The boy in the striped pyjamas is a historical novel written by John Boyne in 2006. This book takes place during the Second World War, during the Jewish genocide. The main character is Bruno, a nine-year-old boy, who has been forced to move away from his city, Berlin with his family because of his father's job. He has an older sister named Gretel and a maid named maria, that is represented as mother figure for Bruno. Finally, pages 1 through 63 will be discussed in the blog.
The beginning of the story take place in Berlin, in Bruno's current house, the reader is introduced to the different characters through Bruno's eyes. Quickly, the turning point of this story is announced: Bruno's family have to move out of town because of the father's job. Without more details, it is easy to understand Bruno's father is a Nazi soldier.
Bruno's new house is described as a cold, boring, and uninteresting place. There is nothing to do, nowhere to go, and most importantly for Bruno, no one to play with. However, after exploring the new house, while going back in his room, Bruno see through his window hundred, thousands of mans, grandpas, little boys, outside in the mud, with striped pyjamas. Bruno and Gretel are at the same time scared, curious and excited about those people.
Later in the book, we meet a new character, Pavel. He is an old man, he used to be a doctor, but after being deported to Auschwitz, he became a waiter at Bruno's house. Pavel helped Bruno after he hurt himself by falling from his homemade swing since no one else is home. this interaction between an old Jewish man and a young and innocent German boy is touching because it shows the innocence of Bruno. this pure moment between two opposite people gives hope and restores humanity.
The interesting part of this book, is that it is written with the innocence of Bruno, in other words, the author sets the plot without mentioning one time the Jewish, the concentration camps,... he explains what is happening through Bruno's eyes, allowing the reader to understand how Bruno feels and Bruno's point of view. As an example, the reader quickly understands that the father is a Nazi officer, serving Hitler, however, in the book Bruno explains that he does not know specifically what his father's job consist of, illustrating his innocence towards this situation.
This book seems very interesting and i would like to read it too. The part where Bruno sees thousands of people in striped pajamas is very intriguing and i am curious to find out what happens next.
ReplyDeleteYour book seems very interesting. Also my book also happened to be from the perspective of a normal German living in Nazi Germany who also had experiences and interactions with Jews so I found that interesting.
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