The boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

[Mbarnes]

By all means, this in one of those books that makes it to where you do not even know where to begin writing the review, since it’s so terrible. I am writing a review on The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It was written by John Boyne. It is a book about the holocaust and I would classify it as a historical fiction book. It was just a horrible read. It was published in 2006 by the David fickling book company and has about 215 pages. I read it between December 9, 2016 and December 11, 2016.

I gave this book 1 out of 4 stars. I could not give his a higher rating. I would not be doing fellow readers justice if I did not write this review. I enjoy reading historical books and this one is by far the worst one I have ever read. The scenarios are farfetched and honestly unbelievable. Nothing in this book would have happened in real life when this was going on. Now let me get to the juicy reasons as to why I am being so hard on this book.

If you are a history buff like I am this a slap in the face when it comes to writing. It is about a child named Bruno and his family moving closer to a concentration camp so his father could take a higher position working under Hitler. Bruno even after being corrected could not say Auschwitz. You would think with his father being so far up in the chain of command he would know what is going on. Him and his sister would have been highly guarded and would not be able to sneak around to do much of anything.

Bruno made a friend named Shmuel who is a Jew in the concentration camp within walking distance of Bruno’s home. He had went on a walk on day and found a little boy in striped pajamas and they hit it off. They got in the habit of meeting each other daily at the same spot in the fence. That is a major glitch in history in itself. The fences were heavily watched to prevent anyone from escaping the camp. His father would have noticed something was up if this actually happened. Needless to say Bruno managed to get under the fence to play with Shmuel, who had conveniently brought him a pair of pajamas like his. Bruno and his friend meet a tragic end and his father ends up blaming himself for what happened. His father plays a great part in this and his character is mostly right but still has many flaws in it.
This whole book is just unbelievable. I am convinced it would not really happen if it was a true story. In those days Jews and normal people did not associate with each other. They were subhuman compared to the Nazi’s. I could not stand reading this book. I finished it though because I wanted to do a review on it so others would not have the same issue I have had with it.

I am going to close this review with two quotes from Bruno’s father.

“A home is not a building or a street or a city or something so artificial as bricks and mortar. A home is where ones family is isn’t it?”

“Those people…well, they’re not people at all, Bruno.”

[Amore]

Great review! Disappointed to hear that the book was terrible. I'm all for historical accuracy or any accuracy really when writing a book. Weather it be medicine, science, or history, I feel like the author has to do enough research to make the book believable. Even if the facts are historically correct, the plot should be developed enough to make you believe that these things could in fact occur. You are right. The scenario just seems too outlandish to have actually taken place in a concentration camp.