Book Review

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
by John Boyne.

Have you read this book? Or seen the movie? I first came across the title while browsing online through a book list on Barnes and Noble's website. I thought it sounded interesting and would be a quick and easy read since it is classified as juvenile literature. I recommended it to my book club and we will be discussing it in March.

I finished the book a few days ago. I'll tell you that there is a surprise ending. Maybe I should have seen it coming, but I didn't. And it is horrifying. And unsettling. I am blown away by it. I wish I could forget about it. And for that reason alone, I highly recommend it. My children will be reading this book.

The idea behind the book, according to the author, is that there are two boys sitting on either side of a fence, having a conversation. These two boys should not be there.

One of the boys is dressed in striped pajamas, with a striped cap on his head. This boy's name is Schmuel. He is imprisoned in Auschwitz.

The other boy, Bruno, is on the "good" side of the fence. Bruno is the son of the commandant stationed there to run Auschwitz. Bruno's family moved to Auschwitz from Berlin and Bruno is not happy about their new home. He hates it, in fact.

"He walked slowly towards (the window), hoping that from here he might be able to see all the way back to Berlin and his house and the streets around it and the tables where the people sat and drank their frothy drinks and told each other hilarious stories. He walked slowly because he didn't want to be disappointed. But it was just a small boy's room and there was only so far he could walk before he arrived at the window. He put his face to the glass and saw what was out there, and this time when his eyes opened wide and his mouth made the shape of an O, his hands stayed by his sides because something made him feel very cold and unsafe." (p. 20)

The general message of the book is that we must not forget what happened during the Holocaust.

The lasting lesson for me is that whether you commit the evil yourself, or if you encourage it, or even if you only allow it to happen, a part of you will be destroyed.

"Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age. " (p. 216)