Book Review: The Boy In Striped Pyjamas

Title: The Boy In Striped Pyjamas
Author: John Boyne 
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Release Date: 01/02/06
Pages: 216
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository
Author Twitter: @John_Boyne

‘When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move away from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance. 

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances and very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating circumstance.’ 

I read this book a good few years back and when I stumbled upon it again I really wanted to reread it. There isn't too much I can say on this book without spoiling it. 

At the age of eleven when I read it and knew minimum things about the topic of this book I was intrigued and wanted to find out more. Now, at the age of fifteen and knowing a lot more about it, it was a read that still very much intrigued me and haunts me. 

The book has an atmosphere throughout the book that constantly has you on edge. It creates this place in Bruno’s mind where you only understand things in the way of a nine year old boy and the way he is handling the changes that are going on in his life. His character, I think, would portray any younger person that was in his situation. From the curiosity he has about the world around him, to the way he tries to cope with his family and other people around him.

An extremely well thought out book that constantly makes you question what is going on. Boyne gives you no clues as to what is going to happen next and every page ends up a new adventure in the world of Bruno. You slowly start to latch onto what the book is about the same time he does, you feel the exact same things Bruno feels. 

A heart breaking book that will always have me in tears but always makes me remember that the events of this book had happened. 

Rating: ★★★★