Tolog Review: The Boy in Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 
by John Boyne
reviewed by Alyssa Adriano

John Boyne’s historical fiction novel, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, follows the journey of innocent nine-year-old Bruno who has just moved from Berlin to “Out-With” with his mother, father, and the “Hopeless Case” also known as his sister, Gretel. Poor Bruno does not know why his father being a Commandant would cause his family was to move into such a boring house containing only three stories as opposed to his opulent five-story home in Berlin. Dying of boredom one day, Bruno decides to embark on an adventure along the boring gray fence only to find “the dot that became a speck that became a blob that became a figure that became a boy” whose name is Shmuel, wears striped pajamas, and lives on the other side of the fence. Bruno’s one-and-a-half-hour journey soon turns into a portion of his daily routine. 

John Boyne uses a very simple style of writing with minimal similes and metaphors to show how innocent and naive Bruno is. For instance, whenever mentioning the concentration camp, Auschwitz, Bruno is not able to pronounce it, and naively interprets it as “Out-With.” His childish interpretation of words occurs another time when referring to the führer, Hitler, which Bruno only understands is “the Fury.” As the novel continues, Bruno begins to lose his childhood innocence and learns about the terrible world he’s living in when he meets Shmuel and learns about how different their lives are, while simply being separated by a fence.

For me, finding the perfect book to read can take quite a while, but The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is, by far, one of the best novels I have ever read. I highly, highly recommend this book because not only is it intriguing and interesting, but I also learned how the Holocaust affected the Jews, the lieutenants, the families of those lieutenants, and many more people. Throughout the entire novel, I found myself realizing how much of my everyday life I take for granted just as Bruno does. Though I may have gone on a journey with a nine-year old, I learned so much, and this novel has touched my heart in ways no other novel ever has. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is willing to open up to the reality of the world’s history.