A review by mhinnen
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.0

I read this after reading the sequel and honestly found it even more problematic. The sequel troubles me too, so I guess I should have expected it. It’s written as a fable, focused on  the story of 9 year old Bruno. The premise is that a young boy, the son of a Nazi commander, moves with his family next to “Out-with” and befriends Shmuel a “boy in striped pajamas.” It is written in a way that Bruno is naive and innocent of all that is happening, who his father is, who his father’s boss “The Fury” is,  and who his new friend is. All of this innocence leads to a tragic ending that is focused on Bruno and his family and not on the horror that is happening on the other side of the fence! The reality is that Bruno and his older sister would have been indoctrinated, not protected, from what was happening. When Bruno betrays his friend, we know his feelings of sadness and guilt and his relief that Shmuel remains his friend even after receiving a severe beating. Bruno and Shmuel are supposedly best friends but Shmuel never reveals what is actually happening let alone asking Bruno for his father to intervene on his family’s behalf. 

There was so much wrong with the centering of the Nazi family and inaccuracies about the role of children in the Third Reich. Bruno would have been loyal not only to his father but to all that was happening to secure the next generation in Hitler’s nightmare.