The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

                                                                              John Boyne

Genre – Young Adult Fiction

‘Heartbreaking’

A vintage classic, this book tackles one of the darkest and most terrible times of European history.

Powerful yet upsetting to read with no happy ending.

John Boyne is an Irish novelist. He is the author of eleven novels for adults and six novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 languages. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was adapted into a 2008 film of the same name. It is a heartbreaking tale of two best friends skillfully told by the author. it will make you get absorbed into the life of two young boys and their soulful journey.

Inside book:

A 223 paged novel with a beautiful cover picture is a window to the largest Nazi concentration camp built by the Germans during the Second World War functioned to imprison and exterminate people from across Europe in the Nazi program of cultural and ethnic cleaning. This is not completely a true story yet it put lights on the darkest event of history where millions died together highlighting the greatest inhuman practice of all time.

Inside story:

The story revolves around Bruno, a 9 year old boy who was asked to leave his beautifull home in Berlin, 3 best friends to settle in a place called ‘Out-With’ which he hated. Bruno has a lot of questions revolving in his head but as grown-ups don’t answer any of them, he decides to explore things by himself. His exploration leads to a discovery of a new friend Shmuel wearing striped pyjamas, a boy with the same birthday. They met daily for a year secretly separated by a fence. they became best friends yet never played together.

Why a fence sperated the 2 boys? Why they can't play together? Why Shmuel always wore striped pajamas?

For all these answers you need to read this amazing classic by John Boyne.

‘Some things are just sitting there, waiting to be discovered. Other things are probably better off left alone’

Though this book narrates one of the saddest times of history yet we see it all through the eyes of an innocent young boy who doesn’t understand anything about Nazis, concentration camps, or war. This novel is a work of fiction with a moral at the center. It has a tragic end but surely the reader can feel a connection to the two boys and have a strong emotional reaction reading the end of the journey of two best friends. 

Author’s words:

‘Fences such as the one at the heart of the boy in the striped pajamas still exist; it is unlikely that they will ever fully disappear’

The fence dividing the 2 boys in the novel is a great example of man's inhumanity to man, of irrational hatreds, based on peoples’ religion sex color of skin which exist even today and this book will make the reader think on how to put an end to such terrible things taking place.