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A review by aa2q7
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
3.0
I knew I was going to have a slight issue with this book when author John Boyne referenced an imperial unit (i.e., "a mile") in a story set in World War II Germany, and later, Poland. Maybe it was just a word (and I'm just a copy editor at heart), but several slight imperfections in this story kept it from reaching its full potential.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" (2006) tells the unlikely story of a boy named Bruno who comes to live just outside Auschwitz concentration camp when his father, a high-ranking SS officer, is assigned to duty there. Nine-year-old Bruno, originally from Berlin, is completely oblivious (presumably owing to his youth) of the horrors at Auschwitz, which he calls Out-With despite seeing the name written on a bench and being corrected by his 13-year-old sister, and spends most of his time missing home and wondering why all the thin people behind the fence beyond the backyard wear striped pajamas.
Nobody fills Bruno in but he begins to learn more after meeting a boy his exact age on the other side of the fence during a childish exploration through the woods. As Bruno meets the young prisoner, named Shmuel, almost daily, they forge an unusual and naive friendship and provide a simple reflection of how different life can be depending on circumstances outside of one's control.
I admire Boyne's attempt to capture this plain truth — but the story felt rushed and at times, unbelievable. For example, aside from the pronunciation of Out-With, Bruno refers to the Führer as the "Fury," again, despite the title being referenced often. Bruno speaks German in the book, but I'm not sure why he can't grasp the pronunciations at his age. Boyne seems to be trying too hard to make Bruno seem naive and childish — Bruno, narrating, also repeats phrases and descriptions in a child-like manner — but the attempts don't convey Bruno's character.
Boyne writes in his author's note, "..I believed that the only respectful way for me to deal with this subject was through the eyes of a child, and particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn't possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him." However, the naive child in question lacks emotional depth and a compelling story. There's only one dimension: oblivion. I lean toward prior criticism of the book asserting even a nine-year-old wouldn't have been so utterly unaware of his surroundings.
Simply put: The story, while interesting, just didn't feel real.
And I was left wondering when I finished, why, with such a painfully well-documented and abominable genocide, do we need to write fiction stories when the real stories are awful enough? I'm not saying fiction writers shouldn't write about the Holocaust, but John Boyne's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" doesn't make the cut for me.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" (2006) tells the unlikely story of a boy named Bruno who comes to live just outside Auschwitz concentration camp when his father, a high-ranking SS officer, is assigned to duty there. Nine-year-old Bruno, originally from Berlin, is completely oblivious (presumably owing to his youth) of the horrors at Auschwitz, which he calls Out-With despite seeing the name written on a bench and being corrected by his 13-year-old sister, and spends most of his time missing home and wondering why all the thin people behind the fence beyond the backyard wear striped pajamas.
Nobody fills Bruno in but he begins to learn more after meeting a boy his exact age on the other side of the fence during a childish exploration through the woods. As Bruno meets the young prisoner, named Shmuel, almost daily, they forge an unusual and naive friendship and provide a simple reflection of how different life can be depending on circumstances outside of one's control.
I admire Boyne's attempt to capture this plain truth — but the story felt rushed and at times, unbelievable. For example, aside from the pronunciation of Out-With, Bruno refers to the Führer as the "Fury," again, despite the title being referenced often. Bruno speaks German in the book, but I'm not sure why he can't grasp the pronunciations at his age. Boyne seems to be trying too hard to make Bruno seem naive and childish — Bruno, narrating, also repeats phrases and descriptions in a child-like manner — but the attempts don't convey Bruno's character.
Boyne writes in his author's note, "..I believed that the only respectful way for me to deal with this subject was through the eyes of a child, and particularly through the eyes of a rather naive child who couldn't possibly understand the terrible things that were taking place around him." However, the naive child in question lacks emotional depth and a compelling story. There's only one dimension: oblivion. I lean toward prior criticism of the book asserting even a nine-year-old wouldn't have been so utterly unaware of his surroundings.
Simply put: The story, while interesting, just didn't feel real.
And I was left wondering when I finished, why, with such a painfully well-documented and abominable genocide, do we need to write fiction stories when the real stories are awful enough? I'm not saying fiction writers shouldn't write about the Holocaust, but John Boyne's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" doesn't make the cut for me.