So, I had planned to save this book for last -- you know, the whole "bottom of the list" thing. However, the only book left doesn't come out until next Tuesday, so I jumped ahead for this one. While I don't really have a tangible list of books I want to read (besides the list my students wrote up for me -- but that is in no particular order), but I do have books in my brain that I have been wanting to read for quite some time. One such book is (was) The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.
This book tells the story of a nine year old boy named Bruno. In the opening scene Bruno returns home from school to find that everything is being packed up for his family to move. Of course, this upsets Bruno who doesn't want to leave his friends and home in Berlin that he loves very much. He quickly learns that his family is moving because his father's job is taking him elsewhere.
Bruno's father is a high-ranking officer who works under "the Fury." Although Bruno is not a completely immature nine year old, he is still a nine year old. He is naive. This is 1940s and Bruno is unaware of what is happening in the world around him. His pronunciation is not great, hence "the Fury" for Hitler as the Fuhrer. Throughout the book he also calls his new home "Out With" instead of the now-infamous Auschwitz in Poland.
In their new home, soldiers are in and out of the house as if it were their own, but Bruno's father and mother do their best to keep their two children protected from the goings-on around them. Outside of Bruno's bedroom window he can see the concentration camp where he sees countless people all wearing the same "striped pajamas." Since Bruno has always enjoyed exploration, and he is desperately in search of a friend, he decides to follow the fence around the camp. Of course this is completely off limits to him, but he does it anyway. On one such adventure, he finds a boy his age sitting on the other side of the fence. Bruno begins talking to him and they become fast friends. This boy's name is Shmuel and although he is Jewish and trapped in the camp, he is almost as clueless on the matter as Bruno is. Their friendship grows over the course of a year and it all leads up to one final "adventure" before Bruno is to move back to Berlin.
Okay, that was kind of a lengthy overview. I liked the book. It was quite emotional. It was a different take on the Holocaust and I think telling it from the point of view of someone so innocent really added to the horror of the situation. I also liked how the author doesn't give gruesome details of what is happening. While we are all familiar with the horrific things that happened during the Holocaust, Boyne allows us to draw the conclusions on our own. This technique also allows Bruno to maintain his innocence. While he witnesses some violent acts, he doesn't describe them to the reader, they are things that are chosen to be left unshared.
On the back cover of the book USA Today is quoted as saying "Powerful and unsettling...As memorable an introduction to the subject as The Diary of Anne Frank." This is an appropriate suggestion. This book could be great in opening conversation and education on the Holocaust with a younger generation. It is definitely worth a read.
3.5 Stars