Author: John Boyne
Pages: 216
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Source: Barnes and Noble
Back of Book Summary:
If you start of read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy named Bruno. (Though this isn't a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence.
Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to encounter one.
My Review:
Characters:
Bruno is an naive nine-year-old German boy. He is spoiled and sheltered. He has a sister Gretel who is almost 13 at the start of the book. She is also spoiled and sheltered. Their father is the appointed Commandant of Aushwitz during WWII. He keeps his children in the dark about his work and what is going on just past the front yard of their property line. Bruno's mother is also attempting to keep her children in the dark. Both parents are successful- to the detriment of the child.
Plot/Conflict/Theme:
The story starts out by introducing Bruno. The reader gets to see things only through the eyes of Bruno. It is very frustrating as an adult to experience Bruno and Shmuel's naivete. Neither boy truly grasps the gravity of the situation they are in. It is painful to experience this as a reader, knowing what Bruno and Shumel don't. The gruesomeness of the situation isn't really apparent to either of them. The plot develops rather slowly. I found it to be so slow that it was difficult for me to read at times and I struggled to finish.
The conflict was, I believe, focused not on the terrible events of the Holocaust, but on the darkness that it was kept in. It was kept a secret from Bruno and this secret resulted in a terrible loss of innocence. The conflict was not thrilling and it didn't build to much tension for the reader. It did however make me terrible sad as I read the novel. It made me disappointed in humanity as I reflected on all the history I knew about and all that I don't know about. It was immense and overwhelming to me to realize that it isn't just children who are naive and innocent of the goings on in our country and around the world. It also inspired me to be more aware and involved in the world.
Quality of Writing:
The writing is good. Mr. Boyne does a spelndid job capturing the innocence of the children trapped in this terrible time of war.
Rating:
Book: A for Average - I didn't enjoy this novel, though I don't think that was its purpose. It was a difficult read. I can't give the book a better rating because it was lacking in the elements that keep my attention. Though it was thought provoking I believe that it could have been better written.
Cover: A for Average
I have a serious love-hate relationship with this book. It was very painful to read, I knew I didn't like it and I guess that's why. I had problems reading it, not because it was difficult, but because it was....very very hard to understand that Bruno and his sister was kept in the dark like that.
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