Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
The Boy in the Striped PyjamasThe Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a 2006 Holocaust novel by Irish novelist John Boyne. Much like the process he undertakes when writing most of his novels, Boyne has said that he wrote the entire first draft in two and a half days, without sleeping much, but also that he was quite a serious student of Holocaust-related literature for years before the idea for the novel even came to him. The book has received mixed reviews; while positive reviews praise the story as a moral, negative reviews attack the book's historical inconsistencies, and the potential damage it could cause to people's Holocaust education.
As of 22 October 2021, the novel had sold eleven million copies around the world. In both 2007 and 2008, it was the best-selling book of the year in Spain,[citation needed] and it reached number one on the New York Times bestseller list. In 2008, the book was adapted into a film of the same name, and, in 2017, it was adapted into a ballet.
Plot
Bruno is a 9-year-old boy growing up during World War II in Berlin. He lives with his parents, his 12-year-old sister Gretel, whom he describes as 'A Hopeless Case,' and maids, one of whom is named Maria. After a visit by Adolf Hitler, The Fuhrer (which Bruno commonly mispronounces as "Fury"), Bruno's father, Ralf, is promoted to Commandant, and the family has to move to Auschwitz (which Bruno mispronounced as "Out-With"), the biggest concentration camp in history, on the orders of "The Fury".
Bruno is initially upset about moving to Auschwitz, and is almost in tears at the prospect of leaving his 'best friends for life', Daniel, Karl and Martin. From the house at Auschwitz, Bruno sees a camp in which the prisoners wear "striped pyjamas" (prison clothes). One day, Bruno decides to explore the wire fence surrounding the camp. As he walks along the fence, he meets a Jewish boy named Shmuel, who he learns shares his birthday and age. Shmuel says that his father, grandfather, and brother are with him on his side of the fence, but he is separated from his mother. Bruno and Shmuel talk and become very good friends, although Bruno still does not understand very much about Shmuel and his side of the fence. Nearly every day, unless it is raining, Bruno goes to see Shmuel and sneaks him food. Over the time Bruno visits Shmuel, Shmuel gets more and more skinny.
Bruno concocts a plan with Shmuel to sneak into the camp to look for Shmuel's father, as Shmuel says to Bruno that his father has disappeared. Shmuel brings a set of prison clothes, and Bruno leaves his own clothes outside the fence. As they search the camp, both children are rounded up along with a group of prisoners on a "march". They are led into a gas chamber, which Bruno assumes is simply a shelter from the outside rainstorm. In the gas chamber, Bruno apologizes to Shmuel for not finding his father and tells Shmuel that he is his best friend for life, though it is not made clear if Shmuel answers him before the doors close and the lights go out, though Bruno determines to never let go of Shmuel's hand.
Bruno is never seen again, with his clothes discovered by a soldier days later. His mother, Elsa, spends months afterwards searching for him, even returning to their old home, before at last moving to Berlin with Gretel, who isolates herself in her room. Ralf spends a year more at Auschwitz, becoming ruthless and coldhearted towards his subordinates. A year later, he returns to the place where Bruno's clothes were found and pieces together how his son disappeared and died, collapsing in grief. Months later, Allied troops storm the camp and Ralf, wracked with guilt, allows himself to be taken prisoner.
The book ends with the phrase; "Of course, all of this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age."
Free books android app tbrJar TBR JAR Read Free books online gutenberg
(0)More posts by @Angela
