The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

I'd come across this book by John Boyne several times while browsing the book website from Indonesia. The back was rather fascinating. It said, more or less: this is a book about the journey of a nine-year-old boy. One day he arrives at a fence. Just hope you never have to cross such a fence. That's it. Quite interesting ..



I felt disappointed after a page or three. If I'd realised it was a children's book earlier (although it says on the back that it's not a story for nine year olds), perhaps that would have helped. But after three pages I 'got' what the story was about and had a pretty good idea about how it would end.

You see, the book is about a boy called Bruno who lives in Berlin. His parents are very strict. He's not quite sure what it is his father does for a living, but what he does know is that it involves wearing splendid uniforms. One day, Bruno comes to his room and finds the maid there, who is busy packing his stuff. The family is moving, because Father has a new job. He has been chosen for this very important job by an extremely important man called The Fury.

Are you getting it yet? I suddenly made the link with the fence and the striped pyjamas and just knew where it was the family would be moving. Then again, if you're reading this, you can't see the cover of the book with its distinctive greyish-blue stripes, so perhaps it's not all that clear yet.

The family moves to a place called "Out With", into a house where there's nothing to do for Bruno and his sister. From the window of his room, Bruno can see a fence. On the other side of the fence there are people that nobody in the house seems to want to talk about. They all wear the same striped pyjamas and matching cloth caps, and they seem to do nothing much except stand around and look sad. Looking at these people makes Bruno feel sad too, and uncomfortable, but he isn't quite sure why.

After some weeks, Bruno is bored enough that he decides to go exploring like he used to do at home, even though it has been strictly forbidden him. He walks along the fence and meets a boy who lives on the other side. The boy is called Shmuel and wears a striped pyjama like all the others on that side of the fence. They get to talking and find out they have the same birthday! A friendship develops that Bruno keeps hidden from his family.

so, the end is : the job of the father is a soldier from Hitler, and pyjamas is uniform of people in the "Out With" (Auswitch), so sad ending ..