The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I fail to believe that the son of a high ranking officer in the SS would not know that his country was at war, that the 3rd reich hated Jews, have such glaring problems pronouncing words in his own language. I could go on. The story was moving, this I cannot deny.

There is an absolute wealth of good WW2 lit for kids, this is not it. Why was this adapted for film?

it pisses me off that teachers are STILL assigning this fucking book to their students. every time a kid at my workplace tells me they're reading it for their english class it makes me want to scream!!! it's important to teach about the holocaust and you can't do that by using a book where the author has done NONE of the proper research required for such a topic. this should have never been published.

Restricted Viewpoint, a sub-set of Unreliable Narrator, is the device John Boyne uses very effectively to tell the story of Auschwitz in an original way. It will take all the self-control you can muster not to sob uncontrollably at the ending.

Bruno, the young son of a high-ranking Nazi officer during World War II, is unhappy when his family has to leave their comfortable Berlin home and move to much more Spartan accommodations at a place his untrained ear perceives as “Out-With.” But the move was ordered by “the Fury,” the German leader, so off they go. At Out-With, there are no friends for Bruno to play with, so when he sees a boy in pajamas sitting on the other side of a fence, he approaches and befriends him. Bruno misunderstands or misconstrues the few bits of information he gleans from his new friend. Ignored by his parents, harassed by his big sister, Bruno comes to live for his furtive meetings with the boy at the fence. But to say anything more would be to enter Spoiler Alert territory.

Easily read at a sitting, this simple tale has knockout power. Even if you've seen the excellent film, the book is well worth reading.

Creo que este libro no necesita reseña... de hecho en la misma contraportada te recomienda meterte de lleno a esta maravillosa historia sin conocer de que se trata. Y fue lo que hice, no sabía mucho del libro y nunca vi la película.
Me sentí transportada y absorbida por las emociones de Bruno.
Y el final... sigo procesando el final.
100% recomendado.

Loved this story told from the point of view of a young boy who must leave Berlin and go with his family to Poland when his father is assigned to run the camp at Auschwitz during WWII. Our naive main character befriends a boy who is startlingly like him (they even share the same birthday) except that this new friend is on the other side of the fence.

Wow. I actually didn't see that ending coming but it was probably the only appropriate ending for a Holocaust story. I'm still not sure who this book is aimed at but it sure is haunting. The fact that Bruno never understood what was going on made it even more disturbing and interesting to read. The whole read-through I was waiting for a big reveal but it never came. I almost feel like it would have been more merciful if it did. Even though this looks like a children's book, as the dust jacket says, it is definitely not for nine year olds.

One of the very first books on the Holocaust I read, which since then I have made a subject for my study for years. The book revolves around ten year old Bruno, whose father works for the Fuhrer in the army, and his new found friend, Shmuel, the Jewish kid from the other side of the barb wire. Bruno and Shmuel begin to share a wonderful friendship, and reality has a way of getting in the way of things like friendships. The ending left me outraged and heartbroken.

Given how much WWII fiction I read, I'm surprised how long I procrastinated this one. Until joining a buddy read, I wasn't aware of the more problematic themes, so I went into this with some skepticism. 

There are definitely major issues with the book, most of them surrounding Bruno's obliviousness and lack of empathy. What was more infuriating was the lack of correction from his family and even Schmuel. The son of a Nazi Commandant would not be in the dark about his father's role in the Holocaust — at the minimum, the Nazis' war against Jewish people — especially living next door to Auschwitz. The Nazi mentality started young. Hitler formed Hitler's youth for a terrible reason. The fact Hilter himself shows up in the story says how involved Bruno's father was. There is no way he would be so naive at the age of nine about what was happening. Not in this setting.

What was more annoying how Bruno's refusal to accept what little correction he did receive. I'm not fluent in German, but ‘Out-With' translated to German would be something along the lines of ‘Aus-Mit'. ‘Fury' would be ‘Zorn'. They aren't fitting with the language that the characters would be speaking. It was errors like this I found distracting and frustrating. 

The point of view in which the book is told is where my stars come from. Though Bruno would have realistically known more, I believe he might have had questions about the way the Jewish people were being treated. This would have made a much more powerful story. That's not to say there was no impact with the friendship Bruno and Schmuel do share. At its core, it's a story about two lonely young kids finding an unlikely best friend. There is a level of innocence here that can't be denied.

Another praise is the writing. It flowed fantastically. It's just too bad that it wasn't a little bit longer and more in-depth. There was a lot of potential for more even if it is geared toward a younger audience. I see why it's received so much praise since its publication, but it is good to keep some of the issues in mind when reading. This is not an accurate portrayal of the cruelties the Nazis were capable of despite the ultimate sadness of the book. Without previous knowledge of this time, it could leave an uninformed impression, particularly on younger readers.

Where do I start? This book is so simple and short yet so deep and meaningful. I picked this book up without knowing anything about it other than it had very good ratings. So, this book follows a young boy through his views and very limited understanding of the Holocaust with his father being a highly ranking soldier. It's one of those historical stories where you know what's going to happen just from your basic knowledge of history; however, you go through the whole story trying to deny/stop the inevitable. This story is just so emotional and innocent, it's one I'll likely never forget.

1/5 stars
This is a book that wasn't created to bring awareness to the Holocaust. It causes sympathy from the readers towards the Nazis as we tend to feel how ignorant the child was in terms of the situation. This was likely not the case in real life, as they were required to be aware. This tends to lead to misinformation as well as a lot of other details that are inaccurate. The authors themselves tend to ignore what the Jewish community actually has to say. It's rather concerning how schools will use this to educate people about the Holocaust.