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A review by alongapath
Papillon by Henri Charrière
adventurous
dark
informative
sad
medium-paced
4.0
I never expected a rough journal memoire to be a lesson on the power of kindness, but this is exactly what Henri Charrière's book teaches. Being kind and telling the truth opened hundreds of doors for Papillon on his route to freedom.
In Paris 1931, after a bungled investigation with false witness testimony which framed Charrière as a murderer, he was handed a severe life sentence of hard labour in a prison camp called La Bagne de Cayenne in French Guiana. At only 25(?) years old at the time of the sentence, he simply wouldn't accept this punishment. In the end, he was imprisoned for 14 years of that life sentence.
Papillon used every opportunity to get to know his fellow prisoners, the guards, the wardens and the locals to gain information about the various prison camps he was sent to, as well as to garner key intel about the best sort of work to be assigned, ways to secure decent meals and the lay of the land and sea surrounding the camps.
This info gathering was done through his immense approachability and his willingness to work together with anyone to plan escapes. He used his money stash (suppository) to buy people's interest and loyalty - mostly through tobacco - and to finance his many escapes.
Over the 14 years of his imprisonment, he made at least 11 escape attempts - many of which succeeded. He was ingenious in his creativity, never replicating a previously tried escape. Some were escapes by boat, raft or tide; others were explosions, runaways and assault; and others included faking illness or mental stability.
The conditions of some of the prison camps, especially his 2 years of solitary confinement, were gruesome. There was one where the sewage-filled tide rose into the dungeon prison cells to the height of his thighs every six hours. There was another where he was starved to the point of losing teeth to scurvy.
There is information now that says these stories are not Papillon's alone, but instead a collection of stories he learned from other prisoners over the years. No matter to me. Storytelling is what keeps us all alive and if he was inspired and/or outraged by the tales of others and wanted to include their descriptions as part of his own then, in my mind, it is part of his story.
The only part I had real issue with was where he escaped to and then welcomed into a remote village of native Venezuelans (which he called indians!). During his 7 month respite there, he "married" two sisters, got them both pregnant and then left before the children were born, for no reason except that he wanted to return to society. When he was caught after this escapade and re-imprisoned, I thought it was deserved. What a tool.
It is hard to imagine what Carrière's life was like after such torture, adventure and fervour during his incarcerations. It is an excellent tale and I will remember him for his kindness and humanity despite the soul-crushing conditions he had to endure.
In Paris 1931, after a bungled investigation with false witness testimony which framed Charrière as a murderer, he was handed a severe life sentence of hard labour in a prison camp called La Bagne de Cayenne in French Guiana. At only 25(?) years old at the time of the sentence, he simply wouldn't accept this punishment. In the end, he was imprisoned for 14 years of that life sentence.
Papillon used every opportunity to get to know his fellow prisoners, the guards, the wardens and the locals to gain information about the various prison camps he was sent to, as well as to garner key intel about the best sort of work to be assigned, ways to secure decent meals and the lay of the land and sea surrounding the camps.
This info gathering was done through his immense approachability and his willingness to work together with anyone to plan escapes. He used his money stash (suppository) to buy people's interest and loyalty - mostly through tobacco - and to finance his many escapes.
Over the 14 years of his imprisonment, he made at least 11 escape attempts - many of which succeeded. He was ingenious in his creativity, never replicating a previously tried escape. Some were escapes by boat, raft or tide; others were explosions, runaways and assault; and others included faking illness or mental stability.
The conditions of some of the prison camps, especially his 2 years of solitary confinement, were gruesome. There was one where the sewage-filled tide rose into the dungeon prison cells to the height of his thighs every six hours. There was another where he was starved to the point of losing teeth to scurvy.
There is information now that says these stories are not Papillon's alone, but instead a collection of stories he learned from other prisoners over the years. No matter to me. Storytelling is what keeps us all alive and if he was inspired and/or outraged by the tales of others and wanted to include their descriptions as part of his own then, in my mind, it is part of his story.
The only part I had real issue with was where he escaped to and then welcomed into a remote village of native Venezuelans (which he called indians!). During his 7 month respite there, he "married" two sisters, got them both pregnant and then left before the children were born, for no reason except that he wanted to return to society. When he was caught after this escapade and re-imprisoned, I thought it was deserved. What a tool.
It is hard to imagine what Carrière's life was like after such torture, adventure and fervour during his incarcerations. It is an excellent tale and I will remember him for his kindness and humanity despite the soul-crushing conditions he had to endure.