LitPick Review
Age at time of review - 12
Reviewer's Location -
Shippensburg,
PA,
United States
View ROrn's profile
Though he doesn't fully understand what is going on around
him, Bruno's new friend in the striped hat and pajamas
helps nine-year-old Bruno get though his new life. In the
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, the large fence outside of
Bruno's house always separates Bruno from his only friend
Shmuel and all of the other mysterious, cheerless looking
people on the other side of that fence. Bruno does not
realize that what is going on around him is the Holocaust.
Though Bruno and Shmuel talked every day, always with that
eerie fence between them, Bruno never fully understands how
horrible a thing is going on right outside his house. The
shocking ending of this moving book will help you realize
just a little more how horrific the Holocaust was.
Opinion:
This story is not suspenseful or action-filled, but
something special about it grips you and makes it so you
just have to keep reading. Bruno, in his naïve state of
mind, is the reason this story has such an impact. He is
only nine years old and does not understand exactly what
horrible things are happening during the Holocaust. That is
what made this book so interesting. Though Bruno's
viewpoint is the foundation of what made The Boy in the
Striped Pajamas have such an effect, Bruno annoyed me at
some points. He was just a nine-year-old though so it's
understandable. Bruno had no idea what was going on around
him, or even how to pronounce the names of the horrible
things having to do with the Holocaust, so it told the
story from a different, yet interesting, vantage point.
This shocking, but compelling story is definitely worth
reading.
KEYWORDS
ACTIVITIES, HOBBIES, PLACES, AND EVENTS:
Read more reviews by this Litpick Book Reviewer: ROrn