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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

By John Boyne

(249)

| Paperback | 9781862305274

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Critics

'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' by John Boyne

I knew little about the book when I bought it, save that it was about the Holocaust and was written by an Irishman. The blurb on the back gave even less away: Initially, I thought the book was probably too simple for my tastes and wondered whether it ... (read full critics)

readingmatters published on Tue, 28 Sep 2010

Educating Bruno

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne 224pp, David Fickling, £10.99 Bruno is a nine-year-old from Berlin who has three best Friends For Life, an elder sister who is a Hopeless Case, and an ambition to be an Explorer. One day in 1943 someone ca ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Sat, 25 Sep 2010

23 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

Life would be easier if seen through the eyes of a nine-year old

A very good children's book.
The author superbly narrates the world as seen by a nine year old boy. I clearly remember thinking the same things about my father when my mom told me, the summer I turned nine, that we would have to move because of Father's work.
It may be too easy to invol ... (continue)

A very good children's book.
The author superbly narrates the world as seen by a nine year old boy. I clearly remember thinking the same things about my father when my mom told me, the summer I turned nine, that we would have to move because of Father's work.
It may be too easy to involve emotionally when writing about the final solution. At any rate, I was touched and loved the simple and accurate way used to picture the absurdity of the Holocaust.
Bruno, age nine, the son of a Nazi Commandant, sees Auschwitz (or as he calls it Out-With) from his window. He becomes friends, a "friend for life" with Schmuel, born on the same day as him, who lives on the other side of the fence.

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fran_ces said on Mar 31, 2009 | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

ANOTHER STORY ON CHILDREN IN NAZI TIME

This is another story on children in Nazi camps. Although the topic is very interesting to me, this book is not a masterpiece. There are other authors more worthwhile to read, such as Primo Levi, Imre Kertesz, Elie Wiesenthal....

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Halfcrash said on Nov 13, 2007 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

I'd say this is one of my top favourites. There's no polished language, but there's a true story. There's no imagination, but there's history to be traced.....
A story between a German and a Jew taking place in World War II. The son of a German commandant (Bruno) makes friend with a Jew who's t ... (continue)

I'd say this is one of my top favourites. There's no polished language, but there's a true story. There's no imagination, but there's history to be traced.....
A story between a German and a Jew taking place in World War II. The son of a German commandant (Bruno) makes friend with a Jew who's trapped in an Out-With camp.
Sacarsm is one of the main themes in the story. Superficially, there's sacarsm going on in the conversation between Bruno and his sister. However, there's more sacarsm taking place between Bruno and Shmuel (the Jew). Bruno is so innocent and ignorant that he knows nothing about the torture or holocaust going on in the camp. Numerous contrasts and ironies have been adopted in the fiction which drastically reveals how inhuman the real situation is. This fiction has a beautifully tragic ending. To understand what I mean by that, you've to experience it yourself. If you're too lazy to read, there's a VCD/DVD available in most of the CD shops. You can buy one and go through the journey. There're too many things on earth that are inexpressible.

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Bus Reader said on Sep 2, 2009 | Add your feedback

*** This comment contains spoilers! ***

At first I thought it's going to be a simple adventure story about two boys, never thought it'd turned out to be a sad one on concentration camp. =( But author wrote it from a boy's point of view, which made it less heart-breaking as the truth itself. I think Bruno was a very nice boy, and he had gr ... (continue)

At first I thought it's going to be a simple adventure story about two boys, never thought it'd turned out to be a sad one on concentration camp. =( But author wrote it from a boy's point of view, which made it less heart-breaking as the truth itself. I think Bruno was a very nice boy, and he had grown up through out the story. The view of the whole story-line is innocent indeed, but also quite conservative on the words, which needs reader's advanced logical imagination and knowledge of the Nazi to actually sees what happening behind those words. I'd say it's quite a good one about the Nazis and the camp.

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Cindy Tu said on Feb 17, 2012 | Add your feedback

good book

saw movie it was awesome

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Yungbergbabe said on Aug 16, 2011 | Add your feedback

sometimes, all you need to sorrow is a beautiful, simple and short story.

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Eric Wu said on Dec 3, 2010 about the Library Binding edition | Add your feedback