Fuck Bronson
I'm stunned at the amount of people who think Bronson has been hard done by, and want him released...there's even a pub here that named one of their bars the 'Free Charles Bronson Bar' in the psycho's honour.
El Reg bookworm Mark Diston peruses the pick of publishing this week with a début novel from Anna Smaill whose musicality abounds in the post-apocalyptic tale. Back in the real world, one man apocalypse Charles Bronson tells more tales of life inside, and finally Gareth Murphy tracks the history of the music industry. The …
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But the great thing about this book is that it presents its protagonist and the establishment in a warts-and-all style that is compelling and engaging. Charlie Bronson’s struggle against authority and imprisonment brings Henri Charrière’s Papillon to mind: the regime is less harsh, but the prospects for ultimate escape diminished.
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Hmmmm, Charriere's book was a pack of lies and he was a deeply unpopular man with the other convicts, not the popular dood as seen in the film. It is more likely that the stories he told were ones he heard from others and the French have no record of him being an escapee.. It is likely that he assumed the identity of a guy called Charles Brunier, who did have a 'papillon' tattoo and who often tried to escape.
Having said that, anyone who has been imprisoned in 'St Laurent du Maron'i and the 'Isles du Salut' deserve my respect. The last time I was down that way I had a good look round and it is still pretty horrific even now.
I read through the whole review of The Chimes. I'm grateful to the author for reading the book so I didn't have to, but could you possibly do a John Crace and have a potted review in one sentence, so I don't have to read to the end on the basis that there must be something good about this book to merit such a long review? Perhaps a star rating would do it.