I had to finish because it is due back to the library early this week. Let me start by saying that I thought it was a well-written book and I really think Boyne did a good job showing how a boy might interpret the Holocaust. With that said, I found it to be disturbing and depressing, especially the ending. It won't be a book that I reread, but I am glad that I read it once.
My more specific comments:
Ch. 3: The children's discussion of Out-With will struck a cord with me. I remember trying to put difficult words into words I already knew as a child and thus mispronouncing and misunderstanding them.
Ch. 5: "'Heil Hitler,' he said, which, he presumed, was another way of saying, 'Well, goodbye for now, have a pleasant afternoon.'" Not exactly. It is the innocent interpretation of such awfulness like this that I found most disturbing. And who would bring their children to live at the site of a concentration camp?
Ch. 7: "His leg felt worse, though, and when he looked down at his knee, just below where his shorts ended, there was a wide gash which seemed to have been waiting for him to look at it because once all the attention was focused on it, it started to bleed rather badly." I KNOW. This happens to me all the time.
Ch. 10: I just love the subtitle!
Ch. 11: Again, it is the juxtaposition of the innocent with the terrible that I find so disturbing. I had to laugh at his difficulty with the word "Fury", but then it isn't really funny at all.
Ch. 17: "There was no one for her to talk to, and the only person she had been remotely friendly with- the young Leiutenant Kohler- had been transferred somewhere else." Ummm, maybe if she had only been "remotely" friendly then he wouldn't have been transferred...
The author captured the innocence of the nine year old boy so well in this story. The age old question children ask - Why - threads its way through the story.
I think Lt Kotler's sudden transferral had something to do with information that was found out about his father. It seems to be a reason for the author telling us about that whole discussion about his father's whereabouts.
We seldom are given insight into how the non-Jewish German children may have perceived what was going on around them. This book invites us to do that. The naivety of the child is so obvious and so touching.
Hmm. This is where seeing it from a child's eyes makes it difficult. I thought Kohler got sent away for having an affair with the mother. With all the mentions of her laughing and acting coy with Kohler, taking afternoon naps, and then the big fight between the mother and father when Kohler was sent away. What did everyone else think? Maybe there are even more explanations out there!
I finished this book in a couple of hours last weekend - like M, I am glad I read it once. When I posted to Goodreads I said that it was an excellent book for a young adult who is just learning to read critically, but might leave an avid adult reader frustrated. I like that Boyne leaves major plot motivators unspoken - it gives credibility to the 1st person 9 yr old narrator and makes the reader draw her own conclusions based on the actions of the other characters. In my opinion, many authors could take a cue from Striped Pajamas in this respect, However, I think Boyne might have taken it just a little too far as some things were too murky. Also, because of the setting and plot, I couldn't help comparing this to The Book Thief... and there really is no comparison; The Book Thief was just outstanding.
That being said, my favorite part was when the two boys compared their names, what the sounds reminded them of, and how common/uncommon they were. I also enjoyed the phrase "some people" referring to Father.
Regarding Kohler's transfer, I read it even differently than M and B! At first I thought maybe Mother and Kohler were having an affair but then the more Bruno talked about the "medicinal sherries" I got the feeling that she was just heavily depressed and slowly sliding into alcoholism. My thought was that Mother was not pleased that someone with Kohler's violent tendencies was so blatantly courting her underage daughter. After he killed (I assume) the waiter in their dining room I think she gave her husband an ultimatum: Either he leaves or we do.
The end of the book also had me wondering. Was Father replaced by another Commandant, or did the Ally soldiers take him away for war crimes?
This book did not live up to my expectations. It seemed very simple to me and not much depth. I think it could have been a lot more, a bit more discussion, controversy, something.
My favorite bit was the sister being referred to as “Hopeless Case”, so universally true between siblings.
I also enjoyed the chapter about the tire swing. I can only imagine how much work it took for Bruno to “build” the swing all by himself. It “tires” me out thinking about climbing up and down the tree numerous times and hoisting a tire. Also, the kindness displayed by Pavel running out of the house to scoop up Bruno after falling out of the swing and Pavel’s reply “you were going to suffer a mischief”.
I did like that the story is told from a 9-year-old but then in my mind, it seems intended more for 9 year-old readers. I kept comparing this to Book Thief and that was so much better. I REALLY did not like the fact that Eli read this in HIGH SCHOOL English class, it seems more suited to middle school.
After reading your comments, I hadn't even noticed that Kotler WAS transferred. I think it was a culmination of things. He was playing the field with the sister and the mother and the fact that his father had left Germany for Switzerland had a lot to do with it.
7 comments:
I had to finish because it is due back to the library early this week. Let me start by saying that I thought it was a well-written book and I really think Boyne did a good job showing how a boy might interpret the Holocaust. With that said, I found it to be disturbing and depressing, especially the ending. It won't be a book that I reread, but I am glad that I read it once.
My more specific comments:
Ch. 3: The children's discussion of Out-With will struck a cord with me. I remember trying to put difficult words into words I already knew as a child and thus mispronouncing and misunderstanding them.
Ch. 5: "'Heil Hitler,' he said, which, he presumed, was another way of saying, 'Well, goodbye for now, have a pleasant afternoon.'" Not exactly. It is the innocent interpretation of such awfulness like this that I found most disturbing. And who would bring their children to live at the site of a concentration camp?
Ch. 7: "His leg felt worse, though, and when he looked down at his knee, just below where his shorts ended, there was a wide gash which seemed to have been waiting for him to look at it because once all the attention was focused on it, it started to bleed rather badly." I KNOW. This happens to me all the time.
Ch. 10: I just love the subtitle!
Ch. 11: Again, it is the juxtaposition of the innocent with the terrible that I find so disturbing. I had to laugh at his difficulty with the word "Fury", but then it isn't really funny at all.
Ch. 17: "There was no one for her to talk to, and the only person she had been remotely friendly with- the young Leiutenant Kohler- had been transferred somewhere else." Ummm, maybe if she had only been "remotely" friendly then he wouldn't have been transferred...
The author captured the innocence of the nine year old boy so well in this story. The age old question children ask - Why - threads its way through the story.
I think Lt Kotler's sudden transferral had something to do with information that was found out about his father. It seems to be a reason for the author telling us about that whole discussion about his father's whereabouts.
We seldom are given insight into how the non-Jewish German children may have perceived what was going on around them. This book invites us to do that. The naivety of the child is so obvious and so touching.
I am glad that I read this book.
Hmm. This is where seeing it from a child's eyes makes it difficult. I thought Kohler got sent away for having an affair with the mother. With all the mentions of her laughing and acting coy with Kohler, taking afternoon naps, and then the big fight between the mother and father when Kohler was sent away. What did everyone else think? Maybe there are even more explanations out there!
I finished this book in a couple of hours last weekend - like M, I am glad I read it once. When I posted to Goodreads I said that it was an excellent book for a young adult who is just learning to read critically, but might leave an avid adult reader frustrated. I like that Boyne leaves major plot motivators unspoken - it gives credibility to the 1st person 9 yr old narrator and makes the reader draw her own conclusions based on the actions of the other characters. In my opinion, many authors could take a cue from Striped Pajamas in this respect, However, I think Boyne might have taken it just a little too far as some things were too murky.
Also, because of the setting and plot, I couldn't help comparing this to The Book Thief... and there really is no comparison; The Book Thief was just outstanding.
That being said, my favorite part was when the two boys compared their names, what the sounds reminded them of, and how common/uncommon they were.
I also enjoyed the phrase "some people" referring to Father.
Regarding Kohler's transfer, I read it even differently than M and B! At first I thought maybe Mother and Kohler were having an affair but then the more Bruno talked about the "medicinal sherries" I got the feeling that she was just heavily depressed and slowly sliding into alcoholism. My thought was that Mother was not pleased that someone with Kohler's violent tendencies was so blatantly courting her underage daughter. After he killed (I assume) the waiter in their dining room I think she gave her husband an ultimatum: Either he leaves or we do.
The end of the book also had me wondering. Was Father replaced by another Commandant, or did the Ally soldiers take him away for war crimes?
This book did not live up to my expectations. It seemed very simple to me and not much depth. I think it could have been a lot more, a bit more discussion, controversy, something.
My favorite bit was the sister being referred to as “Hopeless Case”, so universally true between siblings.
I also enjoyed the chapter about the tire swing. I can only imagine how much work it took for Bruno to “build” the swing all by himself. It “tires” me out thinking about climbing up and down the tree numerous times and hoisting a tire. Also, the kindness displayed by Pavel running out of the house to scoop up Bruno after falling out of the swing and Pavel’s reply “you were going to suffer a mischief”.
I did like that the story is told from a 9-year-old but then in my mind, it seems intended more for 9 year-old readers. I kept comparing this to Book Thief and that was so much better. I REALLY did not like the fact that Eli read this in HIGH SCHOOL English class, it seems more suited to middle school.
After reading your comments, I hadn't even noticed that Kotler WAS transferred. I think it was a culmination of things. He was playing the field with the sister and the mother and the fact that his father had left Germany for Switzerland had a lot to do with it.
The more I think about it, the more I think B is right, he was probably transferred because of his father's political views.
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