How did I escape? With difficulty.

Author : Henry Charriere
Title : Papillon
Published : 03/05/2005
Pages : 688
Genre : Autobiography 
Publisher : Harper Perennial

     Condemned for a murder he did not commit, Henri Charriere, nicknamed Papillon, was sent to the penal colony of French Guiana. Forty-two days after his arrival he made his first break for freedom, travelling a thousand gruelling miles in an open boat. He was recaptured and put into solitary confinement but his spirit remained untamed: over thirteen years he made nine incredible escapes, including from the notorious penal colony on Devil's Island.

     From time to time I think it is good to reach for one of the classics. Papillon is one that I have been meaning to read for some time, and in need of a slight change from my last book, I figured it was time. This is a book that I think widely knows the tale of a man who was sent to a supposedly escape-proof prison island and then promptly did just that. 

     Charriere gives us an amazing tale of hardship and adventure in the course of these six hundred eighty-eight. In his travels, he comes across some wonderful characters and not just those of a criminal disposition. I would say that it becomes apparent fairly quickly that they are all pretty much male characters. All thought women do crop up in Papillion's story they are mostly there to serve his carnal needs and have little to no depth.  the only exception is a brief stint from one of the governors wive and even then I got to learn little about her. 

     As for Papillon himself, he plays out the French rogue to the fullest. He would be the first to admit that while the crime he was sent to the island for he did not commit, this does not make him a good person. Throughout his time either planning an escape or actually going on the run he does commit a number of felonies that in and of them self's would probably have landed him on the island. The thing with Papillon is that he chucks his charm around to any and all who come his way. This tends to mean that for everything he does you can see the reason behind his actions. For me though there where a couple of times that I did feel very ill at ease with certain choices he made. 

     It was after finishing this book that I did a little further digging into the life and times Of our hero. Recent research has shed some doubts as to the validity of the author's claims when it comes to his tale. While it is still put out as an autobiography and true crime story most people seem to think that at best only ten percent of the book was actually done by Papillon, some even being accredited to other inmates. And I suppose the biggest of these is the fact that no record of him having been on Devil's Island seems to exist anywhere in the French criminal records. 

     With this being said I don't think it really detracts from my experience of the book. If you view it as a simple tale of adventure and prison breaks then I think it will deliver on what you hope for. Which is not to say that it doesn't have its faults or problems. As I previously said The treatment of women is not great. Due to it originally being written back in nineteen sixty-nine and the story taking place between Nineteen thirty-one and nineteen forty-five there is certain language that some will defiantly find offensive. To say that racial slurs are abundant would be putting it mildly so be warned. 

     Despite my problems with this book overall, i did enjoy this story. It gives me an insight into the mind of Papillon if not his actual life. And he did give me a story that drew me in and kept me going through what is a long book. For me, i never really felt like it was slowing down too much.  If I had to compare the style of his writing I would say that the flow a tone does bear a strong resemblance to Jack Kerouac or vice versa which I suppose make sense as they were both writing at about the same time. And in turn, should give you a fairly good idea as to how much you will potentially enjoy the book.