A quick read, it's more like a short story than a full length novel.But it's so quirky and different you won't be able to put it down.I haven't yet seen the movie, but I can imagine it being pretty interesting, I hope they do the period well.Smells. Stenches, and stinks are the stars of this story. I resisted more alliteration there.My only quibble with it is that the "action" of the book is glossed sort of rapidly. I feel like Suskind lost his momentum and squished the last half of the book into a much condensed version.PLUS for a murder mystery there are some very humorous and ironic patterns that form. I won't give them away, but I started to EXPECT certain happenstances for each character the murderer came into contact with.Still, it'll probably forever change the way you view perfumes.