Fluturele niciodată nu-și pierde aripile. Aș vrea să spun „wow”, dar nu este suficient. Am nevoie de câteva zile ca să îmi adun gândurile. Și lacrimile, pentru că nu au fost puține.

What is the price of your freedom? Papillon's price for freedom is equal to his life. Reading a story like this makes me realize how lucky I am to have this kind of life because probably if I was in Henri's shoes I would have been dead for a very long time. No matter what happens to him he has one thing in his mind. To Escape. Because he was accused of a crime that he didn't commit makes his will to escape stronger.
He claims that Papillon is a true story. Some events might be real but there is no way it is completely true. It made me realize that Papillon is extremely lucky because during his escapes he mostly meets with good people that help him without waiting anything in return. While reading those parts, I was thinking that; in any moment someone will spy on him and this probably shows my faith in humanity. I have no trust in them anymore and this is one of the reasons why I don't think the story is completely true.
Regarding France, we know what France is just by looking at their national football team. They were not only cruel to the people of world but also their very own people. In this point of view it is a cursed country with very large black spots in their history which will never come off.
I quiver just by thinking how Papillon survived in those cells for all those years. Hope kept him alive. It is always hope that keeps someone alive. Papillon is a guy who can be happy with almost anything because when he was sent to prison he has absolutely nothing in his hand. He is not perfect but for sure he is a peaceful man. It was a pleasure for me to get to know him and acquaintance myself with his story.
This book thought me what hope does to a person and what is freedom. Without those two, you have absolutely nothing. Even money can't help you without these two. He was a man, made for this kind of life and I am glad eventually he got what he wished for.
Henri Charrière AKA Papillon is not a writer that's why do not expect a literature novel or 100% correctness. I have read the Turkish version of this book and the translation was full of mistakes. Also the way Papillion wrote this book is going to give you clues about him. I have enjoyed this story a lot and I am glad I have read it.

Damn, but I love the 'redemption' genre! I'm sure there's an official genre title, but that's what I call it. You know the deal: 'Shawshank Redemption', 'A Million Little Pieces', 'Shantaram'.
...The protagonist is thrown into jail (or a mental institution)... often on a drummed up charge. Fighting tooth and nail to survive incarceration with the spirit intact, hungering to escape and punish those who put them there to begin with.

OR the book starts right after the jail-break, and the protag wants nothing more but to turn a new leaf and live an upstanding life. But the law won't forget and keeps trying to pull them back into the jaws of spirit-crushing imprisonment...

France has produced some of the best revenge/redemption tales of all time: 'The Count of Monte Cristo'--'Les Miserables'--and this last, 'Papillon', combines the best of jail-break, jail-life, revenge and the burning, unquenchable spirit to survive. At times, I could swear the book was pulsating in my hands, like a bloody heart....

In 1931, Henri Charriere (also known as Papillon) is convicted of murder on a false charge and sentenced to life in prison, with an added ten years of hard labor to be served on a penal colony in French Guiana, off the north coast of South America. Convicted in his mid-twenties, he will spend the next decade of his life trying again and again to escape. An adventure story, a diary of incarceration (from the community of the prison yards to the soul entombment of solitary), a scathing criticism of a civilized country's lack of compassion for those who stray from the law--I found myself unable to put it down. What's more, it is a memoir--

Memoirs are always tricky affairs. There comes a time inevitably in a memoir where you're like, no. Come ON. That did NOT happen. Get the fuck OUT. After 500+ pages with more than ten jail breaks, countless shivings in the shower, a half-year stint in the wilderness, superhuman feats of survival, living as one with an indigenous tribe, shark attacks, leper colonies, and almost a combined four years of entirely solitary solitary confinement (not to mention a whole herd of beautiful brown women who for reasons, simply HAD to have their breasts tattooed by the protagonist, who was more than happy to oblige....) I had to ask myself how much of this memoir's memory's had been enhanced. Turns out quite a bit of controversy had broiled back in the day when it exploded as a best seller.

The author himself claimed 75% as true.... others pegged that number much lower, but you know, I really don't care--the story is amazing, the writing is clear-cut, and there's nothing like an excellent 'redemption' book to get you up and fighting again when you're feeling sort of low.

Found myself thinking, fuck, if THIS guy could escape a maximum security penal island surrounded by shark infested waters on a goddamn BARREL--maybe I can do something with my life too?

Loved it!

It's been a while since I cried "uncle" but today I had to do it again. In the past several years I have suffered through William Gibson's Spook Country AND - yes, I believe I may be a glutton for punishment - Zero History (a novel about...jeans?). I did my best to stay awake through Kazuo Ishiguro's galactically dull Never Let Me Go (but please, I do so want to let you go). I forced my way through The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (next time, YOU take it). Waded through Wicked, clumped through The Client, I even managed not to "put down" The Horse Whisperer (Get it? "Horse"..."put down"...? OK, I apologize for that one). It was over 10 years ago that I last gave up on a book, and I think it was Evan S Connell's Son of the Morning Star which was actually very well researched but just so disorganized that I couldn't get through it. And now I have to dump Papillon by Henri Charriere, a grand exaggeration (according to online accounts including wikipedia) of a wildly egotistical, "wrongly convicted" French guy who escapes prison several times using money that he has hidden from guards (think: Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction, although I realize that Papillon came first), in order to one day write a meandering memoir full of his bafflingly bloated tall tales which would be made into a movie starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. I understand that, as the story proceeds, Papillon finds ways to celebrate life as he endures various miseries. After suffering through about 100 pages I suddenly realized: I AM PAPILLON, and I am imprisoned in this book, and I need to escape! So there it goes, into the DNF pile, along with Shackelton's South, and Scottoline's Moment of Truth and Crichton's Electronic Life. I leave you with these words of wisdom: "It's as easy as that to drop the chains you've been dragging...'From this moment on you're free.'" - Papillon.

Henri Charrière, nicknamed Papillon because of the tattoo on his chest, is sentenced to life imprisonment for a murder he claims not to have committed. He was sent to Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, where he escaped with two other convicts. This time is where his incredible adventure begins.
This fact makes up several different facets. First, it understands moments of indescribable joy, especially during the beginnings of successful runs with her companions of fortune. These moments often take place aboard a boat or a makeshift boat.
There are also moments of doubt when he feels abandoned by this God whom he gets to know throughout history through religious characters who help him in all his journeys to keep the faith and believe that anything is possible. And yet, despite all these difficulties, he always regains hope.
In this story, Papillon encounters moments when he is facing and obliged to tap into an indispensable moral strength and extraordinary power not to go mad or commit suicide. Moreover, during his years in prison, he developed unique methods to maintain more or less correct health, especially during his two years of imprisonment. Papillon is also used to rationing since he has to impose it on himself several times in the book, whether to stay alive in dark dungeons or on a makeshift boat.
This work also features breathtaking landscapes, disturbing, warm surroundings, and moments of relief and pain.
Finally, the most beautiful part of this book is all the encounters between Papi and the locals, the guards, the other convicts, and the authorities. He gives the impression of adaptability and is extremely friendly because he meets people who want to help him wherever he goes. These people are often impoverished, have also been in prison, or are very sick, but they always do their best to help Papillon go on the run or get a new life. He also meets a few suspicious people who denounce or try to kill him, but he always gets by and goes his way.
I will conclude with my opinion of this book. Papillon has made me vibrate throughout its history. At times, the suspense was breathless, and I recommend this biography to any lover of good adventure novels.
However, I was very disappointed by what I discovered while reading this book because it is an autobiography of Henri Charrière called into question. It proved that it is, in particular, a collection of stories that have happened to other convicts who have known Papillon.
Therefore, it fails to be an entirely true story that made me spend delightful moments.

Why I chose to listen to this audiobook:
I read this book back when I was in high school during the late 1970s. As a young, impressionable reader, I had given it 5 stars. A few years ago, my daughter and her husband gifted me with a copy of this book after they watched (and liked) the 2017 movie version. I found an audiobook recording to follow along with the book.

Praises:
1. a memoir written by Henri Charrière, focusing on his unjust incarceration at a penal colony in French Guyana during the early 1930s. It's an action-packed adventure story of perseverance and survival as he attempts several escapes from various prisons; and,
2. the hardcopy contains a Glossary of various French terms used, as well as a map outlining a couple of Papillon's lengthier escapes.

Niggles:
1. although written as a memoir at least 40 years after this time period, Charriere is extremely detailed in his conversations, which is amazing, because I can't recall what I said word-for-word with anyone that I spoke to a couple of hours ago. Personally, I felt there was TOO MUCH DIALOGUE which got boring at times;
2. there was a lot of tell, not show, and a lot of repetition;
3. I was mystified as to how often Papillon was welcomed and adored wherever he went, given free rein, gifts, and money. He was revered as the center of attention by prison wardens and indigenous peoples alike, even though everyone was highly aware that he was an escaped prisoner convicted of murder;
4. the audiobook recording was confusing as there were huge amounts of dead air between "notebooks"; and,
5. I was totally disgusted when he is welcomed into a Colombian indigenous tribe during his first escape, "inherits" two young wives, 17-year-old Lali and her 12-year-old sister, Zoraima, impregnates them both, and then leaves them high and dry in order to continue his adventure.

Overall Thoughts:
Well, this is the second book in a row that I loved in my youth, only to be highly disillusioned with in my 60s as I reread them. I often questioned the overall authenticity of this "memoir", and it appears that I'm not the only one. Many parts just seemed so wrong.
This is just proof that books sometimes affect us differently throughout the years.

What a story! Papillon is an autobiographical novel about a man who in 1931 was charged with killing someone (of course, the author claims he was innocent) and he was sentenced to a life of hard labor at a penal colony in French Guiana.

After many weeks of planning, he managed to escape on a raft and sailed hundreds of miles to Colombia. He spent several months living happily in a fishing village -- with not one but two wives! -- but he was eventually picked up by the authorities and sent back to prison. He tried many other escape attempts, but it wasn't until 1941 that he managed to escape again by sea, floating away on a sack of coconuts. Yes, a sack of coconuts.

Papillon, a nickname referencing the French word for butterfly, is a wonderful storyteller and the book is filled with his adventures. I can understand why this book was a huge bestseller when it was published in 1969; it is compulsively readable and the stories are memorable. Like any great storyteller, the author comes across as so clever and heroic that you wonder how much is exaggerated, but you also don't care because you're enjoying it too much.

This book is incredible. It is the TRUE story of a prison break from a penal colony in French Guiana which was later made into a movie with Steve McQueen--another of my favorites. If you liked Shawshank, you'll love Papillon.

Henri Charrier, called Papillon for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, was convicted in Paris in 1931 for a murder he did not convict and was shipped off to French Guiana. It takes years and several failed attempts for Papillion to escape in this nail-biting story of amazing courage.

The book has it all, sex (for a while Papillion has two Indian wives who are sisters), drugs and a little metaphorical rock and roll. I can't recommend it enough.

Charriere wrote his autobiography in 1968, twenty years after he escaped.

رواية رائعة فيها درس عن الوفاء، الإخلاص، الإيثار والتمسك بالحرية .. ففرنسا رغم حضارتها العريقة وتمدنها لم تستطع أن تساعد مواطنها الصالح على أن يعود إلى الحياة أو أن لا يُدفن في طريق العفن ، مقارنة بسيطة بين فرنسا التي تخلت عن ابناءها بنفيهم ودفنهم أحياء والقرية الهندية أو الفنزويلية التي رأت في المحكومين الصلاح فحاولت أن تحميهم . قد تصل بعض المجتمعات إل.

One of the best Non Fiction Memoir I have ever read till date. A gripping tale of inhuman tortures, an endless story of survival, a brutal fate after escaping each and every prison before recapturing again, horrific days and nights with the other deadly prisoners, surviving in the infirmary without food and water for several days counting the each and last second which gonna pass by very slowly.

All the above cruel conditions were for innocent Henry Charrier affectionately known as Papillon - A butterfly. He got arrest for the crime of murder which he did not committed and sent to the jail.

The story of Papillon is the gripping tale of his survival through the inhuman conditions for life in the prisons, his collaborations with the other jail inmates, his plans for escapes, his travels through seas to reach the new shores by hiding with the coast guards, his relations with the leprosy affected prisoners and with the Indian tribes.

All the happenings with the Papillon left you stunned, dumb founded and awestruck. The story revolves around one motive only : an escape.

Awesomely written, extremely well narrated the Papillon make you to fall in Love of him. Strongly recommendable to every book lover to read at least once, not only for an interests but to know how a Memoir and a Non Fiction should be.

Cheers !! ..

Basically it's the 1930s and there is this manly French bloke who has been WRONGED by the French Justice system, is sent off to the French penal colonies in South America, and keeps trying to escape and gets passed round all these various prisons and hard labour camps and so on.
Basic themes:
- There is great honour amongst criminals, they never hurt their own, old people, women etc... Oh, except for the bad criminals, but the French bloke looks down on them.
- 'Civilised' people are cruel and corrupt. Native people from the South American countries are always incredibly graceful and kind, and will do anything to help a random white man wandering about the country, even if they have no money of their own. French bloke does a lot of musing about how much nicer the natives are than the French who banged him up for murdering someone, although of course he didn't actually do it and so on.
- Non-white women in developing countries are wild and sexual and very keen to have it off with random white men they find wandering about. At one point the French man has a relationship with two sisters who live in a tribe in the jungle, knocking them both up, and musing about how wonderful, wild and free they are, even though he doesn't bother learning too much of their language.
- Real men are tough and hard and honourable. They are allowed to cry, but not for very long and only at few appropriate moments, for example the death of an equally tough and manly friend.

A true tale of courage, perseverance and an unbreakable spirit!

Henri Charrière, born in France in 1906, was not a gentleman. In 1931, following a shadowy career in the Paris underworld spent in the company of safecrackers, thieves and prostitutes, he was convicted for a murder he always maintained he did not commit and sentenced to transportation and life imprisonment in the notorious penal camps located in French Guiana.

Charrière, determined to preserve his health, his sanity, his spirit and, indeed, even his capacity for enjoyment of life, under unimaginably deplorable conditions and suffering inhuman punishment and abuse, always maintained that he was only visiting the prison. He definitely had no intention of hanging around for long. Labelled as "dangerous" by the prison authorities, he was an incorrigible "escaper".

After serving a scant six weeks in French Guiana, Papillon (Charrière's nickname earned in the navy due to a magnificent butterfly tattoo on his chest) escaped for the first time completing an astonishing sea-faring voyage worthy of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Without benefit of either maps or compass, Papillon navigated a thousand miles through shark-infested waters in an open boat to Colombia. With the assistance of a leper colony, he ultimately found his way to a native village tribe where he "married" not one but two young native girls who positively adored him and bore his children.

But life was not yet finished with Papillon. Recaptured, he was cruelly sentenced to two years of solitary confinement and a starvation diet which was intended to break both his body and his spirit. It's difficult to believe but, when Papillon was released to the general prison population, he remained all the more determined to escape once again.

PAPILLON tells the story of seven more daring but unsuccessful attempts. His ninth and final attempt on a raft of coconuts enclosed in a jute bag is described in breathless detail and has to count as one of the most exciting stories of adventure and endurance that I've ever been privileged to read.

How much of Charrière's autobiography PAPILLON is hyperbole and how much is fact is certainly not clear. Some have accused Charrière of stealing the adventures of his fellow inmates and representing them as his own. But, to the breathless reader, none of this will matter. Incorporating themes reminiscent of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO and THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, PAPILLON has to count as one of the most exciting stories of adventure and survival that I've ever read.

Be warned! Don't crack the binding on PAPILLON unless you've got the time to finish it. Setting it down until Papillon successfully reaches the safety of the shores of Venezuala will not be an option.

PAPILLON was a sensation when it was first published in 1969 and it remains sensational to this day. Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss