The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

It was seeing adverts for the film version of this that made me want to pick up the book and read it before seeing the film - I'm a big believer in the fact that the book version of most things is usually more detailed and interesting that the film, so I tend to like to read it first. Now, picking up a copy of this book, there isn't a lot about the cover to tell you what the story is about - there are various covers, including one depicting an image from the film , however my copy came with a very simple cover - merely blue and white horizontal stripes on the front cover, with the book title and the authors name. The blurb on the back is very ...  Read the complete review

Now and again I take a break from the usual genres that I read and pick up a book that falls into the category that I call 'books that I think I should read'. In other words, books that have in some way been critically acclaimed or had a lot of fuss made about them, whether old or new. And so it was with The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, a book that had enough fuss made about it in order to apparently warrant a film. Always an interesting sign. The book follows a nine year old boy called Bruno, who is the son of a Nazi commander during the second world war. The family live in a luxury house in Berlin where Bruno plays with his three best friends, is looked ...  Read the complete review

Over the last decade hundreds of books or memoirs about the Holocaust have been published. "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" is another one of these stories. Yet this one is a little different in several ways. Told from the perspective of a 9 year-old non-jew who is unknowingly caught up in the Holocaust it is still moving and very original. ~Plot~ The story begins in Berlin, Germany in 1942 with our young protagonist Bruno. Bruno lives in a large house with his mother, father and sister, Gretal (who he often calls simply the "hopeless case." However, Bruno's life is turned upside down when he is forced to leqve his home, friends and ...  Read the complete review

My boyfriend bought me this book for christmas and, to be honest, I put off reading it as I didn't think it would be my sort of thing. I took it on holiday, though, and just couldn't put it down. Bruno is a 9 year old boy living with his parents and sister, Gretel, in Berlin in the early 1940's. His father is a Commandant in the German army and you get a few tingles on the back of your neck early in the book when he describes the Fury (Fuhrer) coming to dinner. Bruno's life is turned upside down soon after this when the family pack up and move from their large house in Berlin far away to a miserable place called 'Out With' (Auschwitz), where his father is ...  Read the complete review

I generally dislike seeing films which are based on books unless I've read the book first (The Notebook is the only exception of this!) so when I saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was going to be a film, I thought I would read the book first. Although, admittedly, I never got around to seeing the film afterwards! PLOT: This story follows 9 year old Bruno, and how his life changes. He lives in Gemany in World War 2 and his father is a soldier, a Nazi solider. As Bruno's father gets promoted, the family has to move to a place call 'Out-With' (Auschwitz). On arrival, Bruno discovers that he hates where he is, because it is smaller than his old house, ...  Read the complete review