The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne)

John Boyne
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas



A very tenderly written book in language as if for kids which it probably was. I'd never fancied reading it as tend to avoid distressing subjects if sentimental which I thought it may be. As both my daughters (16 and 11) have read and raved about it I thought I'd give it a go. Glad I did and finished in two sittings. It has an innocence reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (which I really should read again) but maybe that's a lazy comparison. The worries and pains of the main character are both sharply contrasted with but at the same time sympathetically compared with those of his imprisoned friend. On one level it's a story about loss, friendship and being a child. That's the way it's written and it's only when I stop to think about the context does the horror of the situation make itself felt. That dark side of the relationship is brilliantly understated and even obviously violent episodes are explicitly not described to us keeping us in some ways more innocent than the children themselves. My second session was at midnight in bed and a feeling of dread washed over me not wanting to know what happens but rushing towards the end. The ending is so delicately described that I had to read again thinking about what was happening rather than what was described. Even the very last scene has a pathos that suggests empathy rather than hatred. The last lines bring us back to the context and how this world really isn't as innocent as the story is written. This morning I asked my 11 year old daughter if she knew what happened at the end and she described quite mechanically the horror and said that they were told at school and also by her 16 year old sister. Definitely written for children who maybe don't read it with the sentimental eyes that I did cos they are themselves going through the pains of being young and made to do what others (myself included) tell them to often without any real understanding as to why. Maybe that's what ultimately unites the two friends despite the obvious difference between their situations. In the end their friendship brings them together united in their inability to decide their fate.