The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
I had heard of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne before. Or, to put it more accurately, I had seen previews and pictures of the movie that was made based on the novel. But it was only after Carmen had read it and told me how powerful a book it is, I decided to find a copy in the library of Joensuu and read it. The version I read was a Finnish translation, but I daresay the language didn't matter.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very impressive and very powerful. It is told entirely from the point of view of a 9-year-old German boy Bruno whose family moves to Auschwitz, right next to the concentration camp, because his father has become an officer there.
Bruno is very naive and most of the time doesn't understand what is going on or why he has had to move to that horrible place. His childish point of view makes the book feel like a children's book (and it was, indeed, in the children's section in the library of Joensuu, where I wouldn't put it): place and person names are thinly veiled, and Bruno is constantly wondering. A mature reader knows what happened in the concentration camps, and Bruno's point of view where certain knowledge of the happenings is never explicitly stated makes the story extremely powerful.
The novel has received some criticism, mostly on the details and accuracy. For example, there were no children in Nazi concentration camps, which is a crucial in the novel, and that people living in the same area could not help knowing what was going on in the camps. I feel, however, that complete accuracy is not necessary in this case. John Boyne has stated in the novel's author's notes that the only point of view he could have written the novel of was from that of a child's. It is important that Bruno is child character, constantly wondering and not knowing at all what is going on. His view of the world is innocent. To me, at least some of him could be the writer's portrayal of the rest of the world during WWII: most of them didn't know what was going on in the camps, either. But I'm not the best person to analyze this novel, so I'll leave that to more capable hands.
In any case, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas left me utterly speechless. When I have children and they're old enough, I'll ask them to read it.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very impressive and very powerful. It is told entirely from the point of view of a 9-year-old German boy Bruno whose family moves to Auschwitz, right next to the concentration camp, because his father has become an officer there.
Bruno is very naive and most of the time doesn't understand what is going on or why he has had to move to that horrible place. His childish point of view makes the book feel like a children's book (and it was, indeed, in the children's section in the library of Joensuu, where I wouldn't put it): place and person names are thinly veiled, and Bruno is constantly wondering. A mature reader knows what happened in the concentration camps, and Bruno's point of view where certain knowledge of the happenings is never explicitly stated makes the story extremely powerful.
The novel has received some criticism, mostly on the details and accuracy. For example, there were no children in Nazi concentration camps, which is a crucial in the novel, and that people living in the same area could not help knowing what was going on in the camps. I feel, however, that complete accuracy is not necessary in this case. John Boyne has stated in the novel's author's notes that the only point of view he could have written the novel of was from that of a child's. It is important that Bruno is child character, constantly wondering and not knowing at all what is going on. His view of the world is innocent. To me, at least some of him could be the writer's portrayal of the rest of the world during WWII: most of them didn't know what was going on in the camps, either. But I'm not the best person to analyze this novel, so I'll leave that to more capable hands.
In any case, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas left me utterly speechless. When I have children and they're old enough, I'll ask them to read it.