The Boy In The Striped Pajamas 🆕 Bonus Inside

I picked this up thinking it was a historical fable. I closed it at 2 AM, staring at my ceiling, feeling like I had been hit by a truck. If you haven’t read it, here is the basic premise: It is 1943. Nine-year-old Bruno comes home from school in Berlin to find his family’s maid, Maria, packing his things. His father has gotten a promotion—the Fury (Bruno’s mispronunciation of "Führer") has big plans for him. They are moving to a place called "Out-With" (Auschwitz).

If you are a student reading this for class: Please, for the love of Bruno, read the historical notes in the back of the book. Don't use this novel as your only source for your history paper.

There are some books that you read. And then there are books that happen to you. John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas definitely falls into the latter category. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

This narrative trick is genius and brutal. As an adult reader, you are constantly screaming inside your head. Bruno, no! Look at the smoke from the chimney! Look at the soldier’s boots! Run away! But Bruno doesn't hear you. He is too busy being bored and looking for adventure.

What makes this book so devastating isn't the violence. In fact, Boyne cleverly avoids showing us the true horror directly. Instead, we see everything through Bruno’s naive, literal eyes. He doesn't understand why the people on the other side of the fence wear striped pyjamas. He doesn't understand why his father is a Commandant. He just thinks it’s a farm. I picked this up thinking it was a historical fable

This is the controversial part. Since its publication, historians and educators have debated whether The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas does more harm than good.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Deducting one star for the historical inaccuracies, but the emotional impact is undeniable. Nine-year-old Bruno comes home from school in Berlin

The book is historically inaccurate. The death camps weren't places where a nine-year-old German could sit and chat with a prisoner for a year. Bruno’s naivety is unrealistic (most German children knew the fences were dangerous). And the idea that a Commandant’s son could get into the gas chamber is a fictional plot device that misrepresents how the camps were organized.

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