The Boy in the Striped Pajamas Blog #1

As of right now, I am halfway through the book. I am reading The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, and so far Bruno has just moved into “Out-with”. I have enjoyed the book a lot so far. At where I am in the story, Bruno has just met Shmuel. It took awhile for things to progress, but it didn’t make the beginning of the book boring. If I haven’t already stated, Bruno is the main character and Shmuel is the “boy in striped pajamas”. One thing I extremely like about the book, is how its being shown through the eyes of a 9-year old boy. I like how we are seeing things through fresh eyes; children see the world clearer than adults do.  Bruno treats everyone as if they are someone, and it will be different for him to see people being treated as monsters just because of their culture and religion. All of the Holocaust books that I have read have been in first person and usually of someone who experienced the holocaust first hand. Yet, Bruno’s experience with the Holocaust was extremely different. He watched it happen through the eyes of child. His innocence and naïve personality show how once child can see so much death and fear in only the first steps of his life. He felt that his whole life was falling apart because he moved into a new place that he did not like. He found so much wretchedness because he had to leave his 3 “best friends for life” and he felt his life was falling apart. Yet, little does he know, that those people outside his window have lost any sense of dignity they once had. They were being stripped of their identities and torn from any sense of family, yet Bruno was just so devastated about moving. In my opinion, stories told by children truly show the real pain that they saw or felt. They see every bad thing and know how to explain it in the easiest terms. As I read the book, I cannot help but wonder what Bruno’s next move will be. I wonder if he will tell his father about Shmuel, or stand up to his dad. I wonder how Bruno will react to realizing the new information he will hear from Shmuel about those people. If I didn’t already know that Bruno and Shmuel would become friends, I think I would have thought that Bruno would be afraid of Shmuel at first. Then I think he would realize quickly that Shmuel is just another boy, who likes to swing on tire swings and probably explore new places. I am looking forward to finding out what happens between the two boys and what actions Bruno takes towards his reaction to what his father is contributing to. I wish this book was non-fiction. I would feel more emotion if I knew that a little boy would befriend another little boy in a concentration camp. I fell like when I read this, everything is just made up. It’s as if everything is a lie, and that is why I don’t read fiction, I don’t like hearing about things that could never happen. This book is different from the other fictions books, its based off of a major true event and I bet parts of the book are true. I have truly enjoyed reading this book.