I first read Perfume when I was 18. It came to me from a friend who knew I had a love of Nirvana. It was, of course, one of Kurt Cobain's favorite books. I enjoyed it simply because I knew he did. When I was 21, and then 5 or 6 more times in the next 7 years, I read the book again and my mind was more open to what Patrick Suskind was trying to say. Books are almost always written to describe things seen or heard. It is not often that one reads of smells and aromas in books. Suskind tells a tale set in a past time having to do with a murderer. But what the story is really about is how the author can open the reader to the smells the main character senses using words to describe those smells. Seems easy enough when you try yourself. You can tell someone that something smells like sour milk and they will know what you mean. But Suskind talks of smells out of the ordinary and that requires a skill of descriptiveness, which he excels at. As you read the book, Suskind is so sure in his choices of words that you find yourself immersed in a world of scents. Normally I can imagine what a writer wants me to imagine....can see clearly the country road that a troop of soldiers is marching down for example. But, to ask your readers to dive into scents and find that they can submerge themselves into those smells is quite an accomplishment. I give this book the highest recommendation that I could ever give a book. I also wish to tell future readers of Perfume to read it in a nice quiet place where you can be fully immersed.....mind, body, and nose.