The boy in the striped pajamas

a fable

by John Boyne

No cover — John Boyne: The boy in the striped pajamas (2006, David Fickling Books)

215 pages

English language

Published Jan. 9, 2006 by David Fickling Books.

(47 reviews)

Bored and lonely after his family moves from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in 1942, Bruno, the son of a Nazi officer, befriends a boy in striped pajamas who lives behind a wire fence.

38 editions

nerd teacher [books] reviewed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

I have one word for this novel: Rubbish.

1 star

Here are my main issues with this book:

The protagonist is 9-years old at the start; he's the child of a high-ranking Nazi official. Despite the fact his SISTER, who starts as 12-years old, knows what's happening, he has zero clue. Now, having worked with children, I'm about 100% certain if ONE child knows what's going on, then the OTHER child knows; it also makes no sense how he's so clueless about what his father does.
His lack of knowledge makes his friendship with Shmuel feel absurd, not just because of the fact that his father is a high-ranking NAZI OFFICIAL (which also makes it feel ridiculous). He's making false equivalences that, even at 9-years old, he'd know are false equivalences. "Gee, I wish I could wear an armband! No one ever gave me one!" As if he'd have no clue what the Star of David is? Or the Nazi …

Here are my main issues with this book:

The protagonist is 9-years old at the start; he's the child of a high-ranking Nazi official. Despite the fact his SISTER, who starts as 12-years old, knows what's happening, he has zero clue. Now, having worked with children, I'm about 100% certain if ONE child knows what's going on, then the OTHER child knows; it also makes no sense how he's so clueless about what his father does.
His lack of knowledge makes his friendship with Shmuel feel absurd, not just because of the fact that his father is a high-ranking NAZI OFFICIAL (which also makes it feel ridiculous). He's making false equivalences that, even at 9-years old, he'd know are false equivalences. "Gee, I wish I could wear an armband! No one ever gave me one!" As if he'd have no clue what the Star of David is? Or the Nazi Swastika? Have we forgotten WHO his father is? Because I'm pretty sure he'd have been pushed to be a part of this thing called, I don't know, THE HITLER YOUTH. He would have seen all of this propaganda at some point and had a frame of reference for it.
Both children are younger than they are. I've never met a 12 or 13-year old girl like Gretel, and I certainly haven't met a 9 or 10-year old boy like Bruno. To be fair, I've never met TODDLERS like these two characters. I'm not sure why authors can't accurately write children, but this is a spectacular fail.
History. All of it. There is nothing that is so little that is even remotely accurate, even for camps that WEREN'T Auschwitz. I'm not sure what version of the Holocaust he learned, but he learned one that apparently came from a Nazi apologist.
What is with these authors who keep doing Nazi family/person and Jewish family/person in WWII and Nazi family/person is made out to be a Good Person Deep Down? Or, in this case, also Really Naive About Everything?
Why is a German-speaking child confusing German words and location names for ENGLISH, especially when HE DOESN'T SPEAK ENGLISH? He even openly says that he DOESN'T KNOW ANOTHER LANGUAGE.

candlestick reviewed Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Review of 'Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Reading this right after The Book Thief was a trip,,,
TBF is good. This is not.

Zéro Janvier reviewed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Review of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

J'avais lu ce roman il y a quelques années et il m'avait marqué. Cette deuxième lecture m'a également plu, même si certaines maladresses et incohérences m'ont gêné par rapport à ma première lecture. Je suis devenu moins indulgent, mais ce roman reste une lecture à conseiller à tous.

The Gnome King reviewed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Review of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

My daughter is reading this at school and loves it, she read it at school then had to get another copy from the library so that she could read it again. She has also seen the movie twice now. So I thought I'd give it a go to see what the fuss was all about.

It's a quick read and interesting. A nice way of getting kids to understand about what happened to the Jews in the concentration camps. The main character is the Commandant's 9 year old son Bruno who has had to move house to a place called "Out With" (I assume this is Auschwitz). The weakness in the book for me was Bruno, he seems like he has had an education, but he is incredibly immature. I know a lot of things would be beyond his understanding and maybe I'm expecting too much from him but he …

Jill reviewed The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne

Review of 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

I really enjoyed the perspective of a young, German child, and I didn't find his naivete too unrealistic -- although it would have seemed more accurate in a younger child. I was content to ignore some trivial inaccuracies like the idea that the son of a high-ranking Nazi official would be unfamiliar with Hitler, or the idea of an unguarded portion of fence that just happens to be loose.

However, the ending was just awful. I understand wanting to rewrite history and make it more just, but doing so changed the book from historical fiction to pure fantasy. I felt like it trivialized the experience of both boys; it robbed Shmuel of a witness to the tragedy of his life and it robbed Bruno of the chance to lose his complacency and grow.