ngoldman

Review: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas



Posted: Thursday, December 07, 2006

by
Norm Goldman

Author: John Boyne ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
John Boyne’s first novel for young readers, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, is a gripping tale that will without doubt linger in your memory for a long time after you read the last line.

Set during the time of the holocaust, it is the story of Bruno, a cheerful German nine year old young boy living in a luxurious home in Berlin with his parents and his 12 year old sister Gretel. They receive an order from “ the Fury" to move to a scaled down house in a remote country. Unsurprisingly, Bruno is opposed to the idea of moving, as he will be without his friends and his huge house.

However, the Nazi Commandant, “a puppet on a string" has to obey the “Fury’s" orders.

And the family moves into a smaller dwelling, next to a concentration camp. Unfortunately, left behind are their grandparents, who participated with the children in their play-acting, helping them with their dress- up costumes.

John Boyne has painted Bruno’s and Gretel’s characters in bold tones while the rest of the story is happening in a hushed grey background. Bruno and Gretel know nothing of what’s happening in the camp behind the fence. In fact, Bruno believes that they have cafes and restaurants just like in Berlin . But when Bruno asks his father, the Nazi Commandant: “Who are these people?" He answers curtly, “They are not people!"

Bruno and Gretel and their mother live in an uneasy atmosphere to say the least. Bruno senses that something is wrong so he does not divulge the fact that he has befriended Schmuel, a little Jewish boy behind the fence.

Lonely Bruno often walks to the fence to talk to his friend Schmuel, an emaciated Jewish little boy. He brings him food, sometimes eating part of it on his way to the fence. When Schmuel is brought to his house to help out with cleaning Bruno’s mother crystal dainty glasses, Bruno denies knowing Schmuel. He feels guilty and the next day goes back to the fence to apologize to Schmuel. Can such a friendship survive during the holocaust?

The author, John Boyne is a masterful story teller, keeping a sustained suspense throughout the story and concluding it with a heart wrenching ending. His language is very simple and sometimes repetitive and his power of suggestion is unbelievably powerful.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is certainly a very powerful and difficult story to be read by young adults or adults for that matter. But the truth has to prevail and we have to learn and discuss this dark period in our history.

I suggest that we send a copy of this book should be sent also to the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and all the holocaust deniers.

The above review was contributed by: Lily Azerad-Goldman : Artist: CLICK TO VIEW Lily Azerad-Goldman's Reviews
Norm Goldman practiced law for over 35 years and this enabled him to transfer and apply to book reviewing his many skills that he had perfected during his career in the legal profession and as a result he has become a prolific free lance book reviewer & author interviewer.

He is the Editor, Publisher and Reviewer for his own site, Bookpleasures.com (http://www.bookpleasures.com) that he created in 2002.

The site is composed of an international community of book reviewers that come from all walks of life that review all genres of fiction and non-fiction.

In addition to the complimentary reviews bookpleasures.com offers, Norm personally offers his own Priority Book Review service that you can find out more about by clicking on:

http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/categories/Do-You-Need-A-Quick-Review-Of-Your-Book%3F/

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