The Penal Colony

The first time I read The Penal Colony was 1998 or so; I spotted a well-used paperback copy in a pile of abandoned belongings at a college dormitory. I took it, began to read, and was instantly absorbed. I was blown away by the story, the characters, and through it all the language: sometimes sharp and precise, other times poetic, always compelling and memorable. I consider myself a fairly well-read person, in terms of classic literature as well as modern best-sellers, and without hesitation, I would have put The Penal Colony on my "Desert Island List" of ten books that I would take with me to my own exile on Sert.

Up until a few years ago, this book was hard to find: out of print (at least in the USA), loosely adapted into a truly show more godawful movie (consider that I've probably read this book ten times, yet never been able to sit through No Escape even the once),and precious little information available on the internet. Now it's available as an e-book on Amazon, and it's an absolute gem of a book. The ideas, situations and characters will stay with you for life. show less

Another surprise - a long ago published story by an indie writer that is outstanding. The title gave me a clue about the storyline. However, I was not prepared for the total immersion in the story. Everything about the book is 5 stars. The writing style, characters and their development, subplots, and the premise of the saga kept me engrossed. I must admit that the English jargon left me in scratching my head but it was integral to the characters and the flow of the story. I now have another must read author.

This seems to be a fairly well known book by a fairly unknown author, which is a pity as this has to be one of my favourite offerings in the genre.

I remember seeing the film years ago called No Escape, I enjoyed it at the time and when it came on tv a few weeks back I looked it up and realised it was based on a book.

The penal colony is actually an island on the coast of Britain, a place where the most dangerous of prisoners are sent to live out their sentence until death. Routledge is one of these, he has been convicted of murder and transported to the colony of Sert. Here he discovers an internal political structure as the villagers struggle for power and the ultimate control of the island. Couple this with an ongoing escape plan and show more you have a melting pot of human emotions in a world that you can easily get lost in.

Think Lord of the Flies meets Papillon, and you have the general gist of the novel. I'm sure this will be one of the few books that I reread one day. show less

This wasn’t a bad book but, having read the high praise from several other reviews, I think I must have missed that “special something” that made this book stand out for other people. The story is centered on a man who, imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit, is dropped off by a helicopter on an island-based penal colony. Nobody else inhabits the island except for other prisoners who were put there because they were the worst of the worst.

There are some worthwhile themes in this book. The ingenuity of the characters in the book in surviving and improving their lives under harsh conditions without modern comforts is impressive. The book also deals somewhat with the folly of prejudice and judgmental attitudes toward others. show more However, these themes are hardly unique to this book. The premise sounded interesting, and the story did hold some interest for me, but it didn’t grab me strongly. I also never really warmed up to any of the characters.

I don’t think this book aged well. I hadn’t been reading very long before I started to wonder, “When was this book written?!” I’ve had this book on my Kindle for quite some time now, so I didn’t remember or check the publication date when I decided to read it. I was actually surprised when I looked it up and saw that it had been written as recently as 1987. I think it was mostly the attitudes of some of the characters that made the book feel dated to me. I think this is also the reason why I didn’t warm up to the characters. The main character was quite prejudiced, particularly earlier on in the story, and he also came across as having a naiveté that I found annoying. Although the book shifted focus to other characters occasionally, the majority of the book was spent in the point of view of the main character. There were some other characters that seemed interesting, but we never really got to know them very well.

The ending felt rushed, and it lacked the level of detail that was given to the events leading up to the ending. I would have liked to know more about what happened in the end. show less

I loved the balance between survival adventure and character development. The writing was excellent with good pace, plot and characters.

I don't read much fiction but this book pulled me in from the start. It's been a long time since I've started a book I didn't want to put down. The first 80% of the book was great. I found the plot and characters interesting. His description of the setting was enjoyable. The only problem I had with the book was the story seemed truncated in the last 5 to 10%. I wished the author would have added one to two hundred more pages and closed the book out in a more gradual manner. The movie "No Escape" was based on this book. The book is much better.

Discovered on a rack at the neighborhood bookstore in 1989. Read at least twice, and was totally absorbed in the horror and triumph. A great adventure.