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A review by kyleofbooks
Papillon by Henri Charrière
4.0
A truly remarkable journey! A Frenchman of the underworld convicted of murder (but “innocent”) >>> life sentence >>> prison camps and numerous escapes.... I mean, this is just one of those ‘too-good-to-be-true’ TRUE stories. Obviously, it’s on the condition that Henri Charrière did not embellish, misremember, or completely falsify his years as a prisoner and cavale man., but honestly, even if it’s not all 100% accurate (as he wrote this book many years following his final escape, so, there’s the possibility of that), this is a book worth reading. It’s brutal and relentless and sad and exciting and wondrous and unnerving...
Seriously. What a thrilling story... what an extraordinary life!
*The reasons this book does not get a full five stars:
•The whole ordeal with the two youngand I mean creepily underage, virgin Indian girls/sisters that Papillon “marries” and impregnates. —I understand it’s a different culture/different time, but that whole section was so completely off-putting. The fact that Charrière mentions years later (and quite a few times) how much he misses having sex with them... yeah, no. It’s gross.
•There is no epilogue. It would’ve been nice to hear what happened to all the other people in the story after Charrière’s escape. I feel as though a book such as this should include some form of afterword or mentioning of those others we spent so much time with: Dega? Maturette?
•The last few chapters happened so very fast. I had become used to long stretches in-between, but literally, the structure and wording towards the end was: “Eight days here. Then after many months here. This happened. Then this happened. Years later, this. The end.”
Seriously. What a thrilling story... what an extraordinary life!
*The reasons this book does not get a full five stars:
•The whole ordeal with the two young
Spoiler
AND the fucking fact that he NEVER goes back to the Indian village to see his “wives” or two young children again after he’s freed, and instead marries and has a child with someone else. It’s fucked up. Especially after hearing him say repeatedly how living with the Guajira was the most peaceful time of his life.•There is no epilogue. It would’ve been nice to hear what happened to all the other people in the story after Charrière’s escape. I feel as though a book such as this should include some form of afterword or mentioning of those others we spent so much time with: Dega? Maturette?
•The last few chapters happened so very fast. I had become used to long stretches in-between, but literally, the structure and wording towards the end was: “Eight days here. Then after many months here. This happened. Then this happened. Years later, this. The end.”