miel2712 's review for:

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

2.0

---

Disappointing, to say the least. This book is condescending, patronizing, and the narrative is insipid. The characters lack depth, self recognition and intelligence. It bothers me greatly that Boyne's Bruno is portrayed to fit every single stereotype of children as stupid and lacking perceptiveness. He manages to give us a bland depiction of what a child in a concentration camp would be like and the contact with a nazi regime child who is absolutely selfish and blind to everything that happens around him. Bruno is even unable to pronounce or understand his own language and the current situation of his country, which, at that time, would probably have been quite impossible. I expected a lot more from this book.