papillon

Papillon. That was the missing book in the list for 2008.

Funny, because we just rented the movie with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen. McQueen was great-- a lot of squinting, bug eating, vacant staring, shuffling. Hoffman's character Dega was a film creation and didn't feature as largely in the book, which struck me as a combination of actor hubris and the Hollywood's debased impulse to reduce narrative complexity to create a buddy picture. At least, they didn't cut the trip to the leper colony.

Far fetched as Charriere's description of the events of his life in captivity, especially how everyone naturally wanted to help a murderer escape, the relationship between Papillon and Dega was more of a reach. But if you were in a brutal prison for fourteen years, you might have a soft spot for a fellow survivor.

Speaking of brutal prisons, survivors and vacant staring, I got a notice of my upcoming 20 year high school reunion today.