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Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent, insightful, engaging memoir
Review: Every few months or so I need to read a book or at least an essay such as this account of man surviving the, for most, unsurvivable. Papillon is one such story I would compare to Carlson's, the indomitability of an undefeatable man. That must be redundant, but I'm a bit bleary because I haven't been able to put the book down. What makes Carlson so winsome, beyond his genius for survival and escape, is his essential romantic innocence and affection for humanity. Despite his decades of imprisonment he seems to have maintained his human spirit, truly a miracle! A wealth of observational detail on life, friendship and survival. One hopes he does a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Intelligent, insightful, engaging memoir
Review: Every few months or so I need to read a book or at least an essay such as this account of man surviving the, for most, unsurvivable. Papillon is one such story I would compare to Carlson's, the indomitability of an undefeatable man. That must be redundant, but I'm a bit bleary because I haven't been able to put the book down. What makes Carlson so winsome, beyond his genius for survival and escape, is his essential romantic innocence and affection for humanity. Despite his decades of imprisonment he seems to have maintained his human spirit, truly a miracle! A wealth of observational detail on life, friendship and survival. One hopes he does a sequel.
Rating: 
Summary: Remarkable account of spiritual survival
Review: I had the great pleasure of meeting Wayne Carlson on a cross-Canada music festival train trip in April 2004. Many of us on the train bought Wayne's book, and I read it with interest and pleasure. Doing so increased my astonishment that anyone could spend as much of a life in such lousy circumstances and emerge with humanity and humor intact. His narrative proves that he has. In an age when, certainly in the U.S., and probably to some extent in Canada as well, any pretense that the criminal justice system is intended to rehabilitate anyone is nothing but pretense, Wayne's story indicates that rehabilitation is possible. Great compelling read.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable account of spiritual survival
Review: I had the great pleasure of meeting Wayne Carlson on a cross-Canada music festival train trip in April 2004. Many of us on the train bought Wayne's book, and I read it with interest and pleasure. Doing so increased my astonishment that anyone could spend as much of a life in such lousy circumstances and emerge with humanity and humor intact. His narrative proves that he has. In an age when, certainly in the U.S., and probably to some extent in Canada as well, any pretense that the criminal justice system is intended to rehabilitate anyone is nothing but pretense, Wayne's story indicates that rehabilitation is possible. Great compelling read.
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