The Boy in the Striped Pajamas!

TITLE– The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

AUTHOR– John Boyne

RATING– 5/5

BLURB– Nine- year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no-one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas.

Bruno’s friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.

CATEGORY– Kids above 11

NUMBER OF PAGES– 215

GENRE– Historical fiction

ISBN– 978-0-552-77380-5

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a book that I was forced to buy from school, since we were going to analyze this book for the subject literature. Nevertheless, I had no regrets in buying it, rather I am ecstatic that I got to read and investigate such a historical fiction book (unknown fact: your reading the writing of a history lover). This book punctured my mind sooo much that I went in search of the movies and watched it( PS- It was emotional 😭).

The story starts with Bruno making his way from school to home, to find all his belongings being packed by the household maid. He is told by his mom that he and his family (mother, Bruno, father and sister, Gretel) shall be moving from their big and interesting house in Berlin. To Bruno’s surprise, he is moved to a place called Out-with, which Bruno detests with all his heart. He has no places to explore and nor can he play with his sister Gretel (also known as the Hopeless-case 🤣).

All that Bruno sees every day is a bunch of soldiers who keep visiting his father’s office. Among these soldiers was Lieutenant Kotler, an extremely serious one. There also lived a cook in his house who told Bruno, that he was a doctor sometime back. The only interesting thing that Bruno seemed to find in Out-with was the fence with a barbed wire. This fence stood quite a distance away from his house; behind it, he saw moving dots wearing striped pyjamas. As Bruno was a person who loved exploration Bruno decided to go examine the area of the fence. When he reaches his destination, he finds a boy named Shmuel with striped pyjamas.

Bruno and Shmuel soon become thick friends. But could this friendship mean danger to both individuals?

2 book reviews down, and more to come!

-NabeeHa💜