Customer Reviews

Heroes

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Francis Casavant is an eighteen-year old boy who tells about his life since world war two. Throughout the book you experience the horrors of walking down the streets of French Town with half a face!
Francis goes into a depression after letting his true love down when she needed him the most. He joined the military hoping to bring an end to his life. His chance came when a grenade lands in his platoon's bunker, with no hesitation he dives on the grenade. He saved many lives and even his own! Even after receiving a Silver Star for his heroic effort, Francis is convinced he is not a hero. Now he is on a new mission, to kill the man that destroyed his life!
When I first started reading this novel I was immediately enthralled. The author's style of first person writing makes this book fun, easy to read and understand. Although the book is small, I feel that it's descriptive and to the point.

Francis has just returned home from World War II, to the town where he grew up. No one knows he has returned, though. His family is no longer living there, and Francis has lost most of his face. He fell on a grenade in France and the parts of his face that are still intact he keeps covered with a scarf. Francis has not just returned to live out his life. He has returned to kill the man who was his childhood hero, the director of activities at the town's recreation center where he spent much of his time as a child.

Over the course of this book, as Francis waits for this hero to return to town, he tells the story of his younger years in town and explains why this man must die. He also reexamines the idea of heroism, especially when people refer to him as a hero.

This story was intriguing and thought-provoking, but like most of Cormier's books the tone was so dark and full of absolute despair, it left me feeling depressed by the time I finished it.

Heroes by Robert Cormier is a very good book. I like this book because it has two exciting, deceitful, and twisted confusing plots. You can be reading along and all of a sudden the whole plot will take a completely unexpected turn leaving you no room to try and guess to yourself what will happen next.

The first of the two plots is the one of a young lover. Francis Cassavant a young boy who lives in the small town of Frenchtown is shy, lonely, and unpopular until two things happen. First Francis meets a girl named Nicole Renard who was to be the love of his life until Larry stepped into the picture. Larry Lasalle, a cunning, rich, and handsome actor starts an after school program to show girls how to dance and boys how to play table tennis, but what went wrong?

The second plot the one of revenge, pain, suffering, and of course death. The day after Larry's return from war Francis lies about his age and signs on to fight himself, but why? Francis is shipped to Europe to fight. While he is there he loses a lot of his friends in a fire-fight and when a grenade is thrown into the alley they are taking shelter in Francis throws himself on top of it to prevent any more death, but was that the only reason?

Now Francis is back in Frenchtown with half his face missing from the grenade. What will Nicole think of his new look, what happened to Larry, why does Francis still hold a grudge? Read this book to find out.

I have to admit that I'm not the target audience for this book (being forty something) but that's certainly not stopped me enjoying other books aimed at teenagers. This however, whilst keeping my interest, isn't one of my favourites although it IS thought provoking.

The story highlights the innocence of youth and how impotent we can be when we're young. Our emotions and feelings can be confusing during those teenage years and this particular story highlights how some adults abuse the trust put in them.

The title of the book plays on the concept of what a hero is. Some people we admire and consider to be our heroes aren't heroes at all, they're weak and disappoint us...yet without them would we be the people we are? Others are more ordinary in our eyes and we don't always consider them to be heroic...but are they the real heroes?

Even as an adult I had conflicting feelings about one of the main characters and one line in particular made me think.
"Does that one sin of mine wipe away all the good things?" Instinctively the answer is yes, yet it's a little more complex than that.

This is a sombre book which deals with the pain of growing up, guilt and disappointment. Although the ending cannot be described as uplifting and didn't end happily ever after as I think we instinctively would like sometimes - I like to think it was hopeful and that Francis went on to learn from his experiences and get over his guilt - the guilt he didn't deserve to carry.

Book Review: Heroes

In the book Heroes by Robert Cormier you get stuck to it, because you try to uncover this person's past to find out how his face was blown off.
This book is about a boy named Francis Joseph Cassavant that went to war under age because he had a .. wish [to end his life]. He wanted to [end his life] because his childhood hero Larry LaSalle tried to [harm] the girl he loved and he didn't do anything about it. Then he went to say sorry to the girl and she was mad and refused to talk to him. So when he was in action he took the opportunity of jumping on an [explosive] to put his life to an end, but he survived without his face and saved the lives of his friends. Then he came back to Frenchtown to [destroy] Larry with the gun he got for being in the service.
I think this book has an outstanding story to it. This story grabs you every second you read it. To me this book is cool because not a lot of books impress me but this one makes me speechless. I really recommend you to read this if you like these kind of stories.

"Heroes" by Robert Cormier is, in my opinion, a great book for young adults to read. It has mystery, suspense, and a very interesting take on a moral dilemma. It is a fascination story about a young man returning home form World War II. His war experiences have changed his lifedrastically. He no longer has a face because of a grenade and because of that he is no longer recognizable in his home town.
To look at Francais Cassavant you would think that the war had destroyed him, but he truth is he had been detroyed before he even enlisted. He had lost the only person in the world he loved, Nicole Renard. the worst part is that he knows that he could have helped her when she needed it.
Robert Cormier is a fantastic writeer. I felt every pain that Francais felt. I wanted to seek revenge on Larry LaSalle and I also understood why Francais hated himself.
It was interesting from beginning to end. I liked how it made reference to a war that the kids today are so far removed from and taken to a place where they get an idea of how horrible it was. I really liked the moral question of what a hero is and what makes a person one.
I would definitely recommend this book.

"Heroes" by Robert Cormier is, in my opinion, a great book for young adults to read. It has mystery, suspense, and a very interesting take on a moral dilemma. It is a fascinating story about a young man returning home from World War II. His war experiences have changed his life drastically. He no longer has a face because of a grenade and because of that he is no longer recognizable in his home town.
To look at Francais Cassavant you would think that the war had destroyed him, but the truth is he had been destroyed before he even enlisted. He had lost the only person in the world he loved Nicole Renard. The worst part is that he knows that he could have helped her when she needed it.
Robert Cormier is a fantastic writer. I felt every pain that Francais felt. I wanted to seek revenge on Larry LaSalle and I also understood why Francais hated himself.
It was interesting from beginning to end. I liked how it made reference to a war that the kids today are so far removed from and taken to a place where they get an idea of how horrible it was. I liked a lot the moral question of what a hero is and what makes a person one.
I would definitely recommend this book.

Robert Cormier is a very good writer, and I have many likes and dislikes of his book, Heroes. One aspect of this book that I enjoyed was his characters. Cormier writes so that you see the characters actions, but also so you see the characters feelings. Cormier goes into great detail to let the reader know what Francis, the main character, is feeling. Another thing I liked about this book was the plot. Cormier uses many literary tools like foreshadowing and flashbacks to make the plot more understandable. One major dislike I have about Heroes is the fact that Cormier makes the whole story revolve around one graphic event that is not pleasing to read about. I would highly recommend this book because it is exciting and has many valuable lessons.

Heroes is an intriguing book, which will keep you on your toes. As a reader, there are many things that will be left to the imagination. This keeps the reader interested and eager to turn each page. The story revolves around the main character, Francias Cassavant, an eighteen year old war veteran of World War II. He forged his birth certificate to get into the war two years earlier to escape the horrible thing that happened the night before he left his home, Frenchtown.

Francias, while in the war, had attempted to take his own life by falling on a grenade. However, this was mistaken by others as an act of bravery to save his fellow troops. As a result he received the silver star for bravery, but was he really a hero? Obviously, the grenade did not do him in...however now he is faceless. This adds an interesting twist to the book. He has no nose, ears, teeth, and is even without cheekbones. Francias is still somewhat thankful for what happened that fateful day in the war however, because it allows him to be anonymous when he returns home.

He had made a terrible mistake and was torturing himself day and night about it. The book does not come right out and tell what happened, and this aids in keeping the reader interested interested. Francias has decided that he is going to make it right, and being anonymous is something he needs to be able to seek out a fellow silver star recipient, and fulfill his mission... his last mission ever. Robert Cormier is an excellent author who will keep your eyes glued to each word in this book where the pages seem to turn themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed this piece of literature and am sure that any reader would. . I strongly recommend that you read Heroes.

Heroes is the story of a young man who has just returned home from World War II with completely disfiguring facial injuries. After lying about his age so he could enlist, Francis Cassavant found out just how horrible war really was, especially when he earned the Silver Star for bravery by falling on a grenade. Did he really do it to save others, or did he have another reason? I found this to be a book that gives us more than just a story. It gave me, as the reader, thoughts to ponder, not only about the cruelty of war, but also about the flaws in each of us.