This book is about a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates by one of the family's servants. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far away called Out-With, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. He has had to leave his three best friends for life, his beautiful mansion, and his loving grandparents behind. When he gets to his new but horrible house he looks out of his window and sees a tall fence running as far as the eye can see. Behind the fence he can see strange people in striped pyjamas that he thinks could play with him. Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this new place than meets the eye. While exploring the area near the fence, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences. I would rate this a book a 9/10 because I think there are too many unanswered questions at the end, they do give a sense of mystery and intrigue you to read on but you expect some of the questions to be answered at the end. Other than that I think it was a great book putting into perspective what Jews had to go through and that this happened less than 70 years ago! I think the ending is very abrupt and extremely devastating even though it says they went on searching for Bruno for weeks until they finally realized what had happened. I particularly liked this book because you had to do a lot of thinking to work out who was who and what was going on sometimes, especially with 'the Fury'. I would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 10.
‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ by John Boyne uses the main character Bruno to weave an emotional masterpiece set in Germany which emphasizes on the tale of the struggling upbringing of children during times of war. Unbeknownst to Bruno’s family, he strikes up a forbidden friendship with Shmuel, a Jewish boy who has seen the cruelty of which Bruno is unaware. A story revolving around Hitler’s regime and World War 2, this book gives an unique perspective on the atrocities of that dark period like the infamous Holocaust. ‘A story of innocence in a world of ignorance’-never has the tagline of a book been so apt as this one’s. Through Bruno’s eyes we see the world in a much kinder light, the naïve outlook of a child in a world where everything is so much darker. From his mistaken observation of the Jewish uniforms as striped pajamas to his obvious incomprehension as to what his father’s job entails, his innocence highlights the wickedness of the Holocaust in a way history books never could. This book was written beautifully with several flashbacks all interconnected with the main storyline and an accurate portrayal of the thoughts of a child. In my opinion this is a novel worth keeping as unlike all the dystopian books of this age, this book is unique in the way it takes one of history’s most recognized events and spins a fresh tale with a magic of its own. Bound to strike a chord in every reader I strongly urge you to pick up this book at least once and find yourself carried away on an emotional rollercoaster with a powerful ending.
the boy in the striped pyjamas is about true friendship. bruno and shmuel's story is a sad one.in this book bruno helps shmuel to find shmuel's father. its good for everyone.even a movie is made on the same story. a nice book written by john boyne. you'll enjoy reading it.
The novel begins in Germany in the 1940s. Bruno comes home from school to find the maid, Maria, packing his things because the family is moving away from Berlin. Bruno's not happy about this and whines to his mom, dad, Gretel, the maid, and her dog (we kid… about the dog part). But Bruno's out of luck; his father just got a promotion and they're moving on up, whether he wants to or not. Adding to Bruno's troubles, the family's new house is weak with a capital W—it's smaller than their old house, super isolated, and there's a huge wire fence near the property. Ugh. While Bruno unpacks his things, he spots a sketchy looking blond soldier and takes an immediate disliking to him. He notices a window, looks through it, and sees something that makes him feel "cold and unsafe"… Dun dun dun. Bruno tells Gretel that the other children look unfriendly. Wait a second… There are other children? Yep, turns out Bruno's window has a lovely view of the Auschwitz death camp. Yikes. Bruno thinks it's weird that there are tons of kids and adults on the other side of the fence and even weirder that they all wear the same striped pajamas and striped cap. After a few weeks, Bruno decides that he needs to find some sort of entertainment or he'll go mad. His grand idea? Why, make a tire swing, of course. Lieutenant Kotler helps him out and orders Pavel, a Jew, to get a tire from the storage shed. Pavel sets Bruno up and soon the kid's happily swinging—well, until he falls. Luckily, Pavel comes to Bruno's rescue; while he cleans him up, he tells Bruno he's a doctor. But this doesn't make any sense to Bruno—after all, the guy works in the kitchen peeling potatoes. Soon after, Bruno's mother comes home and discovers what happened. She tells Pavel that if the Commandant asks, she cleaned Bruno's wounds. Bruno has a flashback to the last Christmas with his family and his grandparents. Here's what went down: Grandma told Bruno's father that she's ashamed of what he's become and can't believe what he and other Nazis are doing, then she stormed out. It's the last Bruno's seen of her. Back in the present, months pass and Bruno decides to go exploring, which basically involves walking along the length of the wire fence that separates his family from the concentration camp. Some adventure. During his exploration session, Bruno comes upon a boy sitting on the ground in pajamas and an armband (featuring the Star of David). Bruno is kind of shocked by how small and sad looking the boy is, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, right? And Bruno could really use some company. Schmoozing ensues, and it turns out that the boy's name is Shmuel and he and Bruno share a birthday. Shmuel is from Poland and informs the oblivious Bruno that they're in Poland and not in Germany like Bruno's been thinking. When they part ways, they plan to meet again tomorrow. Time for another flashback, this time to when Hitler came to dinner. He brought his girlfriend, Eva, and Bruno and Gretel were not allowed to have dinner with the adults. Aw shucks. Afterward, Bruno heard his parents arguing about the move, which his mother was totally against. Back in the present, it's the next day, so Bruno returns to the fence. Shmuel explains what happened to him and his family before coming to the camp. Soon after, Bruno walks into his kitchen and is shocked to see Shmuel cleaning crystal glasses—turns out his pal's been brought to the house by Kotler to clean glasses for Father's birthday celebration. What should be a cool catch up turns disastrous when Bruno offers Shmuel chicken (he eats it, of course) and Kotler catches him and gets mad (of course). Shmuel says Bruno gave it to him and that they're friends—but like a punk, Bruno says he's never seen him before in his life. Ooh… not cool, Bruno. After more than a year, Bruno's mother wants to move back to Berlin with the kids. Bruno's not as happy as he thought he'd be about this idea, though, and dreads breaking the news to Shmuel. However, as it turns out, Shmuel has bigger fish to fry: His dad's gone missing. The boys hatch a plan for Bruno to dress up in pajamas and help Shmuel find his dad before he leaves Auschwitz on Saturday. The next day, Friday, Bruno goes to the fence. He changes into his striped pajamas, leaves his things on his side and crawls under the fence. The two boys walk toward the camp and Bruno realizes that things are very bad on Shmuel's side. Bruno wants to go home, but he's promised Shmuel he'll help, and as a loyal friend, he stays. Unfortunately, though, they don't find Shmuel's father. Just as Bruno is about to head home, the boys are surrounded by soldiers and forced to march. They're led to a gas chamber (neither boy realizes this), and once inside, they hold hands. The lights go off, chaos ensues, and we, unfortunately, know that the end of their story is not going to be happy. The last chapter shows how the family deals with Bruno's disappearance: His mother
Lines may divide us, but hope will unite us . . . Nine-year-old Bruno knows nothing of the Final Solution and the Holocaust. He is oblivious to the appalling cruelties being inflicted on the people of Europe by his country. All he knows is that he has been moved from a comfortable home in Berlin to a house in a desolate area where there is nothing to do and no one to play with. Until he meets Shmuel, a boy who lives a strange parallel existence on the other side of the adjoining wire fence and who, like the other people there, wears a uniform of striped pyjamas. Bruno's friendship with Shmuel will take him from innocence to revelation. And in exploring what he is unwittingly a part of, he will inevitably become subsumed by the terrible process.