If you are a student reading this for class: Please, for the love of Bruno, read the historical notes in the back of the book. Don't use this novel as your only source for your history paper.
Boyne has said he wrote a fable, not a textbook. He is not trying to teach you the logistics of the Holocaust; he is trying to teach you the morality of it. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The book is historically inaccurate. The death camps weren't places where a nine-year-old German could sit and chat with a prisoner for a year. Bruno’s naivety is unrealistic (most German children knew the fences were dangerous). And the idea that a Commandant’s son could get into the gas chamber is a fictional plot device that misrepresents how the camps were organized. If you are a student reading this for
Their dialogue is heartbreakingly simple: “We’re not supposed to be friends, are we?” asked Shmuel. “Why not?” asked Bruno. “Because we’re supposed to be enemies.” He is not trying to teach you the
If you want to learn the facts of WWII, read Night by Elie Wiesel. Read Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.
This narrative trick is genius and brutal. As an adult reader, you are constantly screaming inside your head. Bruno, no! Look at the smoke from the chimney! Look at the soldier’s boots! Run away! But Bruno doesn't hear you. He is too busy being bored and looking for adventure.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) Deducting one star for the historical inaccuracies, but the emotional impact is undeniable.