Papillon

Un peu long, un peu date, mais excellent neanmoins. On est vraiment transporte en cavale.Gh vc xcf dsa cxz

This is incredible story better than the movie adaption well books are always better.

I finally got the original text in French.

A brilliant read, and a great way of improving my French that didn't require boring exercises. I'd definitely recommend it to any French speakers or those with A-Level French.

It would have been great if this had arrived. Instead, I got a teen novella about space hockey. Because obviously that's the same as a damning indictment of the French overseas penal system??? This was a few years ago, and I've only just got around to reviewing - had a good chuckle at the memory. I'm sure service is much better these days. :)

Henri Charrière’s account of his multiple escapes from French and other penal colonies in South America is gripping and a good read – a classical swashbuckling yarn. It soon becomes clear however that this is fantasy rather than a true story. His exploits stretch way beyond the point of credibility, and his own role is always embellished with bravado. It rates less well as the novel it really is, than it would as the autobiography it claims to be. Charrière himself claimed it was 75% true, although he had originally offered it as a novel. French journalist Gerard de Villiers reckoned only 10% was true!Nevertheless the critique Charrière makes of the cruel inhumane French penal code and practice of the time, which he does describe accurately, is cogent and well expressed. The exhibition at St Martin de Ré shows exactly how appalling it all was.

Worthy classic