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 wow. August 2, 2008
I literally just finished reading this novel about ten minutes ago. I found myself just staring at the last page, waiting for some grand explanation to pop out and make it all better, but, of course, that did not happen.
This book is deep, and it really makes you think. What would you do in Bruno's situation? Though the vocabulary and style of writing makes it appear as a book for young readers, the topic is definitely of a different matter.
 A Problematic Holocaust Text July 23, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
In 2009, I intend to teach John Boyne's "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" as part of an undergraduate Holocaust education class. However, I will be including the novel in the syllabus because it is an excellent example of a highly flawed Holocaust text, of which educators need to be wary. A text, by the way, that has been very well received by critics and the general reading public.
Boyne's "fable" is certainly well written, it is accessible (to both teenagers and adults), it is memorable, and it is even profound. But these attributes are overshadowed by Boyne's carelessness; the plot has problematic historical inaccuracies that are incredibly misleading and - I believe - damaging to the goals of Holocaust education.
(1) We discover that Shmuel, the title character and a prisoner at Auschwitz, is nine years old. However, it is extremely well documented that, upon arrival at Auschwitz (and other Nazi death camps), almost all children under 15 years old were sent immediately to be gassed, as the Nazis could not (or would not) use them as slave labor. The few exceptions to this rule were children who were either slightly younger than 15 and survived by lying about their age or children (of all ages) who were used in forced pseudo-medical experiments, confined to the camp laboratories, and rarely survived. Nine year olds did not wander around Auschwitz. And they certainly could not wander, "for several weeks... almost every afternoon" (p. 150), to the same place by the camp fence, to meet their new friend, who just happened to be the son of a high-ranking Nazi officer.
(2) Which brings us to Bruno, the protagonist, the son of the Kommandant of Auschwitz. Bruno is also nine years old (he and Shmuel, they discover quickly, were born on exactly the same day). Bruno's age is also highly problematic. We realize quickly that Bruno is naive to what his father does for a living and where he and his sister have been brought to live. Bruno is also ignorant to the existence of the Jews - until he meets his new friend, Shmuel. Again, history - and common sense - would reveal this to be practically impossible. All German children were educated, from an early age, about the Jews. Children were taught - through carefully designed books and school lessons - that the Jews were the "parasites" of society; sub-humans to be loathed, oppressed, and discarded. Children joined youth groups and attended rallies that made the Nazis' perceptions of the Jews very clear. It is practically impossible for a nine year old German boy in 1940s Nazi Europe - the son of the Kommandant of Auschwitz, no less! - to have entirely missed what was considered a vital piece of German education.
Now, you might ask: If the story is so compelling, accessible, and thought-provoking, then does it really matter that there are these inaccuracies? Yes. It does. It matters a great deal. If a goal of Holocaust education is to try to understand how and why the Holocaust occurred, so as to help us prevent current and future genocides, then we must try our best to understand how and why the Nazis did what they did to distinct groups of people that they considered "unworthy of life." To truly understand the Nazis' intentions and methods, it is imperative that we include in our considerations their policies of (a) gassing all Jewish children under 15 years old and (b) teaching all German children to hate Jews. If these two policies become distorted - or even ignored - when teaching about the Holocaust, then we might never learn the core lessons of these world-changing events.
It is important to point out that my problem is not necessarily with historical inaccuracies alone (Jane Yolen's time-travel fantasy "The Devil's Arithmetic" comes to mind as another impossible tale); my problem lies in an author's intentions and misadventures. Yolen uses time-travel as a tool to engage her young readers in Holocaust content, while keeping historical accuracy intact. But Yolen knows, just as well as her readers, that time-travel is entirely and so obviously unfeasible. Unfortunately, by the end of his fable, Boyne comes across just as unaware about the problems in his own writing as the naive enthusiasts who claim that "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is an important Holocaust text. I still encourage adults (and only adults) to read this book, but to read it only because it reminds us to be wary of badly researched historical fictions that, in the end, teach us little about the true lessons of history.
 Highly recommended for adults and teens alike July 14, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is an excellent addition to Holocaust literature for young adults. When nine-year old Bruno and his family move to "Off with" because of the "Fury", he is confused and angry- throughout the book, Bruno never really learns what is happening next door. Showing the camps through the eyes of a child on the outside of the fence was a novel technique and allowed for spare descriptions that underlined the looming horror. Once Bruno befriends a young Jewish boy, the reader knows the story isn't going to end well. Despite that knowledge, and the fact that the actual friendship is so unrealistic, Boyne's writing is so powerful that I still found myself tearing up at the end. I highly recommend this book for adults and teens alike.
The Holocaust through the eyes of a child July 2, 2008
Bruno is an innocent and sheltered nine-year-old boy from Berlin. His father is an officer in the German army during WWII. After "The Fury" comes to dinner, Bruno is told that "The Fury" has great things in store for his father and they suddenly move from their family home to a not-so-nice house in "Out-With." From his new bedroom window, Bruno can see a high fence. The dirt area inside the fence is barren except for many low huts inhabited by a large number of people, all wearing striped pajamas.
Bruno, who dreams of becoming an explorer, follows the fence until he meets a thin, sad boy named Shmuel, who is sitting on the other side of the fence. The boys discover that they have the same birthday and decide that they are destined to be best friends.
Because the story is told through the eyes of an innocent and sheltered boy who does not understand what "Out-With" is really all about, the violence and brutality is more subdued than in other Holocaust stories I have read. This actually made the ending even more disturbing, as Bruno doesn't see it coming.
What a beautiful, yet powerfully written story...not just for kids June 29, 2008
My wife borrowed this book from a friend who had just finished it while we were out at the beach for the weekend. He didn't tell her what it was about except to say that it was a must read. When I went to bed last night I picked it up and started reading it. I woke up the next morning and finished it about an hour later...I couldn't put it down. What a powerful story written in such a simple way about a very complex subject. I have just finished writing my recently Bar Mitzvahed older son who is away at camp that I am going to send him this book and I am crying because the story really got to me. I am Jewish and lost over 100 relatives to the Camps during the war. It is sometime very hard to explain what happened during the war and especially hard to get kids to understand what happened to the Jews and others in the Camps. This is a must read for kids and their parents. It is very simply written so it is very easy for kids to read and understand. Yet it is so compelling that even adult readers will appreciate it. Most books of this genre are/were written by Camp survivors and never from the other side. While this story does not make any effort at rationalizing or appolgizing for what the Germans did it does tell the story from that side of the fence. This is a story that you can discuss with your kids at many levels, there are even some thought provoking questions provided in the back of the book that will make for some very interesting discussions.
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