Nine-year-old Bruno lives with his mother, prestigious soldier father, older sister Gretel (“a Useless Case”) and Maria the maid, in a quiet street in Berlin. He spends much of his time playing with his best friends, Karl, Daniel and Martin, and exploring the endless hidden nooks and crannies of their five storey house – his favourite game is explorer. As the story opens Bruno discovers Maria packing up his belongings – the family is moving, because of Father’s work. Bruno knows that it has something to do with the Fury, an important but unpleasant man (“the rudest guest Bruno had ever witnessed”) who sometimes comes to the house for dinner.
The new house is very far away, in Out-With, and wholly unsatisfactory. It’s very small, for a start, there are soldiers everywhere, and there’s nothing to explore, until Bruno discovers the people behind the fence. They’re all male – fathers and grandfathers and boys – and they get to wear striped pyjamas all day. Bruno decides to explore, and he walks for ages along the perimeter until he finds another little boy, named Shmuel. Shmuel is thin, and always hungry, and sometimes he isn’t as interested in some things (like Bruno’s life, and exploring) as Bruno thinks he should be, but they become friends, and most days Bruno brings Shmuel food (except when he’s very hungry from the walking and eats it on the way).
Boyne has created a powerful and chilling novel of the holocaust, as seen through the ideas of a naive and privileged child. Bruno’s voice is exceptional clear, and Boyne brilliantly manages to convey the horrific reality of the Third Reich without colouring his perceptions and innocence. The ending comes as a shock, and I was left thinking about the novel for days. - Alex
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