Review on 👕 John Boyne Boys' Striped Pajamas for Boys' Clothing by Mark Tompkins

Given how many WWII novels I've read, I'm surprised at how long I put off this one. Until I joined the kind reading, I wasn't aware of the more problematic issues, so I took it with some skepticism. There are definitely serious problems in the book, most of which stem from Bruno's forgetfulness and lack of empathy. What annoyed me the most was the lack of correction from his family and even Shmuel. The son of a Nazi commander would not be in the dark about his father's role in the Holocaust - at least in the Nazi war against the Jewish people - especially if he lived next door to Auschwitz. The Nazi mentality was born young. Hitler formed the Hitler Youth for a terrible reason. The fact that Hilter himself appears in this story speaks to how involved Bruno's father was. It can't be that at the age of nine he was so naive about what was going on. Not in this environment. What was even more annoying was that Bruno refused to accept the small correction he received. I don't speak German very well, but "Out-With" in German would be something like "Aus-Mit". "Rage" would be "anger". They don't match the language that the characters will speak. It was mistakes like this that got me distracted and frustrated. My stars come from the perspective from which the book is told. While Bruno should have known more, I think he had questions about how Jews are treated. It would have made a much stronger story. That doesn't mean that Bruno and Shmuel's friendship didn't have an impact. Basically, it's a story about two lonely little kids who meet an unlikely best friend. There's a level of innocence here that can't be denied. Another praise is the writing style. It poured fantastically. Too bad it wasn't a bit longer and deeper. There was a lot of potential for more, even if it's aimed at a younger audience. I understand why it has received so much praise since its release, but it's good to keep a few points in mind as you read. This is not an accurate representation of the brutality of which the Nazis were capable, despite the book's extreme sadness. Without prior knowledge of this tense, younger readers in particular can get an uninformed impression. **EDIT: The more I delved into this book, the more I realized I remembered more inaccuracies than I liked. I lower the rating from 4 to 3.75.