Reviews

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

_rainii_day's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

akshatha_murthy's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 stars.
I don't think it's believable that son of the commandant of Auschwitz is so clueless about everything around so much so that he even doesn't know the name Hitler!
But him being so innocent did make for a good story and he was able to see that both boys are pretty much the same but on different sides of the fence.
And Bruno pronouncing the words wrong like "Out-With" and "Fury" probably only makes sense when you read it in English but they were German speakers. So I am not sure if that would make sense in German.
The whole book does have its flaws and historical inaccuracies. It reads like a simple story that anyone could read without having to know the actual gory details as it's simplified a lot like A LOT!!

maxine_a's review

adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

The story was enjoyable but it expects a lot of us to not think that Bruno is that naive or ignorant. Its a story of two boys that aren’t that different at heart but due to circumstances are living two very different lives.

litwithlexie's review against another edition

sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I have waited a long time to read this waiting for the right time, and thought I might as well read it now or I never will. I thought I was going to like this book more, but I am unsure how I truly feel about the book. 
I thought this book would be more detailed like other book on the topic, which are for the same target audience. However the situation Bruno was portraying felt very vague (possibly ambiguous) which could be due to Bruno's naive POV which would have fitted a younger character rather than a 9 year old.

I do think this is a starting point to educate primary school children about the events of WWII without graphic detail, but shouldn't be the only thing to inform them.

humyyy's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

sumayyaha's review against another edition

5.0

Rating - 5 Stars

That ending kind of shocked me. I had thought that the young German boy would just be killed and that would simply be the sad part that everyone talked about. However, it was much more sad and disturbing if you really think about it.

lissi_k's review against another edition

challenging dark sad

4.5

reader4evr's review against another edition

2.0

This is the last historical fiction/WWII novel I want to read for a while. They are always so depressing and never end happy. The only really good part of this book was the ending which was the saddest too.

I listened to this on audiobook and I was surprised the narrator of the story wasn't younger.

Bruno was a very annoying character. I know he is 12 yrs old but gosh he was so full of himself and hardly thought of anyone besides himself.

I might recommend this book to a student that likes historical fiction but I'm not sure because I've read better ones.

nansap's review against another edition

dark reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

bjlongchamps's review

dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5