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The Perfume Collector: A Novel by Kathleen Tessaro – PDF Drive
What three perfumes best describe different turning points in your life? Discuss the significance that perfume plays in your own life to alter mood or trigger a memory. Each of the main characters is not quite what they seem to be upon first meeting.
How do they appear originally, and how do they change? What do you consider to be the significance of this in the story and how does it alter your opinion of them?
Should perfume always be pleasing? She was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family and only discovered she was actually the child of another man in adulthood, when he left his Paris apartment to her in his will. This woman was never able to reconcile her true history. Do you think Eva a good mother? I read the description and sighed deeply. Yet another dual narrative? If it had been closer to Halloween, I would have dressed up like the Statue of Liberty, torch and all, shouting my own version of the Emma Lazarus poem:.
I wanted something different. I wanted to read a story in which the narrator was the setting of the story. I wanted a coming-of-age tale in which the protagonist was unreliable. I wanted suspense. I wanted thrills and chills. I wanted the first person plural. I wanted flash fiction, meta fiction, flashback, flash forward. Anything, anything other than a dual narrative. It just seems as if we are inundated with those these days.
However, there was one aspect of The Perfume Collector that I found unable to resist: perfume. Ever since I was quite young, I have collected perfume bottles and scents. I will admit that it was the perfume aspect of the novel that persuaded me to read the book. And when I did, the experience was so intoxicating and unforgettable.
An inheritance from a mysterious stranger. An abandoned perfume shop on the Left Bank of Paris. And three exquisite perfumes that hold a memory. The only difference was that the tickets were purchased in pounds rather than pennies, and the stalls were manned by famous faces from the stage and screen.
As soon as they entered it was clear from the crush of bodies that most of fashionable London was in attendance. People were shouting and waving to one another across a sea of faces; smoke clouds hung thick and heavy; the constant throbbing tempo of a brass band could be heard pulsing like a heartbeat beneath the general roar. Vanessa turned round. Dressed in a gauzy evening gown of layered black chiffon, she had sharp, even features and rather small, deep brown eyes.
Although not very tall, she was so delicate and perfectly proportioned that despite her unremarkable face she could only be described as exquisite. Next to her, other women appeared suddenly bedraggled and bovine. And every detail of her person was flawlessly finished — from the smooth centre-parting of her hair drawn back behind her ears to reveal a pair of magnificent emerald clips, to her long, slender fingers, accented with creamy, pale polish, the precise translucent shade of the small cluster of rosebuds that adorned her waist.
Vanessa smiled, taking a long, slow drag of her cigarette. That new comedian Benny Hill is hosting the auction. Open navigation menu. Close suggestions Search Search. User Settings. Skip carousel. Carousel Previous. Carousel Next. What is Scribd? Explore Ebooks. Bestsellers Editors’ Picks All Ebooks. Explore Audiobooks. Bestsellers Editors’ Picks All audiobooks.
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Carousel Previous Carousel Next Historical. Language English. Publisher HarperCollins. Release date May 14, ISBN Read more from Kathleen Tessaro. Ebook Innocence by Kathleen Tessaro. Save Innocence for later. Rare Objects. Ebook Rare Objects by Kathleen Tessaro. Save Rare Objects for later. The Debutante. Ebook The Debutante by Kathleen Tessaro. Save The Debutante for later.
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Karly Lane. The Millions Top Ten: September Kevin Ireland. Related categories Skip carousel. Reviews for The Perfume Collector. What did you think? Rate as 1 out of 5, 1 stars. Rate as 2 out of 5, 2 stars. Rate as 3 out of 5, 3 stars. Rate as 4 out of 5, 4 stars. Rate as 5 out of 5, 5 stars. Write a review Review must be at least 10 words. This novel followed the parallel stories of Eva d’Orsey and Grace Monroe. Having read many other books with similar plot lines, it wasn’t too difficult to work out the connection between the two women fairly early on.
Eva’s story was interesting and she was a survivor, but I didn’t like how the author ended it. I never emotionally connected with either woman and found them both rather uninspiring and flat as main protagonists. In particular, I struggled with the second-half of the book and was glad to reach the last page. The first half was okay when Eva worked as a maid and Grace received word of her unexpected inheritance from a woman she never knew existed, but the latter half was very mediocre.
I received this book from SheReads in exchange for a fair and honest review. Who would have thought I would have loved a book that focuses on perfume? Sometimes, I get scared of novels that are over pages and wonder why on earth they are so long! I could have read more pages of it, to be honest. For the full review, visit Love at First Book. Too late. All of the characters behaved like real people, sometimes surprising you with their selfishness and other times amazing you with their kindness.
I found our protagonist Grace particularly relatable. I think many other bookworms will as well, empathizing with her struggles as someone who enjoys intellectual pursuits not always valued by society. The only thing that kept this from being a five star read for me was the ending, which I found a little weak. I would have liked there to be a more climactic confrontation between Grace and her husband, as well as a clearer idea of what happened afterwards.
As is, I was still left with a few questions and feeling like not everyone got the justice they deserved. That said, I would definitely stay up way later than I should to finish it all over again! This review first published on Doing Dewey. Eva is a young girl working in a hotel in New York when she meets a variety of people that will impact her future; Madame Zed and Andre Valmont, perfumers, and “Mr.
Lambert”, of the English nobility but currently disowned and on the make. She learns about life and she learns some very hard lessons about people at a young age. Grace Munroe is wife to a thoughtless man who learns she is the sole heir in Eva D’Orsey’s will. Just as she learns of her husband’s infidelity she receives a plane ticket to France and a letter from an attorney.
She flies over to learn why this woman left her fortune to her. Of course the reader figures it out quite quickly but as the story bounces back and forth in time Eva’s story unfolds and we learn that things are not as simple as they might seem. I read this book in one sitting – I couldn’t put it down. It captured me from the very first and I was just entranced with both Eva and to a lessor degree Grace. Eva was not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I think she did the best she could with the situations placed in front of her.
She was a highly intelligent woman in a time that did not value intelligence in women – only their ability to be the perfect accent to a man. Tessaro is one of those authors that writes in a way that makes you forget you are reading; you enter the world of the characters and you do not want to leave.
The world around you just disappears and you have found yourself in a place where you see what they see, taste what they eat and in the case of this book, smell the perfume in the air. When you stop reading it’s like you have come out of a trance. He also crafted clever and intricate boxes, within which treasures could be hidden. Through flashbacks we learn that Werner had been a curious and bright child who developed an obsession with radio transmitters and receivers, both in their infancies during this period.
Already have an account? Log in. Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials. Sign Up. Review Posted Online: Feb. No Comments Yet. More by Kathleen Tessaro. Reader Votes Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books Of
a book review by Janette M. Denil: The Perfume Collector: A Novel.Summary and reviews of The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro
The Perfume Collector explores the complex перейти obsessive love between muse and artist, and the tremendous power of memory and scent. Again, we apologize book review perfume collector free this intrusion on your time of grief and look forward to being of service to you in the near future. It’s beautifully written, and despite jumping from ’27 to ’55 nearly every other chapter, it flows perfectly. The story opens in Paris in For the most part, I was pleasantly surprised by this book.