...

Wow...that is a doozy of a teaser. Thanks for sharing it!

Erika Powell said...

that is possibly the longest two sentences ever. great teaser though!

Wendi said...

It is a wonderful teaser, but yes - it should have been broken into more sentences. :)

Here's my Teaser from The Red Leather Diary! ~ Wendi

Jenny Girl said...

I tried to read this last year and just couldn't do it. Those long sentences were part of the reason. Good luck and hope you enjoy it!

Kaye said...

In my advanced age, I don't know if I have the attention span for a book full of those sentences. I hope you are enjoying it though. my teaser is here

Anonymous said...

I've never head of this book, but it looks interesting.

I find myself looking for the longest sentences on a page for the teasers. Maybe I should challenge myself next time to find the shortest, but interesting sentences on the page.

Jen at Semantically driven said...

I read this book a few years ago and absolutely loved it. Because I loved the book so much I haven't been able to bring myself to see the movie.

Rikki said...

Perfume is a wonderful book. German sentences can be that long without anybody finding them odd. If the translator had broken them up he's probably ruined Süsskind's style. Patrick Süsskind is a master storyteller. His descriptions are out of this world, especially considering that most of the time he describes scents.