Papillon is a real life account of the author Henri Charriere who was wrongly sentenced for a crime he didn't commit, when he was 25.. The book deals with the 14 year period in Papillon's eventful life.. It is an account of these years he spent in French Guiana and nine escape attempts he made from jail, finally securing his freedom in Venezuela.
The book's title was based on Charrière's nickname, derived from a butterfly tattoo on his chest..
Papillon is a knockout punch, right from the word go.. the opening lines of the book: 'It was a knockout blow- a punch so overwhelming that I didn't get back on my feet for fourteen years. And to deliver a blow like that, they went to a lot of trouble.'
Some of the stuffs, which has made me read the book again and again over the years- develop an inexplicable admiration :
a firm/ an unbending spirit to survive whatever maybe the odds against him, the perseverance, the greatness of Papillon to always stand for his friends and helping them even in life threatening situations, the endurance and the level of optimism shown in achieving his goal (that of escaping).. never once did Papillon break out, not even once! (might be a fiction, an exaggeration by the author.. who cares?.. its just great to read such a description.. builds in me that resolve to see end of anything, never to lay down!)
every time i read this book - the spirit, the feeling just gets transferred to me, some of the lines seem to convey something marvelous to me..
i first read this book in Thamizh as பட்டாம்பூச்சி... every time i re-read the book in whichever language, am in a whole new world- my world.. Paplillon is a spirit- booster of sorts..
Clifton Fadiman rightly said “When you re-read a classic you do not see more in the book than you did before; you see more in you than was there before.” This book is truly a masterpiece and a classic..
What Shawshank redemption/ Harvey does to someone.. Papillon does more than that!
snippets:
Translator: Patrick O'Brian (into English)
Language: French
Genre(s): Autobiographical novel
Pages: 566
The character was portrayed brilliantly in the French film of the same name by Steve Mcqueen as Papillion and Dustin Hoffman as his friend Dega...
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