Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Written in a childish style, which resonates while using innocence within people… Until your adult self stages in and realises what’s happening. And it’s then that the heart will break.

The story is not hard: Bruno can be a nine yr old boy, who may have moved from his home to a fresh house. It’s small, cold, unfamiliar and also on the outskirts of a Nazi concentration camp. The people within the fence wear striped pyjamas try to look sad. There’s a huge selection of kids, but nobody to experience with. Bruno is lonely, bored and curious. His property is stuffed with soldiers who wear impressive uniforms, click their heels together and raise their right arms in salute. One day whilst exploring, Bruno encounters another nine years old boy, who wears strange, striped pyjamas. It’s a friendship born from loneliness, a wish to break from tedium and simply a wish to have a pal.

The characters each play their part with purpose. You may know in which the next turn leads, but your heart begs it to never be true. Galloping through the narrative, you’re swept from your childlike innocence on the climaxing, heartbreaking final scene.

The novel is merely 200 pages long, simple enough to see in a day and often will stick to you for most more. Bruno doesn’t meet Shmuel until halfway over the novel, plenty of time to let you live in his world, experience his boredom and loneliness, personalised bride pjs, check out here, living daily without direction. My knowledge of the Holocaust is pretty limited, but research tells me situations might have some truth. My child self revelled within the wonder, the curiosity, the essence of innocence. Yet, my adult self quickly realised what was happening and was sickened. Still, I couldn’t turn away.

Best novel I’ve read in a number of years.