Book Review | The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Author name: John Boyne

Book Description:

'Some things are just sitting there, waiting to be discovered. Other things are probably better off left alone'

Nine year old Bruno has a lot of things on his mind. Who is the 'fury'? Why did he make them leave their nice home in Berlin to go to 'Out-With'? And who are all the sad people in striped pajamas on the other side of the fence? The grown-ups won't explain so Bruno decides there is only one thing for it- he will have to explore this place alone. What he discovers is a new friend. A boy with the same birthday. A boy wearing striped pajamas. But why can't they ever play together?

My Review:

This is a heartbreaking story of the nine years old Bruno and his friend Shmuel. It is set during the horrors of Holocaust.

Bruno is the son of a Nazi commandant and Shmuel, a Jewish prisoner in the infamous Auschwitz Birkenau concentration camp.

Bruno moves to Auschwitz with his family from Berlin because of his father's duty towards his country and people as he was told and was quite bored in the small shabby and old house in Auschwitz. He loved exploring new things and so he ends up meeting Shmuel during one of his explorations. He wanted to play with him but wasn't able to as both of them were separated by a high barbed wire fence.

In the end however, both of them die holding each other's hand in the gas chamber.

**Spoiler Ahead**

Okay so frankly I don't know from where to start.

1. It seems quite fake that Bruno didn't know what was going on at all. If you will read war accounts, you will know that the hatred for Jewish people was in children as well. They also took part in insulting the Jewish. Bruno seems too much innocent for his age. He was too much curious and it doesn't appears to be right that a nine year old boy who is the son of a German commandant doesn't know anything.

2. When he starts observing these people in striped pajamas, he can see that they were most probably lined up and then they fall upon each other which definitely means shooting. He can also make it out that the soldiers were shouting at these people but why can't he make out that the German soldiers were actually killing these people by shooting. He doesn't seems to hear the gun shots in the earlier stages. May be too much innocent. Fine.

3. He was all the way mispronouncing things. Even after being corrected many number of times he used call Auschwitz as Out-With and The Führer as the fury, while being a German himself.

4. I have read many reviews saying that the existence of Shmuel isn't possible at all. Sorry but I have to disagree here. It is true that children who seem to be misfit for working on labour camps were immediately sent to gas chambers upon arriving to the camps. But we should also remember the fact that many number of children were selected by German doctors like Josef Mengele to conduct experiments and so were kept alive, especially twins. It may be the case with Shmuel also. It was never hinted in the text but yes that can be a possibility. That is why when concentration camps were liberated, children were also there as survivors. Historically speaking Mengele was working in Auschwitz during 1942. And this book is also set during those times.

5. The meeting of Shmuel and Bruno is totally impossible considering the fact that Shmuel was a prisoner and he didn't have the freedom of roaming across the concentration camp and sitting near the barbed wire for hours talking with Bruno. It felt totally absurd.

6. What strikes me so hard is the climax of this book. Those high barbed wires were not just for decoration and people can't actually slip in and out of it. You need to understand that they were electrified and there were danger signs all over in real concentration camps.

7. When Shmuel was accused of stealing, he would have been shot in real but here he just continues his routine of meeting Bruno afterwards.

8. Frankly speaking I was expecting the theme of friendship here but didn't quite get it. Bruno didn't know anything about what was happening on the other side and he decides to help his friend but once he starts feeling uncomfortable, he starts thinking about going back to his home leaving Shmuel alone.

9. I also didn't find anything regarding the torture which Jews and other prisoners faced in concentration camps. Even not much through Bruno's eyes when he was inside the camp.

So basically the theme is not about the horrors of a concentration camp or about the friendship between these two boys but this story is about an idiot boy who is too much curious but knows nothing and ends up dying ultimately. It is upsetting to read it because of the deaths of these two boys and it breaks my heart but I can't ignore how this book trivializes the horrors of Holocaust by giving the prisoners scope of roaming around and many other things as well. I recommend you to read this book only because it is emotional and not because it is about Holocaust. It is not.

Ratings: 3.5/5