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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
medium-paced
Henri was clearly a storyteller, not a writer. This was all very stream of consciousness with him saying things like "Oh, I'll talk about this later" or "This character dies a few days later but here is more of my interaction with them". Switched to the audiobook half way through and enjoyed that more I think due to Papillon's style, but I still didn't love it. Papillon was likely a very charismatic guy, but he added a lot of embellishment and hyperbole, I'm sure. Other than the writing style, I didn't like the homophobic slurs that were present throughout the book or that there were only a few female characters and two of them didn't even speak the same language as Papillon so they were really just bodies for him to have sex with. This really showed the misogyny present in Papillon which made sense with the time. I know that this is based on a true story so it's not like he could have added fictitious women, but it was still one of the reasons that I didn't enjoy this book as much as I wanted to.
This story had good examples of hope, hard work, and adventure, but not one that I would recommend to anyone or ever reread.
This story had good examples of hope, hard work, and adventure, but not one that I would recommend to anyone or ever reread.
Content Warnings
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Cannibalism, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
this book gave me so much to think about - the concept of freedom, the working of the colonial powers, the idea of prison and reform, the unquenchable thirst to be a master of your own life. this book is great read. I don't know how much of it is true, but what a great story.
Chuyến hành trình đi đến tự do super epiccc
Trước giờ cứ nghĩ chỉ có trong phim ảnh, ai dè thực tế tởm lợn như vậy.
8 cuộc vượt ngục, 9-11 năm. Dù không smooth như Shawshank nhưng lại paylak muôn nơi như Papi *shrug*
Trước giờ cứ nghĩ chỉ có trong phim ảnh, ai dè thực tế tởm lợn như vậy.
8 cuộc vượt ngục, 9-11 năm. Dù không smooth như Shawshank nhưng lại paylak muôn nơi như Papi *shrug*
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
Papillon was my choice for an autobiography for my 2016 reading challenge--and it's a notably interesting one because, while author Henri Charriere insisted its contents were true up until his death, there's some definite room for doubt about large chunks of the book. Similarities to an earlier book along with the sheer incredibility of some of the events Charriere relates definitely seem to lend themselves to the theory that Papillon is, ultimately, an autobiographical framework (Charriere really was sentenced to life in the French penal colony of French Guiana, and he really did escape and eventually become a Venezuelan citizen) with a lot of narrative embellishments, many of which are suspected to be lifted from the aforementioned earlier work, or perhaps from other inmates with whom Charriere became acquainted during his time in the penal colony.
Basically, Papillon is about a guy who gets sentenced to hard labor for life in French Guiana, and who stages a series of escapes of various levels of elaborateness, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, but ultimately never being punished as severely as one would think for his failures. I mean, think about, the guy's escaped from various prisons four or five times, and you're going to let him just wander around the islands? Doubtful. While each incident that Charriere relates is interesting and an adventure in and of itself, all of it added up together, along with the fact that everyone seems to love him--from his guards to the prison wardens to all of the inmates he encounters to a tribe of Native Americans that apparently kill every white person they encounter--really does strain the bounds of incredulity. It does read like a memoir put together years after the events it depicts actually happened; while there is dialogue included, it seems like it's more rough outlines of conversations than actual conversation, which makes sense, but then at the same time other details that probably wouldn't spring to memory seem to proliferate. It's a strange imbalance, and it does make me believe that while some of the parts of it are real, others are embellished, lifted, or straight-up invented.
I did still like the book, though. Honestly, it reads to me like the best parts of The Count of Monte Cristo. The most interesting bits of that book, to me, were when Edmund was imprisoned in the Chateau D'If and when he made his mistake, before the time-jump to his revenge. And actually, Papillon references Monte Cristo, though Charriere is referring to Edmund's desire to get revenge on those who wronged him. Still, it seems like this was a blown-up version of the "imprisonment and escape" sequence, and set in Central and South America rather than France. I can definitely see the influence there, as well as that of the sources mentioned above. At the same time, though, it's somewhat of a pity that Charriere apparently felt the need to mash all of these stories into one book. One would think that the story of an actual escape would be much more riveting for its very truth than a book that's pretty obviously been cobbled together and inflated to make its narrator seem like more of a genius and model person than he really was. But hey, maybe that story wouldn't have sold well in the time that this book was published, though it almost certainly would have been preferred to audiences of today.
I am going to keep this as my autobiography selection for the reading challenge, because it's presented as such and for a long time it was (and by many, still is) accepted to be a true story. But I side with the doubters--as much as one wants this to be true, I just can't bring myself to believe that more than a fragment of it actually is. It's almost as if Jules Verne had taken a day trip on a submarine, written Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea...but then named his main character Jules Verne and insisted that all the events of the book were true, you know? Still, a good adventure story, and I enjoyed reading it even if I did side-eye it a bit.
3.5 stars out of 5.
Papillon was my choice for an autobiography for my 2016 reading challenge--and it's a notably interesting one because, while author Henri Charriere insisted its contents were true up until his death, there's some definite room for doubt about large chunks of the book. Similarities to an earlier book along with the sheer incredibility of some of the events Charriere relates definitely seem to lend themselves to the theory that Papillon is, ultimately, an autobiographical framework (Charriere really was sentenced to life in the French penal colony of French Guiana, and he really did escape and eventually become a Venezuelan citizen) with a lot of narrative embellishments, many of which are suspected to be lifted from the aforementioned earlier work, or perhaps from other inmates with whom Charriere became acquainted during his time in the penal colony.
Basically, Papillon is about a guy who gets sentenced to hard labor for life in French Guiana, and who stages a series of escapes of various levels of elaborateness, sometimes succeeding and sometimes failing, but ultimately never being punished as severely as one would think for his failures. I mean, think about, the guy's escaped from various prisons four or five times, and you're going to let him just wander around the islands? Doubtful. While each incident that Charriere relates is interesting and an adventure in and of itself, all of it added up together, along with the fact that everyone seems to love him--from his guards to the prison wardens to all of the inmates he encounters to a tribe of Native Americans that apparently kill every white person they encounter--really does strain the bounds of incredulity. It does read like a memoir put together years after the events it depicts actually happened; while there is dialogue included, it seems like it's more rough outlines of conversations than actual conversation, which makes sense, but then at the same time other details that probably wouldn't spring to memory seem to proliferate. It's a strange imbalance, and it does make me believe that while some of the parts of it are real, others are embellished, lifted, or straight-up invented.
I did still like the book, though. Honestly, it reads to me like the best parts of The Count of Monte Cristo. The most interesting bits of that book, to me, were when Edmund was imprisoned in the Chateau D'If and when he made his mistake, before the time-jump to his revenge. And actually, Papillon references Monte Cristo, though Charriere is referring to Edmund's desire to get revenge on those who wronged him. Still, it seems like this was a blown-up version of the "imprisonment and escape" sequence, and set in Central and South America rather than France. I can definitely see the influence there, as well as that of the sources mentioned above. At the same time, though, it's somewhat of a pity that Charriere apparently felt the need to mash all of these stories into one book. One would think that the story of an actual escape would be much more riveting for its very truth than a book that's pretty obviously been cobbled together and inflated to make its narrator seem like more of a genius and model person than he really was. But hey, maybe that story wouldn't have sold well in the time that this book was published, though it almost certainly would have been preferred to audiences of today.
I am going to keep this as my autobiography selection for the reading challenge, because it's presented as such and for a long time it was (and by many, still is) accepted to be a true story. But I side with the doubters--as much as one wants this to be true, I just can't bring myself to believe that more than a fragment of it actually is. It's almost as if Jules Verne had taken a day trip on a submarine, written Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea...but then named his main character Jules Verne and insisted that all the events of the book were true, you know? Still, a good adventure story, and I enjoyed reading it even if I did side-eye it a bit.
3.5 stars out of 5.
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
After reading 'Boy swallows universe' (another prison break novel that discusses Papillon) I asked the olds about it.
"Ohhh, it was the Shawshank Redemption of its day, " they exclaimed.
"A testament to the human spirit"
A tale of adventures that bends and weaves its way through Papillon's penal life. It's a long novel and by about half way I found my attention flagging, not sure if it says more about me than the book.
I returned later to complete the read because I just had to find out what happened to Papi. An enjoyable read, maybe a little long.
"Ohhh, it was the Shawshank Redemption of its day, " they exclaimed.
"A testament to the human spirit"
A tale of adventures that bends and weaves its way through Papillon's penal life. It's a long novel and by about half way I found my attention flagging, not sure if it says more about me than the book.
I returned later to complete the read because I just had to find out what happened to Papi. An enjoyable read, maybe a little long.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Some are written to entertain you. Some tries to you give the feelings of suspense, romance or anything. But Papillon has written to make you witness something unforgettable, some feelings like you are squishing your heart and observe the feelings with depth that you can capable.