When I first saw The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I had no clue what it was about, only that the back cover claimed it wasn't a book for nine-year-olds. Being a non-nine-year-old, I picked it up, kept it on my to-read list for a month or so, and finally got around to reading it about a week ago. While the subject matter is definitely for the oldsters—most likely middle graders or teenagers—the actual technical writing is very repetitive and very childlike.
It's written from the point of view of a nine-year-old boy named Bruno, who lives in Berlin during World War II and the Holocaust. There are plenty of Holocaustal stories that are about the oppressed, but this one is about the oppressing side, the Nazi party, which had the potential to be a very interesting story.
Though I understand that it is a book that is supposed to be story of a young, innocent bystander, I can't justify Bruno's lack of basic critical thinking skills and inability to correctly hear German words, even though he and everyone around him speaks German. Auschwitz is "Out-With" and Führer is "The Fury." Seriously? Basically, Bruno's an idiot, and his thirteen-year-old sister ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer either.
On a bit of a side note, I found it funny that there is a version with the English spelling, "Pyjamas," and the American spelling, "Pajamas." Being from the United States myself, I got the "Pajamas" copy, but none of the other English spellings (i.e. metre, favourite, programme, tyre) were Americanized. So someone had to go through and change all the "pyjamas" to "pajamas" for no good reason at all.
Also I learned something new about Irish/British/insert-country-here punctuation. They write their quotations marks opposite. For example:
Maybe this is something everyone knew already, and I'm just being dull. But hey, I learn somethin' new every day.
Though I understand that it is a book that is supposed to be story of a young, innocent bystander, I can't justify Bruno's lack of basic critical thinking skills and inability to correctly hear German words, even though he and everyone around him speaks German. Auschwitz is "Out-With" and Führer is "The Fury." Seriously? Basically, Bruno's an idiot, and his thirteen-year-old sister ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer either.
On a bit of a side note, I found it funny that there is a version with the English spelling, "Pyjamas," and the American spelling, "Pajamas." Being from the United States myself, I got the "Pajamas" copy, but none of the other English spellings (i.e. metre, favourite, programme, tyre) were Americanized. So someone had to go through and change all the "pyjamas" to "pajamas" for no good reason at all.
Also I learned something new about Irish/British/insert-country-here punctuation. They write their quotations marks opposite. For example:
US: "She asked me, 'do you like apples?' and I said I did," explained Sally.
UK: 'She asked me, "do you like apples?" and I said I did,' explained Sally.
Maybe this is something everyone knew already, and I'm just being dull. But hey, I learn somethin' new every day.
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