Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Reads like a fable rather than a novel and failed to engage me

This is another of those books I'd always known about and finally got around to reading only to be disappointed. German author Patrick Süskind's novel was a huge bestseller around the world when it came out in 1985. Set in 18th century France, it's the story of a man born without a personal odor but with a perfect sense of smell who becomes a perfumer and murderer who kills young virgins for their scent. The depiction of the time and place is vivid, but the characters are flat. It reads like a fable rather than a novel and failed to engage me enough to pull me into a fictional dream. Instead I felt distant and almost clinical in my reading. In order for any novel to work for me, there must be a character to care about, something Perfume lacked.