Book of the Month - By Kathleen Thorne

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
By John Boyne

Published by Definitions
Price €8.99

In this novel, John Boyne manages to get inside the minds of two little boys, Bruno and Shmuel, who experience life close to and within "Out-With" concentration camp during World War II. They become friends by talking to each other through the perimeter fence.

Bruno is the son of an SS officer who is promoted by the "Fury" to be commandant of the camp. As a consequence his family is forced to move to a house outside the perimeter of the camp fence. Bruno is devastated. He has to abandon Berlin, his beautiful home, his "three best friends for life" and his grandparents.

The new house is an unattractive box-like structure, small by comparison with his family home in Berlin. It is not a house on a street but is isolated and standing alone in a desolate place. It represents a good image of how Bruno feels when he realises there are no potential friends in the vicinity.

Then from his bedroom window he sees "the children" and the wire fence. He and his sister try to make sense of where they are. Nothing has been explained to them. They have been told they must come to this place called "Out-With" because of their father's job and that is that.

Through their uncomprehending eyes we are given a detached but vivid picture of the goings-on behind the wire fence. All the people there are wearing striped pyjamas.

Bruno's mother clearly had not wanted to leave Berlin. She remarks as they leave, "Let's hope we get to come back here some day when all this is over."

Bruno's father is a remote figure. The child feels "both scared and in awe of him". There is a chilling moment during an interview between Bruno and his father, when Bruno asks him who the people in the huts behind the wire are. His father's answer is, "Those people…well, they're not people at all, Bruno."

Some balance is achieved by the family Maid, who recounts her story, and the father's more positive role regarding her family. She says, "He has a lot of kindness in his soul, truly he does, which makes me wonder…"

Then Bruno meets Shmuel. They quickly discover that they have the same birthday, 15 April 1934. But they are now separated by the wire fence. Shmuel is Polish. His father was a watchmaker. He tells Bruno about the armbands they had to wear, and how they were moved out of their home in Cracow. The whole family then had to live in one room. They compare notes about their lives, and clearly do not comprehend the reasons for the differences. Shmuel however seems somewhat wiser than Bruno. Their friendship deepens, and survives a major hurdle when Bruno fails a test of his loyalty to his friend.

Then Bruno's mother feels she can endure the place no longer. A decision is taken to move Bruno and his sister back to Berlin with their mother. This is no longer an attractive option for Bruno. But before this move comes to pass, the story reaches its final, terrible conclusion. The reader is left with some extraordinary emotional dilemmas.

The last chapter ends with the words, "All this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age." Perhaps it is the reading and discussion of the contents of books like The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas - even with young children - that will ensure that it never happens again.

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