The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2006)

Sensiblero ( )

A well-known and international bestseller, this is a book set during the Holocaust and telling the story from the point of view of an innocent boy. On the one hand, this should be a classic for generations to come and required reading; indeed, many teachers in the UK use this for teaching already. However, Bruno would not have been so unaware; as a German child of the time, he would have been part of the Hitler Youth movement, taught (brainwashed from a young age) to swear oaths to support the Fatherland. The book suffers from other faults such as the unfortunately flat character of Shmuel, the boy Bruno makes friends with — a child who more likely would have been instantly murdered at Auschwitz, the obvious setting as Bruno calls the camp Out-With. Sadly, the book falls short by showing the atrocity though one point of view, and a blinkered one at that. I can’t help feeling this would have a greater impact on today’s youth were the reader to see through the eyes of both boys revealing the true horror in the camp. Still, simply told yet disturbing, this fictional work of a factual era is appropriately unsettling, and as a teaching tool is a fine stepping off point for the young. I felt irritated that even a 9-year-old could be so ignorant of the world but realised this reflects one facet of reality — that too many, aged 9 and older, remain or even choose such ignorance. Although I worked out the ending, there’s still something chilling about the conclusion and the closing sentence is one hard to forget. ( )

Título original : The boy in the striped pyjamas ( )

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is about Bruno, a boy that goes through the Holocaust. There is no question that this is a sad book but it is an important one as well. I read through this book in middle school and I believe that this is an appropriate age to read this. Readers will feel deeply for the characters and learn about a dark time in history. ( )

Wat een ongelofelijk verhaal over de vrijheid en hoe daar voor gestreden is. Hoe 1 van de twee zijn eigen vrijheid opgeeft voor de ander. Ik heb hier zeker een traantje gelaten aan het einde van het boek.