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Book Review of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
reviewed on


I really liked this book. It's not a light read, as others have said. It's thoughtful and poignant, but also I find it surprising that one critic stated it was "as memorable as the diary of Anne Frank." Where Anne Frank was deeply personal and highly emotive, I felt The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was very predictable in parts, therefore taking away any emotion I could have toward the characters. Anne Frank was a real person, and although I'm sure The Boy represents the story of the Holocaust itself, and the individuals who perished, I just wasn't able to fall in love with the characters. I enjoyed the child's point of view however, clever how the author used a child's mispronunciation of words to disguise the terrible places present in the story.