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6 Degrees of Separation – Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

Melinda Tognini May 12, 2016 3 Comments
6 Degrees of Separation: perfume by Patrick Süskind
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6 Degrees of Separation: perfume by Patrick Süskind

Welcome back to Six Degrees of Separation. Feel free to play along at home; it’s really easy. Simply take the title allocated by Kate over at booksaremyfavouriteandbest, and connect it to six other books in any way that seems fit. This month’s starting point is Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind.

Perfume is about a boy born with an incredible sense of smell and he becomes so obsessed with capturing the smells of objects that it leads to murder.

The connection is somewhat tenuous (aren’t they all?) but I was reminded of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. I guess the wolf has a pretty keen sense of smell and is usually accused of trying to kill the pigs, but the connection was actually because of the word ‘story’.

Jon Scieszka retells this classic fairy tale from the perspective of the often maligned wolf. Wicked by Gregory Maguire also offers an alternative version of an old story. In The Wizard of Oz, the Wicked Witch is all bad, but Maguire’s complex (and clever) back story results in us cheering Ephaba on after seeing the impact that prejudice, gossip and a smear campaign has on her.

Like the Wicked Witch, asylum seekers and the men who offer them a boat trip from Indonesia, are often portrayed in simplistic terms. Just as Wicked encourages us to empathise with Elphaba, Robin De Crespigny’s The People Smuggler invites us to journey with an asylum seeker. As we read the story of Ali Al Jenabi, we begin to understand why someone would dare to pay a ‘people smuggler’, or even become one, in order to seek safety and freedom in Australia.

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind

A smuggler of a different era is the type that could, historically, be found around Cornwell, and for which Smuggler’s Cove is named. Smuggler’s Cove is the setting of an Enid Blyton classic, Five go to Smuggler’s Top.

I visited Cornwall several years ago, and although we never quite made it to Land’s End, I’m reminded of Tim Winton’s book Land’s Edge, although he is writing about the Western Australian coast on the other side of the world.

Robert Drewe also writes about the Western Australian coast in his book Shark Net, which explores a period in our history when the murderer, Eric Cooke, was on the loose.

This brings it all back to Perfume, which is also about a murderer, so really I ended not far from where I started.

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer

If you’re playing along, please let me know where Six Degrees of Separation led you, either by including your list, or a link to your own blog, in the comments below. Be sure to jump over to booksaremyfavouriteandmybest and check out where Kate ended up.

Copy of 6 Degrees of Separation - Perfume

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Previous 11 Opportunities for Young Writers and Artists May – July 2016
Next 5 Writing Prompts for Young (and not so young) Writers
Melinda Tognini

story-gatherer & mentor

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6 Degrees of Separation: From Sorrow and Bliss to Lost and Found June 4, 2022
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3 Comments

  1. Kate W says:
    May 14, 2016 at 6:22 pm

    Your link between Wicked and The People Smuggler? Genius. I’m so amazed by the fact that everyone’s chains are vastly different.

    Thanks for joining in.

    Reply
    1. Melinda Tognini says:
      May 15, 2016 at 11:40 am

      I’ve been thinking about that link for some time. I took my daughter to see the Wicked musical about a year ago, and as I watched, I was struck at the power of language used to persuade how people saw Elphaba. At the same time I was hearing similar kinds of language being used by politicians and in the media to describe asylum seekers (and refugee advocates, as well).

      I love seeing how the same book leads people in different directions.

      Reply
      1. Kate W says:
        May 16, 2016 at 4:58 pm

        Funny how hearing or seeing things at particular times in your life resonate for whatever reason. I felt the same about one of the installations at MONA in Hobart – it made me hyper-aware of words used in news reports.

        Reply

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    I would love to know what you think once you have finished them - I always love seeing your perspective on the books you read x
    In 6 Degrees of Separation: From Sorrow and Bliss to Lost and Found
    I found that fascinating too - especially given the reasons for the connection were totally different.
    In 6 Degrees of Separation: From Sorrow and Bliss to Lost and Found
    There are so many fabulous writers in Australia (both fiction and non-fiction), so I love being able to share them with others who might be less familiar with them!
    In 6 Degrees of Separation: From Sorrow and Bliss to Lost and Found

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