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| The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Definitions) | 
 enlarge | Author: John Boyne
Publisher: Definitions
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £2.34
You Save: £4.65 (67%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (196 reviews)
Sales Rank: 24
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown)
Media: Paperback
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.6
ISBN: 1862305277
EAN: 9781862305274
ASIN: 1862305277
Publication Date: September 11, 2008
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
John Boyne's The Boy in Striped Pyjamas will no doubt acquire many readers as a result of the subsequent film of the novel, but viewers of the latter would do themselves a favour by going back to the spare and powerfully affecting original book. Bruno is nine years old, and the Nazis? horrific Final Solution to the ?Jewish Problem? means nothing to him. He's completely unaware of the barbarity of Germany under Hitler, and is more concerned by his move from his well-appointed house in Berlin to a far less salubrious area where he finds himself with nothing to do. Then he meets a boy called Shmuel who lives a very different life from him -- a life on the opposite side of a wire fence. And Shmuel is the eponymous boy in the striped pyjamas, as are all the other people on the other side of the fence. The friendship between the two boys begins to grow, but for Bruno it is a journey from blissful ignorance to a painful knowledge. And he will find that this learning process carries, for him, a daunting price. A legion of books have attempted to evoke the horrors of the Second World War, but in this concise and perfectly honed novel, all of the effects that John Boyne creates are allowed to make a maximum impact in a relatively understated fashion (given the enormity of the situation here). The Boy in Striped Pyjamas is also that rare thing: a novel which can affect both children and adults equally; a worthy successor, in fact, to such masterpieces as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye -- both, of course, books, dealing (as does this one) with the loss of innocence. --Barry Forshaw
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| Customer Reviews: Read 191 more reviews...
Clever and gripping December 2, 2008
I thought this book was cleverly written, from the view of a 9 year old boy - it is only because we have historical hindsight of the events that are being described by the boy, who does not understand, that the full story plays out in your imagination as the story unfolds.
I did not expect the story to end the way it did. I was gripped.
 Try something different December 1, 2008
This book was recommended to me and when I eventually got round to buying it, I was hooked fairly quickly and finished it in a couple of days. There are some annoying repetitions with words which are used as substitutes for the real-life words, but apart from that it was a very easy book to read. I will not say that the book was enjoyable in the normal sense, as the subject matter is one which cannot be enjoyed, but it was a really good, easy to read book with a twist which just took my breath away.
A real twist in the tail! December 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I borrowed this book from the library for my son who's very into WW2 but he didn't want to read it so I did. I loved it and was taken by surprise at the tragic ending. I will remember it for a very long time.
 Unbelievable Patronising November 30, 2008
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this book from Amazon after seeing that there was a film coming out about the book. I can honestly say this is one of the worst books about the holocaust that I have ever read in terms of inaccuracies, patronising views and poor writing.
The author is Irish and is writing as if he is a Concentration Camp officers son. The kid is ridiculously naive in that he has never heard of "The Fuhrer" and doesn't know anything about the Jews. Every German child - especially one of such a 'high ranking official' would have been a part of the Hitler Youth and would have been indoctrinated with this ever since he could remember. The fact that he can openly sit and chat with a 9 year old polish jew - Schmuel and pass food under the fence is ridiculous beyond belief.
Boyne has also put sum idiotic puns in the book such as "outwith" for Auschwitz and "Fury" for Fuhrer. Boyne seems rather proud of these puns (which were he actually thinking in German they would not translate) and uses them throughout the book. The fact that the main character Bruno and his friends Daniel, Karl and Martin all have English names makes you wonder whether the author researched the holocaust at all or just wrote a twee English public school book and thought he'd include the holocaust to make it different.
I really would not recommend this book to anyone and definitely not for children. If this is their first experience of the Holocaust it is terribly inaccurate and would not educate them at all. Books like Hannah Goslar Remembers, The Diary Of Anne Frank and Schindlers List although heartbreaking are recommended.
Surprising November 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ever since this book was released I have been attracted to it. In need of a "quick" read this weekend, I decided to purchase it and I am so glad that I did.
I wont tell you the story because that would spoil the book for you but what I will tell you is that it is a story about a boy called Bruno aged 9 and totally innocent and the story is told through his naive eyes.
I read the book in two days and it was a pleasure to read. The style was simple but evocotive.
The ending was a total surprise, there were no hints at what was coming and I felt the desolation as the story ended.
I am not sure if this book would right for a younger reader but certainly one in the early teens and definately adults like me.
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