The High Quarterly

I have recently read the boy in the striped pyjamas which is a fascinating and moving novel by John Boyne. This book is about a concentration camp in Auschwitz in which a niave nine year old boy is moved to along with his mother,father and older sister, Gretl. Bruno doesnt understand about the final solution and the holocaust. He is oblivious to his treachorous suroundings and is rather lonely as he has no friends. But...this all changed the day he met his new best friend Shmuel. Shmuel is a great help to get Bruno through his journey at Auschwitz and only a wire fence divides the two friends. My view of this novel is that it is moving to read but it is a great novel if you want a challenging book. I would recommend this book to everyone as this is one of my favourite books that I have read for a long time.

One of the key features of this book was Bruno's transition from Berlin to a house on the doorstep of Auschwitz. This was a hard time for Bruno as the atmosphere was totally different and most of all he missed his best friends, Karl,Daniel and Martin. The more the novel goes on the less you hear about his friends, I think this is because Bruno is settling down and is finding new friends and new things to entertain him because of cause Bruno is a great explorer. Another key feature of this book is when Bruno meets Shmuel for the first time. They become great friends and mean a lot to each other but Bruno sometimes comes across a bit harsh towards Shmuel because he has no idea about what Shmuel is going through. The final key feature that im going to talk about is the fact when Shmuel asks Bruno to slip under the fence and help him look for Papa. I think this is a key event in the story because it all leads to the tragic ending.

Overall, I loved this book, its ups and downs, its mysteries and most of all the way John Boyne wrote this spectacular novel. The fact that he wrote it through a vunerable little boy's eyes created more of an effect on the reader. John Boyne has written many other books which I would definitely be willing to read as I think he is a talented author.

Bethany Little 8P