Friday, December 12, 2008

On... The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

I had already added this book to my list before my Social Studies Methods professor highly recommended it so I added the book to my Fall reading list. When I heard about the movie coming out soon based on the book I definitely looked forward to reading the book.

Disclaimer: There is such a twist at the end that my review might be rather cryptic because learning about this twist would definitely ruin the rest of the book.

I knew that there was a twist at the end but thankfully had not found out the details. Unfortunately I kept trying to figure out throughout the book just what that twist might be. Boyne still managed to surprise me.

The main character, Bruno, narrates a move that he was none too happy about from the family home in Berlin to what he and his sister suppose is the country side. Bruno is more than disappointed when he learns that he has to leave his three best friends and that there seem to be no other children around for him to play with.

That's when Bruno meets a boy born on the exact same day and year and strikes up a friendship.

As I read I kept getting sadder and sadder as I realized all of the details of the book that nine-year old Bruno simply misses because of his innocence. Case in point: Bruno pronounces the name of his home as Out-With. It took me quite a while to figure out his mispronunciation.

Boyne writes a beautiful story even with all of the sadness mixed throughout the entire book. I do not recommend this book if you do not like sad stories. I do recommend the book to those who want to read good literature.

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