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    Papillon
    Papillon
    Papillon
    Audiobook18 hours

    Papillon

    Written by Henri Charriere

    Narrated by Michael Prichard

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Henri Charrière, called ""Papillon,"" for the butterfly tattoo on his chest, was convicted in Paris in 1931 of a murder he did not commit. Sentenced to life imprisonment in the penal colony of French Guiana, he became obsessed with one goal: escape. After planning and executing a series of treacherous yet failed attempts over many years, he was eventually sent to the notorious prison, Devil's Island, a place from which no one had ever escaped . . . until Papillon. His flight to freedom remains one of the most incredible feats of human cunning, will, and endurance ever undertaken.

    Charrière's astonishing autobiography, Papillon, was published in France to instant acclaim in 1968, more than twenty years after his final escape. Since then, it has become a treasured classic -- the gripping, shocking, ultimately uplifting odyssey of an innocent man who would not be defeated.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateJun 12, 2012
    ISBN9780062228765
    Author

    Henri Charriere

    Born in 1906, and imprisoned in 1931, Henri Charrière finally escaped in 1945 to Venuzuela, where he married, settled in Caracas, and opened a restaurant. He died in 1973.

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    Reviews for Papillon

    4/5

    987 ratings28 reviews

    What our readers think

    Readers find this title remarkable and amazing. It tells the story of a man's journey through life and his adventures in becoming a man. It is considered one of the best books in the last 10 years.

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    • 5/5

      Sep 8, 2023

      I loved the movie with Steve Mcqueen but this book was much better. One of my top choices.
    • 5/5

      Sep 8, 2023

      Remarkable epic. A man I would love to have met and shared a coffee and a smoke. Henri's story makes me wonder what life was and is like outside of my small 4 walls.....
    • 5/5

      Sep 8, 2023

      An absolutely amazing story of one man's journey through life being lonely convicted in his age of 21 in his adventures to grown up to being a man. Best book I have listened to in the last 10 years
    • 5/5

      Nov 5, 2018

      A fast-paced book, for sure. I originally read the book nearly 50 ears ago when it came out. Thought it was amazing then, think the same now. it ma have been part of the impetus to get me traveling, although that probably has other origins.
      It is a bit hard to believe at times, but taken on the whole, I suspect tis mostly right and true to Charriere's memory. As we get older people do tend to dramatize and egotistically remember how things played out. If even a small portion of what he's written is true, he led a charmed life. Good adventure book that speaks poorly of the French.
      A birthday present from Sarah.
    • 2/5

      Jan 30, 2018

      OK. Let's be clear. This is a work of fiction. Its companions are Robinson Crusoe and Heart of Darkness, but with more of a boy's own adventure riff. Frankly, I found it a bit tiresome even with my credulity in suspension.
    • 5/5

      Jun 1, 2016

      Firstly what I learned from this book is that sometimes Dad is right and I owe him an apology. He said I would like this and find it engrossing, I doubted him afterall the very fact that the book was written tells you that he did escape.
      Despite knowing that eventually Papillon would succeed in his attempt to escape I found myself routing for him with each attempt,even though I knew that most of these attempts were doomed to failure and that it would only be with the ninth attempt that he would finally succeed.
      I actually found some of the other people in this story far more interesting than Papillon himself, like the lepers he meets during his first attempt who give him food,shelter and money to try and also sell him a boat and gun at discount prices to try and help him get to the South American mainland so that maybe he can have the freedom that because of their leprosy they could never have even if they were to escape.

      Thank you Dad for the recommendation.
    • 5/5

      Dec 5, 2015

      An amazing story about an innocent man's will to survive and escape the abhorrent conditions of the French penal institutions in Guiana in 1931.
      It is book full of adventure, intrigue, friendship,sorrow, joy, heartache, revenge, life, persistence and fate!
      it's a gripping story and a page turner.
    • 4/5

      Feb 18, 2015

      This memoir of the author's years of imprisonment in French Guiana and the tale of his escapes is fascinating mainly because of the warm heart and openness of the narrator. In spite of horrible conditions and the trauma he has been though, he so frequently focuses on the many people who trusted and helped him on his way.
    • 5/5

      Feb 4, 2015

      Picked up at a used book sale. What a good idea that was. Almost a perfect 5. The words intrepid and indefatigable are under Charriere's picture in the dictionary. The movie was good but the book is astounding. Well written in the first person. The man kept his sanity and sense of self under the most extreme conditions the modern world could offer. If things seem to hard think of Papillion. Hats off to Charriere.
    • 5/5

      Aug 17, 2014

      Simply brilliant. The thought that this man just wrote down his experiences and was able to recall so much in such great detail is phenomenal. Add to that the fact that he wasn't a writer, but wrote what he knew. And what he knew was endlessly fascinating. You can tell that no one tried to edit him but just let him speak for himself because occasionally he would change tense from past to present. I'm sure he whitewashed some of his more violent experiences so he could still portray himself as the good guy but it doesn't detract from the tale. The most fascinating part, to me, was his time with the Indians ... truly amazing. He creates a vibrant picture of a simple, primitive but mostly happy existence. Truly fascinating book.
    • 3/5

      Apr 15, 2014

      Having seen the famous movie so many years ago with Steve McQueen in a great performance I thought I would take a shot at the book. I wanted to get it at my local library and all they had were two versions, one in French and one in Spanish. How about English I asked. Months later one finally surfaced. Overall I thought the book was well written and quite the adventure yarn. But with these first person narratives I always wonder how embellished they are.

      One thing for sure was the movie cut out a lot of the book material and seemed to reshuffle the order of events somewhat. It is hard to believe a man could survive what he went through for so long a time while so many around him went down. But it is a testimony to the power of the human spirit when it focuses on getting to the one thing many of us hold as the ultimate objective in life, freedom.
    • 4/5

      Sep 11, 2013

      Naysayers jumped on Henri Charriere's, aka Papillon, autobiography from the start, calling into question the truth of his harrowing tales of escapes and captures from a penal colony in French Guiana in the 1930s and 40s. The adventures detailed here may in fact not all be those of Papillon. Perhaps Charriere did synthesize the cavales of many other bagnards and claim them all as his own. But that should not really detract from the harrowing adventures contained in this book. They convey a truth about the brutality of the French justice system of a century ago, the capacities of man to be cruel and to suffer, but beyond everything the desire to be free, at any cost. After fourteen years Papillon did achieve that. We may never know the truth for sure. But we have one hell of an enjoyable book (and movie) to remember this remarkable (if somewhat unreliable) man by.
    • 5/5

      Apr 4, 2013

      A rousing tale of adventure that gives the account of the only man ever to escape from Devil's Island. There has been questions over the years about the book's authenticity, but -- true or false -- it's perfect escapist fare (pun intended.)
    • 4/5

      Jul 14, 2011

      This was an excellent true account, as well as an excellent movie.
    • 5/5

      Aug 27, 2010

      If you believe this is all true (as it's supposed to be) then it's surely one of the best and most exciting real life stories of all time. Even if you don't believe it (and some of the bits seemed to have been exaggerated) it's still one heck of a gripping read. The endless stretches of solitary confinement, which could have been boring, made for some of the most haunting reading I have encountered in literature.

      It was fascinating to hear about the protocol of escaping from a penal colony. Arriving after one successful breakout on an island under British administration, the French escapees immediately start acting like Brits - I had expected them to immediately go underground, but instead they presented themselves at the consulate (queueing, no doubt) before reporting themselves as escaped prisoners from a penal colony! To which they were effectively told 'Jolly good, chaps, off you go now!' Incredible!
    • 4/5

      Jul 1, 2010

      Henry Charriere was a quiet, mild inmate who stayed out of trouble. He did his time in the prisons of French Guiana and was eventually given privileges to go on errands on the outside. When the time was right, he simply walked away to freedom in Venezuela. Years later he decided to write a novel. Using his experiences as a kernel of truth he created the legend of Papillon ("Butterfly"). Unlike Charriere, Papillon was a man's man, the con's con who would kill at the drop of a hat but who remained respected by even the guards and wardens for his honor and nobility. There was nothing Papillon could not do - catch more fish than anyone, sail so well as to be praised by the British navy, love and impregnate two native women at once, break from prison with impunity, cause the wardens wife to swoon and save his children from sharks. Papillon was not real, he was a comic book hero, but Henry Charriere was a real man. Unfortunately Henry decided to publish the book as an autobiography and it's suffered ever since as one critic after the next has picked it apart. If he had instead published it as novel, critics would be left wondering how much of it was actually true, and the author and his reputation would have benefited.

      Whatever the debates on the novels false claims, the story is still very good because Papillon the character retains his humanity, his honor and dignity, in a world determined to destroy it. It's a microcosm of the issues in Europe during the Second Thirty Years War (1914-1945). Charriere blames technology and its emphasis on the machine and systems over individuals, he says the primitive peoples are the most honorable and human, while the most technologically advanced are barbaric and evil. From the perspective of the time, it would seem to be the case. There have been a number of books written about men who escaped World War Two to live alone in wild parts of the world: Papillon, Seven Years in Tibet, The Sheltering Desert, Kabloona, an interesting genre that I look forward to finding more. Papillon is also just a great prison escape adventure story, entertaining and immersive.
    • 5/5

      Feb 21, 2009

      Wonderful story about a prisoner and his decades long attempts to escape from his life sentence in a French colonial prison. The story had a lot in common with Hugo's Les Miserables in terms of his treatment by those who knew that he was an escaped convict. There were those that were kind beyond belief and others that were cruel for no good reason. Of course, throughout, there was the question of God and "his" hand in his life.
    • 4/5

      Dec 22, 2008

      Henri Charriere, AKA Papillon, was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of a man. He was sentenced to life and hard labor in a French penal colony. The man, feeling unjustly treated, was plagued by an urge to escape and seek vengeance on those that put him there.

      [Papillon] tells the semi-autobiographical tale surrounding these fourteen years of Charriere's life. It reads more like an adventure novel than an autobiography, and is gripping until the last page. All the while, you find yourself rooting for the convict, hoping that his plan succeeds (and one of them does, as the text makes you aware throughout). Each chapter you hope is the last one, but not because it's poorly written. You just want to see Papillon lose his shackles and fly away.

      This book is a must read for fans of fiction dealing with prison escapes.
    • 5/5

      Aug 25, 2008

      This is one of the handful of books that changed me inside. To read Papillon is to know what the human spirit can endure, is to find out what courage truly is. Some people say the author lied, or at least gilded his story. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't - I don't care. I only read this the once, twenty years ago, and would never do so again; I'm too jaded now, and I'd be disappointed. Some memories are best left alone. If you think you've got problems, read this book and realize you haven't.
    • 5/5

      Aug 23, 2008

      I was quite daunted about reading this book. I didn't know whether I wanted to invest the amount of time it was going to require on what was, essentially, an adventure story, but I'm really glad I did. It was one of the best books I have read this year, and one I know will stay with me for a long time.

      The book was all the more remarkable for being based on Papillon's actual imprisonment, and I kept having to tell myself that all the way through. I'm not sure whether I believed every word, but if even 50% of it is true he certainly had a remarkable life!

      I can't say I was particularly fond of Papi, I found his writing style to be a little boastful at times, but having said that, having the life that he did, and coming out the other side, I could imagine that would give a person one heck of a sense of power and greatness!
    • 5/5

      Feb 8, 2008

      Remarkable true tale

      I was blown away by this book ... by the strength of character displayed by the author (admittedly not always a character to be unreservedly liked), by the mad adventures he undertook, and by the amazing richness of a life that a court tried to throw into a hole and forget about.

      There is something so fundamentally heartening about Papillon’s refusal to remain incarcerated for a crime he did not commit (though he ends his tale by admitting that he was a character ripe to be accused of it) that his escape attempts, his adventures, his successes and failures can only be followed with a mixture of – if not always approval – admiration and whole-hearted hope that things should end well for him. Despite some flaws of character and a style of writing that descends here and there into occasional egotistical self-approval, one cannot help agreeing with the friends of Papillon who declare him worthy of loyalty and every help in his escape attempts.

      The brutal harshness of the French penal system, the incredible richness of life that he encounters on his breaks, the amazing friendships that he forges, the moments of genuine horror that he witnesses are described vividly and with a well-paced flair for narrative that isn’t lost with translation. Papillon may – like any person – have been capable of blunt actions and mistakes, but his credit lies in the fact that, in the face of such dismal prospect, he tried to remain a man who considered what was honourable while refusing to compromise his single-minded goal… to be free.
    • 1/5

      Jan 1, 2008

      A rubbish book. The man's ego and self-serving accounts render the story less than credible and utterly tedious.

      The first book I have failed to finish in years.
    • 5/5

      Dec 5, 2007

      My all-time favourite adventure book, complete with solitary confinement, lepers, a native Indian tribe, rafts, poligamy and non-stop action. There is everything you could ever possibly want here, with the extra bonus of having the mystique of a true story.
    • 2/5

      Sep 20, 2007

      I did not like the pretentious tone of the author. Although there were some interesting passages, his ego disgusted me throughout the book.
    • 1/5

      May 1, 2007

      I did not find the story credible.

      David Perrings
    • 4/5

      Apr 11, 2007

      A novelist might use the language in a more beautiful way than Henri Charriere does, but he could not imagine a better story of endurance, escape, survival, and adventure. Human failing and evil starkly contrast with human kindness, trust and generosity in unlikely people and circumstances throughout Papillon's 13-year saga. I'm glad I read it.
    • 4/5

      Mar 23, 2007

      The sheer magnitude of the story kept me turning the pages! Papillon lived so intensely, making no apologies for his history or his actions. I have told his story to any friend who has enough time to listen since I finished the book. I also found his writing style fit the story appropriately.
    • 5/5

      Sep 3, 2006

      Great story about survival