| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best books I've ever read.,
By Ken (NV) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Dry guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead (A Berkley Medallion book) (Mass Market Paperback)
True story. The movie Papillon comes very substantially from this book by Rene' Belbenoit and perhaps even more than Henri Charriere's own book "Papillon"(see movie credits) "Dry Guillotine" is one of the greatest survival and escape stories of all time, about a convict condemned to the penal colony in French Guiana during the 1920's - 1930's. Chapter after chapter of incredibly horrid conditions in which the clothless prisoners were subjected....malaria, incessant mosquitos, starvation, disease, torture, and even leper colonies, all in the will-defeating complete corruption of the guards and the French Penal administration. Out of over 80,000 men that were sentenced to French Guiana, 65,000 (80%) died there. Makes you happy just to be alive. Belbenoit followed it up with "Hell on Trial"(see review).
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Startling Portrayal of French prison system.,
By
This review is from: DRY GUILLOTINE: Fifteen Years Among the Living Dead. (Hardcover)
Rene Belbenoit was guilty. There is no denying it, and he immediately owns to the thefts he committed. But the unbelievable hell that he endured on Devil's Island for more than fifteen years was above and beyond suitable punishment.
In this tale, Belbenoit describes the harsh realities of not only Devil's Island in particular, but the French justice system of post WWI era. He tells of the millionairs son who is found "unfit for transport" and the two white collar fat cats who get a fraction of his prison sentence for stealing fifty times as much! He describes the "perversions" that men were forced into because of their woman-less circumstances, and how guards who falsely accuse inmates just to get their wine ration.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good Read, but no Papillon.,
By
This review is from: Dry guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead (A Berkley Medallion book) (Mass Market Paperback)
I found out about this book after reading Papillon by Henri Charriere. I did some research on the web and "Dry guillotine: Fifteen years among the living dead" came up in just about every query on Devil's Island. As a result, I purchased a used copy.
Dry guillotine is a good read for anyone who is interested in the former penal colonies of French Guiana. Like Papillon, it is the story of one man, René Belbenoit and his many escape attempts. Dry Guillotine gives you more insight into the penal colonies than Papillon, but it lacks the emotional roller-coaster ride, which gave Papillon such fame. It sometimes drifts off in other directions with stories of other convicts that have no impact on the overall story line. Reading, I felt very little emotional attachment to the main character. As mentioned by Ken, one of the other reviewers, movie buffs will see the strong resemblance to the Movie Papillon. A good read, but you have to move beyond the introduction, which some other reviewer apparently didn't.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
