Le grand cahier vs The English Patient: Which Should You Read?

Both live on shelves: Guerre mondiale, World War II, World War, Fiction

Le grand cahier Ágota Kristóf · 1986 ★★★★☆ 3.9 185 pages · ≈ 3 h 26 m · Moderate

Un premier roman à la charnière de deux imaginaires. "L'Ouest intimiste et l'Est politique" (G. Brisac, "Le Monde", 7 mars 1986, p. 22). Les héros sont des jumeaux qui, comme l'écrit J.-Folch-Ribas dans "La Presse" du…

New York Times reviewed

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The English Patient Michael Ondaatje · 1992 ★★★★☆ 3.9 308 pages · ≈ 5 h 42 m · Moderate

With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse;…

1 film adaptation

Canadian fiction Italy War stories Ficción

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Side by side

The verdict

Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
Le grand cahier is the quickest read — about 3 hours vs 5 for The English Patient.
The English Patient has the widest readership — 142060 ratings behind its score.

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How to choose

Want a one-evening read? Le grand cahier ≈ 3h vs 5h for The English Patient

Scores by source

	Le grand cahier	The English Patient
Goodreads	—	3.9 (142060)
Hardcover	—	3.6 (144)
Google Books	4.0 (4)	4.0 (11)
Apple Books	—	4.5 (157)
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Reception

	Le grand cahier	The English Patient
Ratings	4	142060
Editions	8	93
Film adaptations	—	1
Want to read	—	112281
Reading it now	—	4228
Written reviews	—	7099
Wikipedia attention	572	7713
Pages	185	308
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Questions readers ask

Which is rated higher: Le grand cahier or The English Patient?

Le grand cahier has the higher combined reader rating across sources (Le grand cahier 3.9/5, The English Patient 3.9/5).

Which is shorter to read: Le grand cahier or The English Patient?

Le grand cahier is the quickest read. Estimated at 225 words per minute: Le grand cahier (185 pages, ≈ 3 h 26 m); The English Patient (308 pages, ≈ 5 h 42 m).

Which is harder to read: Le grand cahier or The English Patient?

Estimated difficulty, based on era, reader shelves and length — Le grand cahier: Moderate; The English Patient: Moderate.

Have both books been made into films?

Le grand cahier: no film adaptation on record; The English Patient: 2 film adaptations.