This book (by John Boyne) is so good! It had been on my to-read list for just about ever. I finally saw a paperback copy on display at Borders for not a lot of money a few weeks ago and decided to grab it (this is why I am not allowed in book stores).
It was amazing. It’s about a boy named Bruno who, at the age of nine, is made to move somewhere very far away from his home in Berlin. His father (recently promoted to Commandant) has been given a very important position which requires him to move his family to Poland.
It turns out that the very important position is none other than running Auschwitz, only Bruno pronounces it “Out-With”. He does this throughout the entire book, and even when other characters try to correct his pronunciation (to no avail), the reader only ever sees “Out-With” and I do wonder why this is. Perhaps Boyne was simply afraid to give the famous camp it’s true name and he can hardly be blamed for that. The same goes for Hitler, whom Bruno only ever refers to as the “Fury”, although he gives an accurate physical description.
Of course, even if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie, you’ve probably figured out that the boy in the striped pajamas is a convent prisoner, except Bruno is not only a child, but an exceptionally naive child. He has no idea how many people are on the other side of that fence, or that they are kept there against their will. Nor does he understand how hard the conditions are, even after his new friend, Shmuel, tries to tell him. Bruno, like most nine-year-olds, remains firmly fixed in his view of the world as he has always seen it: that is, for a privileged white boy who has never had any real wants.
In his author’s note, Boyne acknowledges the fact that only the victims of those camps can ever know what it was really like in there. The rest of us are just on the other side of the fence, looking in, and that couldn’t be more true. He said that played a part in his decision to make the main character, not just a child, but a naive child. It certainly had an effect.
I love Boyne’s writing style. He captures the way children think in a manner that is both accurate and beautiful. From the capitalized titles assigned to certain rooms and family members, to noticing the fact that rules children must follow never seem to apply to adults. All of it rings true and reminds us of our own childhoods. Just, you know, without the concentration camp in the back yard.
The ending really took me by surprise. Bruno, being the plucky little idiot that he is, decides to go dress up like an inmate so he can go “exploring” in the camp. Of course, you can see where this is going. Poor Bruno never did. He wanted to help his friend find his father, who had gone missing.
The clothes are dirty and Bruno quickly learns that the camp is nothing like he thought, but he promised his friend he would help look for his father and he keeps that promise. He knows that a good explorer always wears the right clothes and looks for clues, so that’s what they did. If only he had known how dangerous exploring can be. It seemed he knew everything about explorers except for the fact that some of them never make it back home.
A small boy meeting his fate in a concentration camp is awful, but I have to appreciate the symbolism of the Commandant’s own son getting killed in the concentration camp he was in charge of running. It’s tragic, but brilliant.