Perfume, the hauntingly esoteric novel from Patrick Süskind, is essential reading for these trying times. Given to me by a student mere hours before Donald Trump was "elected" the 45th president of the United States, I found Süskind's thriller to be a prescient warning. Forget Marquis de Sade--Süskind knows how to tell the ultimate story of horror in France.
At once an evanescent sojourn along the unseen and wafting waves of scent and a chilling allegory of Hitler's ascension to power, Süskind's lyrical prose captivates its audience as effectively as his protagonist (or should we say "antagonist") captures scents. Perfume may well be The Story of a Murderer, but it is simultaneously a warning: if we acquiesce to charismatic charlatans, deranged demagogues, and fatuous fascists we will all have blood on our hands.

Favorite Quote:
"For the first time, they had done something out of love."