I just completed this fantastical book set in the late 18th century. It’s well written, an interesting portrait of a character that’s hard to like, though sympathy for him is possible.
Basically, it’s a story of an unwanted kid who has an incredible sense of smell and a disturbing lack of odor. He exists, occasionally acting, frequently justifying long asides about other characters and locations– kind of a stream of consciousness world building interwoven in a sparse story.
The main character tries to get along (usually, until late in the book he starts planning and executing his murders), but fate intervenes, slapping him down. Usually with an illness. Then he moves on to a new phase of his life (apprenticeship, etc.) and the author kills off whoever his last caretaker or boss was, in a completely random way.
In the end it was interesting– a bit of a stretch from my normal reading. Like many period authors (or mystery writers), he spends time talking about a hobby/profession in detail– perfume making in this book. It’s interesting and well done– Grenouille learns about beside us and the info-dump on the process is well done.