The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (John Boyne) -

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is an innocent little book about an innocent little boy called Bruno and all Bruno wants is to live his life in peace in his 5 storey house in Berlin with his 3 friends for life. Instead, he has to pack and move to a rather empty and desolate place with a house of only three storeys where there isn’t anybody else to play with, atleast not on his side of the fence.

Bruno is a boy of 9 years, and he takes pains to explain this to us, so we must remember it. He has a sister who is a “Hopeless Case” whose presence he tolerates. His father is in the army, but after The Fury comes for dinner one evening, Bruno is told that the family has to move from their lovely home and life in Berlin to a remote location you can reach by taking a train ride and then a car ride to reach. With no friends and no school here, Bruno adjusts to this new life and observes things he can’t makes any sense of. Who are the people who live on the other side of the fence? Why do all of them wear the same clothes? Why are they never invited to his house? Why has he never been invited over to that side? His child’s sense tells him that the adults in his life won’t give him any answers to his questions, and so he sets out to discover it for himself, as any good explorer would. Because “Some things are just sitting there to be discovered. Other things are probably better left alone.” Prescient words….

His efforts are rewarded when he meets Shmuel, another 9 year old boy, a good way away from his house, sitting on the other side of the fence. He has finally found a friend in this remote part of Germany (only to be told that he was now in Poland). Then begins a year long friendship of telling each other where they lived before coming here, what they miss from their old lives and how both have been brought here much against their will. They discover they share their birthday! Bruno gets food for Shmuel because he seems to be always hungry, which Bruno can identify with, because as a 9 year old, he is also always hungry, even after a big meal. Till one day, Shmuel’s father goes missing, and Bruno offers his help in searching for his best friend’s father (because that’s what friends do). The only thing needed for this adventure on the other side of the fence, is a striped pyjama which, resourceful as small boys always are, is duly arranged.

I got into the book thinking I would need a box of tissues, having seen the movie and knowing the general drift of the story. It was a quick read at about 220 pages but those 220 pages now sit comfortably in my head, smug in the knowledge that I can never unread them. I however did not need any tissues because I was with Bruno throughout and where Bruno ends up, there are no tears (or so we believe). As to the other people in his life, I somehow feel they deserve the pain they would have to live with and so no tears. No tears. No tissues.

I don’t want to say anything more about the book. Just read it.