The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas: the war from a kid's perspective

The truth is that I've always wanted to read this book, more or less since I was 14 years old when I watched the allusive movie.

John Boyne tells us the story of Bruno, a nine-year-old boy who lives a very happy life in Berlin. Karl, Daniel and Martin are his three best friends for life. He lives with his parents and his sister Gretel in a huge house. Through his innocence he doesn't understand his father's work very well but everyone always tells him that he should be proud of him. Everything for Bruno is perfect from his point of view, but the news is taken very badly that he would have to move with his family from Berlin to Auschwitz when his father, a Nazi officer, is commissioned by Hitler himself to supervise the extermination camp in this Polish region. Unaware of the tragedy that takes place a few kilometres from his new home, Bruno tries to adapt to these changes, but one day he discovers that from the window of his room several people can be seen behind a wire fence, all wearing the same clothes: striped pyjamas. Moved by curiosity and the desire for adventure, the boy approaches the extermination camp one day and meets Shmuel, a Jewish boy his age with whom he begins to engage in conversations through the wire fence.  

Shmuel narrates to Bruno all the hardships he goes through in the camp, although Bruno does not fully understand his situation. Despite this shock, the two children learn to lean on each other and forge a friendship that will remain solid until the end of the book. 

Something that touched me was that, as the title of this article says, the book basically tells what life was like during World War II from a child's point of view, more precisely the innocent vision he had of concentration camps. And that's why even though the book is written in such a simple language, it's a very tough book... one of the toughest books I've ever read, because while the reader knows exactly what's going on, Bruno doesn't do it because he's still a child, and he witnesses the cruelty and all the injustices that characterized the Jewish holocaust. 

There is a culture shock between these children, since both are living the same situation but from very different perspectives. It was heartbreaking to see how this friendship between Bruno and Shmuel happened because neither of them understands exactly why these horrible things happen, because all they want is to play and have fun together, as any 9-year-old would like.

I warn you, booklovers, that this is a book that can touch your emotions, despite how short and light it is, in terms of writing (it only has 217 pages, so it's read in a day or two). I have always been very sensitive to these holocaust events, not because it is a subject of admiration but because they were some of the most terrible events seen in this world. 

I can't help but recommend The Boy in Striped Pyjamas to my beloved booklovers from the age of 13, for its apparent simplicity in telling such a heartbreaking and thought-provoking story.  Surely it will be a book that I'll force my children to read when they turn thirteen.