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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
One of the saddest and perspective changing books I have ever read. Cried through the last 2 chapters. Everyone should read this.
Probably my favorite part of the book was the 35 minute personal interview between the publisher of the book and the author at the end of the audiobook. I agree with several objections people have had with this book. The children in this book are set at the wrong ages. Bruno was portrayed more as a 5-6 year old than a 9 year old. This comes from being a mother with children and teaching many children of those ages. There are too many things where the author treats the two children as much younger and naive than children of 9 and 12-13 would be. Of course the subject material is awful, but there is nothing about WWII that is comforting in German Concentration camps. Watching the mother go mad and start drinking...I can't imagine living near this camp and not having that problem. People turn their heads against atrocities in different ways through all sorts of situations and other people like Bruno see everyone with kindness, concern and love. Would I recommend this book? Yes. Did I feel like I knew the storyline the entire time. Yes. Did that spoil anything? No. Most gave me time to really reflect on whether I could sit outside the fence of something and just let it happen or if I would enter, view and help.
dark
emotional
informative
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Asha and Henalo’s story.
I was happy to see them work things out together while also working on themselves individually.
A very good read and addition to this series.
I was happy to see them work things out together while also working on themselves individually.
A very good read and addition to this series.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What stuck with me regarding this book is the way it ended…..the emptiness of never knowing for sure what happened. The film is very good also, but the ending is slightly different. I’m not sure it could have been done to align more closely with the book because there is a certain liberty a narrator has in a book that unless you use the style of an outside narrator telling the story in a film you can’t capitalize on that. It was good also….just a bit different.
But, regardless of the morality of the character of the father (and I’m sure the author probably used this ending as a bit of….kismet? To use a Hebrew term…or karma?) the last chapter where the first lines are, “Nothing more was ever heard of Bruno after that” causes the heart to sink to great depths…especially if you are a parent. In the book, the family never knows for sure what happens. That is why the film is a little different, and, for ME, it is that not knowing that sinks to deep depths. It’s the line, “It was as if he had just vanished off the face of the earth and left his clothes behind him”. I can imagine only parents whose children go missing and are never found can begin to understand. The film doesn’t portray the unknowing element in this way…yet it still tells the story in its own way.
When I think of this novel the feeling of emptiness in a mother never knowing and then a father maybe coming to learn what he thinks happened and how it relates to himself and his choices will always haunt me.
This is an awesome historical fiction read about horrors of the Holocaust with a different spin.
One more significant theme is the innocence and naïveté of Bruno, and also his sister. This is also a difference from the film. In the book, both children were sheltered far more from knowledge than in the film. Some of that, I’m sure, relates to a Nazi Commandant who believes in his higher reasons and the end justifies the means. But, the notes in the book also directly highlight the fact that Gretel, Bruno’s sister, is old enough to participate in youth for Hitler organizations and does not (in the film she does and this is another difference in that she has more political exposure in the film). Bruno’s goodness is highlighted through his innocence and naïveté.
Terribly sad, but great read. Very original in using a Nazi family as the crux to sharing again why the Holocaust and intolerance for others is tragic in so many ways. We must always be vigilant.
But, regardless of the morality of the character of the father (and I’m sure the author probably used this ending as a bit of….kismet? To use a Hebrew term…or karma?) the last chapter where the first lines are, “Nothing more was ever heard of Bruno after that” causes the heart to sink to great depths…especially if you are a parent. In the book, the family never knows for sure what happens. That is why the film is a little different, and, for ME, it is that not knowing that sinks to deep depths. It’s the line, “It was as if he had just vanished off the face of the earth and left his clothes behind him”. I can imagine only parents whose children go missing and are never found can begin to understand. The film doesn’t portray the unknowing element in this way…yet it still tells the story in its own way.
When I think of this novel the feeling of emptiness in a mother never knowing and then a father maybe coming to learn what he thinks happened and how it relates to himself and his choices will always haunt me.
This is an awesome historical fiction read about horrors of the Holocaust with a different spin.
One more significant theme is the innocence and naïveté of Bruno, and also his sister. This is also a difference from the film. In the book, both children were sheltered far more from knowledge than in the film. Some of that, I’m sure, relates to a Nazi Commandant who believes in his higher reasons and the end justifies the means. But, the notes in the book also directly highlight the fact that Gretel, Bruno’s sister, is old enough to participate in youth for Hitler organizations and does not (in the film she does and this is another difference in that she has more political exposure in the film). Bruno’s goodness is highlighted through his innocence and naïveté.
Terribly sad, but great read. Very original in using a Nazi family as the crux to sharing again why the Holocaust and intolerance for others is tragic in so many ways. We must always be vigilant.
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
unpopular opinion: it was average. did i cry at the end? yes. but i cry at a lot of things, so it's nothing to brag about. tbh, just felt let down by a hyped up book