(Just to let you know, I read this book in German, this is why I´ve used the German book cover here, and also the quote from the back of the cover is in German!)
Die Geschichte von Der Junge im gestreiften Pyjama ist schwer zu beschreiben. Wer zu lesen beginnt, begibt sich auf eine Reise mit einem neunjährigen Jungen namens Bruno. (Und doch ist es kein Buch für Neunjährige.) Früher oder später kommt er mit Bruno an einen Zaun. Zäune wie dieser existieren auf der ganzen Welt.
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The cover of the book (at least the German one, I don´t know about the English one...) does not tell you a lot about the content of the book. It just mentions a little boy named Bruno who comes to a fence and fences like that exist anywhere in the whole world. I think it is a good thing that in the beginning you don´t know more about the content which is why I am not going to tell you a lot about it either.
One thing I can tell you though is that the story takes place during the Holocaust. Jews are being sent to concentration camps and Nazi Germany is being led by Hitler. Still "The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas" is not like other books about World War II. It is completely different because you get to see everything from the view of a 9-years-old boy: Bruno.
Bruno is very naive and doesn´t understand what´s going on at all. And that´s what I like most about the book. A little child cannot understand what is happening and to be honest I think that nobody druing that time really could. Even the Nazis themselves were just blind and following Hitler without thinking. But ok if I continue talking about that now I would probably be writing for ages, because World War II and the Holocaust is something that always really concerned me.
One thing I have to mention though is that historical facts and dates and so on are not always correct, but after all that´s not really important for the books. No, because the story is more like a fable or a tale. And I think it is really important to keep that in mind while reading the book.
So after all I´m just going to say that this book belongs into every bookshelf and even though it may appear to be a book for children, especially adults should read it! And be aware, because not only John Boyne´s writing style is amazing, but also the turns in the story are breathtaking and above all shocking!!!
Now it´s really hard to decide how many points I´m going to give to this book.... But I would say it gets 5/5 (with a slight tendency to 4/5)
