"BANCO" takes up from where "PAPILLON" left off. The author has escaped into Venezuela. He is deeply embittered and finds it difficult at first to readjust to life on the outside. He is set on revenge for he feels that he was framed for a crime he did not commit. As a way of working out his anger, the author becomes involved in an elaborate plan to stage a big robbery so that he can not only enrich himself, but also return to Europe and exact his revenge. While set on his plans for revenge, however, the author finds love and peace of mind.

"BANCO" stands out as a fine example of what a person is capable of achieving in terms of self-improvement and spiritual renewal. When I finished reading this book, I felt very happy for the author, who had learned to cast aside the anger and rage he had bottled up inside himself during his imprisonment on Devil's Island, and find an inner peace for himself.

Atrapante de principio a fin!!

I finally found my edition of this book in the database today. I was too tired to go searching for it the day I marked it as 'currently reading'.

And now I have to mark it as finished, or rather DNF due to the fact that the poor thing fell apart after I got just a few pages into the first chapter.

I bought the book at a used book table during one of the regular book fairs in the plaza when I was living in Mexico. I knew it was somewhat brittle but I had never tried reading it, since I wanted to re-read Papillon first.

So when I finished that book the other day, I got this one and my Spanish-English dictionary (this edition is in Spanish) and rejoined Papi just as he became a resident of Venezuela. And that was pretty much that. The book sort of exploded into pieces. I thought I was being careful, but old paperbacks are old paperbacks, no getting around that.

I will put Banco on my Someday List. I'm sure I can get a copy at my favorite online used bookseller.

RIP Banco, hope to see you again someday.

Tôi nghĩ Bướm phải dừng lại với cô gái ấn độ. Nhưng không, ở đó anh ta vẫn chưa lương thiện, vẫn chưa tìm thấy bản ngã thật sự của mình. Chỉ khi ở Venezuela anh ta mới cảm thấy mình đang được sống, mới cảm thấy mình thuộc về đất nước này. Quả là một người đàn ông mạnh mẽ và không hề nhân nhượng

Almost seemed as if this book was written by a different author than the first book.

Not as good as papillion, but what is??

Papillion was an excellent movie, but the book was even better! I found the sequel, "The Further Adventures of Papillion" at a local thrift store. It cost a quarter. I can get into Henri Charriere's writing style. It flows easily from one scene to another as though he was sitting with you at a sidewalk French cafe, with an open tab. "Banco", the actually title of the book, picks up where "Papillion"left off. The story starts off in a Venezuelan penal settlement, El Dorado. Here Papillion's adventures continue as he struggles to clear his name and become a French citizen as he once was. The stories are close to being unbelievable; yet, true stories of escape from a Venezuelan prison, his con-game schemes, his brush with revolution, his near-miss bank robbery, his womanizing, his successful attempts at owning and running a business. If you enjoyed "Papillion" you will definitely enjoy "Banco".It is a must read for adventure readers. It is an ashamed that Charriere didn't write more works for his narrative is powerful and his storytelling is compelling!

Not as good as the first book, but still fine.

I was so excited when I found he continued his memoirs. This volume is more farcical and adventurous, but after suffering through his time in the French prison, the author and I both needed some lighthearted fun!

Papillon I enjoyed very much, couldn't finish this one.

İlk kitaptan sonra "daha yazılabilecek ne kaldı ki?" diye sordum kendime. Kitaba beklentimi çok düşük tutarak başladım ama çok yanılmışım. En az ilk kitabı kadar harika, serüven dolu ve doyurucuydu. Henri Charriére nin zekasına hayran olmamak imkansız. Bu kitap bir adamın tekrar hayata tutunmasını belkide yeniden doğuşunu ve aslında onun ne kadar derin bir kişilik olduğunu daha iyi anlatıyor. ilk kitap - KELEBEK- bana göre daha yüzeyseldi. Henri benim için zor yıllar geçiren, dahi kaçış planları yapan intikam hırsıyla dolu ve birazda bencil bir kişilikti. Tabi kitap yinede MÜKEMMELDİ. Ama BANKO da sevgisinin sınırı olmayan, dürüst, yaptığı gençlik hatalarının ve verdiği zararın farkında olan, kararlı, ne istediğini bilen ve bunun için mücadele eden çok daha içsel biriydi. Sonlara doğru gençliğine dair anlattığı bölümler çok hoştu. KELEBEK ve BANKO benim kitaplığımda her zaman gözde kitaplarım olacaklar. Kitap hiç bir eleştiriyi hak etmiyor. Ancak saatlerce övebilirim yinede bütün kelimeler yetersiz kalır. İlk kitabın yorumunda yaptığım gibi Kitaptan çok sevdiğim bir paragrafı paylaşarak yorumumu bitireceğim.


-" Ne sen, insanlıkla ilgisi bulunmayan savcı, ne namusundan şüphe ettiğim siz polisler, ne yalancı tanıklıkla özgürlüğümü değiş-tokuş eden sefil Polein, ne iddie makamının görünüşü ve olayları yorumlayış şeklini benimseyecek kadar alçalan jüri üyeleri, 'insan yiyen'e layık ortaklar olan mubassırlar,kimse,hiçbiriniz ne kalın duvarlar ne de Atlantik üzerindeki bu yitik adanın uzaklığı,maddi ve manevi hiçbir şey, yıldızlara doğru yükseldiğimde yolculuğumun pembeyle renklenen mutluluğunu bozabilir."

-" On üç yıldan beri öç almayı kurduğumu biliyorsunuz. Bu on üç yılı yüz altmış beş günle sonra yirmi dört saatle ve her saati altmış dakikayla çarpın, yine de çektiğim acıları ödetmek için kaç kere kendi kendime ant içtiğimi bulamazsınız."


-BANKO

Incluso mejor que Papillón