Customer Reviews

Smell

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Starts out well but fizzles after part one. Leela (Lily) becomes a bland and annoying character, certainly not "exotic". Her character never develops. Actually, none of the characters are well described except for those in part one. The story loses its appeal and the ending, especially the romantic interest with Olivier, seems contrived. The 'smell' angle was intriguing but the overall story was poor.

goes downhill fast from there. I was so excited when I started this novel, the writing was rich and evocative, the plot seemed solid and down to earth. Then Radhika Jha seems to have dived into a tailspin of teenage sex novel/poor pathetic woman, leaving our main character without a modicum of my sympathy. It turns from beautifully melancholy reality to Jaqueline Suzanne-esque pulp, (or should I say pap?) that left me desperate to reread the beginning to be sure I hadn't missed anything. I hadn't. I have no idea how Radhika Jha got from the beginning to where things turned ugly, almost as though she refused to finish the book and someone in the mailroom offered to take over from her. Despite this, I still hold out hope for future novels from this writer, as she has shown at the beginning of the book she is capable of both transporting the reader into her world, and of currying deep sympathy for her characters.

"Smell" started off fabulously but it tapered off towards the middle and the conclusion was inexplicable in its blandness. I rather enjoyed reading Leela's story in the beginning but as time went on, it got a little bizarre and less interesting. There were a few issues left unexplained at the end, and I found that bothersome. That said, Jha's insight into a foreigner finding her way in Paris is startlingly clear. I enjoyed reading of Leela's exploits, and her uncanny sense of smell.

The initial chapters were well written, and I was interested in the main character, Leela. However, the book quickly degenerated and the writing became terrible; it was hard to follow the characters' ever changing moods, and the characters for the most part are not developed. The book turns into a bad trash novel, with lots of descriptions of sex, but I don't feel anything for the characters.

Leela seemed to be full of self-pity, as well as completely ignorant and vapid. She has no initiative to do anything, but instead is a completely passive person, waiting for others to take action. This one is going in the recycling bin!

I found this book to be extraordinarily descriptive and engaging. If you are one who prides yourself on your sense of smell, has a love of foods or are in the mood for the story of a life struggle with victories and heartache, this is a book for you.

Set in Paris, but with strong Indian influence, this book will pull you in and at times make you uncomfortable for the character you become immersed in and then on the next page, cheer for her victories in the evolution of her tranformation of sheltered teen to a self-realized woman. A modern-day tale of struggle and celebrations and extreme hunger and satisfaction on both financial and emotional levels.

I can visualize her lively brown eyes, as she surveys the people and places around her. Unfortunately, she has as many, if not more hang-ups and strangeness to her than Amelie did in the French movie. I think that this book reminds me of "Eating Chinese Food Naked", a novel by Mei Ng with the outright sensuality and coming of age character. I also would compare it to "Chocolat" a better novel than the movie that was made from it. The main character in this novel evolves a great deal and is 19 to her twenties when many of her experiences take off. There are many, many, many chapters in this book that are so worthy of your reading, even if you are a male. This is not to be brushed off as chick lit. This is a very powerful novel that delves into our most primal of senses and our reactions to commercialism, to not fitting in, to having cultural clashes. I apologize for the run on sentences. I am definitely in love with this book for it's honest ugliness or ability to be open about the dark sides of human nature that we all have. Even if the rascist comments shocked some, it was quite powerful to think of it in terms of the same type of rascist reactions that some people had against Middle Easterners after September 11th. The brutal reactions of society against those of us who break the "norms" and don't fit in were so enlightening in this book. If you ever felt like an outsider/foreigner who is straddling so many different cultures, as in the "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" sense, this book will certainly reasonate with you. This is incredibly relevant to the present times in our society, even if she was talking about the Nairobi conflicts. I think this novel has also made me fall in love with the natural beauty of Africa. I could smell and almost feel the descriptions of Africa. The French phrases thrown in were also wonderful, especially since I am studying the language. Even if she described situations in English, you could really catch onto the fact that she was beginning to feel and think in French. There are many other characters in the novel and the most common theme was to see how she would hand over her power to them, or wait to be rescued by these people. There was a stray-wild-animal type of feeling to some of the situations. The main character is very complex in her vulnerabilities, and yet, at the same time, very much in-your-face about her confused passions. This is a great story. The writer has absolute no fear or inhibitions when it comes to the sense of smell. I tend to enjoy Jhumpa Lahiri's short stories, Isabelle Allende, Amy Tan, and unusual nonfiction books about culture, politics and art. For those of you who also like those, this one is definitely going to appeal you. For the men, this is a book that you want your ex-girlfriends, lovers and secret admirers to send to you;) Trust me, it is a very physical, erotically charged, & an intelligently written novel. You might gasp in outrage or shock at some parts but it's well worth the read if you can get over your emotional reactions and look at it in a more analytical sense. I also HIGHLY recommend, in the nonfiction arena, "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman and Desmond Morris' books about human interactions, starting with "The Naked Ape" if you are truly intrigued with the sense of smell, touch and evolution of our instinctual, primal natures.

I started reading this book because I am myself from Indian orgins and living in Paris. That is why I guess I enjoyed all the descriptions (odors and visual) be it of the indians spices at Leela s uncle's shop, or the french baguette's smell or the streets of Paris ...
But the novel as such hasn t been written in an evolutive manner, at one point Leela s life becomes boring...
I would recommend to read it just for the descriptions, which had a new touch, because everything is 'smelled' and not 'seen'..
Read it in english, because the french version is not that good, the vocabulary is very restricted, the french is very basic.

I found myself enjoying the first part of the book (as a guilty pleasure) and kept reading though eventually I figured there had to be something on TV worth my time more than reading this book. I finally pitched the book in the recycle with a warning written in bright red pen to anyone who might pick it up. I wish I'd read the reviews before being pulled in by the cover and the promises within.

Smell, by Radhika Jha, is a really bad novel.

It starts off well, but don't be fooled. The beginning may be well-written and well-characterised, but the good stuff ends with part one.

Leela is an Indian girl, born and raised in Kenya. When her father is killed, her mother and her brothers move to London, and she goes to live with relatives in Paris, where she becomes and amazing cook. She's not happy with them, and eventually gets kicked out. And then the book starts to suck.

Leela drifts from romance to romance. Men love her because she's beautiful and exotic. She sits around immersed in her own self-pity and is boring. She spends some time as an au pair and has an affair with the father of the child she's taking care of. She then leaves him for an incredibly wealthy food king named Phillippe.

Show Don't Tell is one of those bits of advice that every writer gets. When I stumble across an author who abuses it by taking 100 pages of atmosphere to get to the plot, I curse the name of whoever came up with Show Don't Tell. Smell made me remember just why Show Don't Tell is so important.

Leela tells us that she's in love with Olivier, but we don't feel it. After the scene where they get together after she leaves Phillippe, he's barely mentioned at all. Leela tells us that she's become the 'fusion-food queen' and is in the society pages, but we don't hear anymore about it.

Phillippe has potential to be an interesting character. He's certainly more complicated than all the other characters in the book. Unfortunately the book has already deteriorated by the time he shows up.

Contrived romance, a flat, boring heroine, and some incredibly bad writing. Avoid this book.

This book is an obvious ripoff of Jimaica Kincaid's "Lucy" (ISBN: 0374527350). Read that instead. It was written ten years earlier and is written at least ten times better.