A Critical Book Review: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne - CONTAINS SPOILERS

Just a pre-warning I am being a little pedantic and overly critical in this post so urm take it with a grain of salt :))

I used to love The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas, and I still kind of do, ish. I originally gave it 4 stars and thought it to be one of the best books I’ve read. But after re-reading it and thinking about it a little more, it’s left me feeling quite bitter.

The book is written incredibly well, and it’s thought-provoking, emphasising the innocence of children but there were quite a few things that rubbed me the wrong way. Now before I start, I understand that this is fiction and I know everything isn’t going to be realistic, but these are my opinions nonetheless and if you don’t like them just simply click off :))

I’ll start from the beginning (obviously). Bruno’s innocence at the beginning of the novel was quite endearing. I enjoyed how the book was written as though a child had dictated it and I thought it added to the whole children are innocent thing.

But whilst it was interesting to read about the holocaust from the point of view of the son of a Nazi officer, after learning about Nazi Germany (and growing older) it just annoys me how ignorant Bruno is at times. He’s the son of one of Hitler’s most trusted officers (his dad literally runs Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp), yet knows nothing about the Nazi regime or what they do? I just can’t believe that he’d never heard of Jewish people before or Hitler’s ‘Fuhrer’ title.

I get that he’s a kid and that it could just be a simple mispronunciation, but Hitler had heavily invested in the youth believing they were the key to his ‘thousand-year Reich’. He even made membership of the Hitler Youth compulsory in 1939 (for 10 years olds+), so 9-year-old Bruno would’ve been getting ready to join them soon enough. Bruno’s father realistically would’ve been the first to jump at the opportunity to get him to join.

Like I said previously I think portraying Bruno as innocent was endearing, but the more I went on the more it started to border ignorance and annoy me a little bit. There were subtle things that I thought were exceptionally done, like the implied affair between Bruno’s mother and Lieutenant Kotler. But the fact that he had been meeting with Shmuel nearly every single day for almost a year but still failed to realise and connect the dots between what he was seeing is an offense to a child’s intelligence.

I don’t want to ramble on and on too much but what really annoyed me the most is how it feels almost sympathetic towards Bruno’s family at the end. Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely tragic that children were victims of such a horrific and vile thing, but why do the sympathies lie with the Nazi’s that orchestrated the whole thing?

Bruno had no say in it, I completely understand and accept that, but it makes it seem as though his family are victims of this tragic and untimely death instead of Shmuel who is one of millions and millions of Jewish kids who had the same tragic fate. I firmly believe upon reflection that the story would’ve been more powerful if there was some sort of development or realisation for Bruno.

I know that this definitely wasn't Boyne's intention, and is fiction, so really and truly my criticisms mean nothing. I also know this was me being quite critical and I don’t usually post these things (and I probably won’t because I’d like to keep this blog as positive as possible) but I just wanted to post this because it had been brewing for some time.

Anyways, I hope you guys have a great day and please feel free to let me know your thoughts!! Just don't disagree too much or I'll block you xD (jokes).

Love and guidance,

Aziza