05 April 2011

The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas

I forgot when and how I heard about this book. But I think the title is kind of catching: The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas. Here is a link to the Amazon page.
See how the author misspelled the word pajamas? Well, reading this book, you will find lots of other things misspelled. because it is written in the eyes of a nine year old German, Aryan boy, living during World War II. The books starts in Berlin and shortly after moves to Auschwitz, which is misspelled in the book as Out-With. And there are others.

The book is a children's book, or at least for adolescents. I simply read it because it sounded intriguing. It's a very easy read. On purpose. The author is describing a short span of time during WWII and the simplistic wording makes it more 'believable'. Or not!?

I put the word believable in apostrophe because I do have to say that, being a good read, it is not fully believable to me. Yes, it is a fable, but then again, at nine years old, I would think that the boy should be a little more 'advanced'. Especially during such terrible times, children had to grow up much faster, and I believe that at nine years old, he would have been more aware of the things that happened around him. Also, I think, if he doesn't know, he would ask... If his father was such a fanatic of the Nazis, he, as a boy, would have been part of that propaganda as well! Like the Hitler Youth or such. It is very unlikely that the father is such an activist and at the same time would leave his children in total darkness about what he believes and does.

There are many other things that make the book less believable. The ending actually is the only thing that saves the book! I think....It's not a great book, it's NOT a history book - but it is a starting point to a discussion perhaps. It's a read for adults to encourage reading other books, maybe? I certainly have read my share of WWII books.

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