I just finished (and want to strongly recommend) a book called The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne. The movie was playing when I was in London last week but I didn’t get a chance to see it, so I grabbed the paperback up at the bookstore before I left. It’s short and SO worth a read, though I’ll warn you that if it affects you the way it did me, it’ll leave you heartbroken and profoundly unsettled (not always a bad thing methinks).
The Holocaust has always interested (and, of course, horrified) me. I visited the Holocaust Museum in DC recently and last week I saw an exhibit about it at the Imperial War Museum in London. This book tells the story of that period through the eyes of two 9-year-old boys who become unlikely friends… one is the son of the Commandant of Auschwitz and the other is a Jewish prisoner at the camp. The book is billed as ‘a story of innocence in a world of ignorance’ and though I found it in the adult section of the store, I'm guessing it was written for a much younger target audience than I represent (which doesn’t change its worthiness, as anyone who regularly reads quality kids’ books will tell you). Ryan will be starting it tomorrow, as I'm planning to take her to the Holocaust Museum next weekend and I think this story should be required reading prior to a visit there.
I’m hoping the movie will be released here on DVD soon. Though I don’t normally watch a movie if I loved the book, I expect this one will measure up. I hope it does. Anyway, if you opt to read the book (or if you already have), let me know what you think!
4 comments:
A very moving film. Take tissues.
I love when that happens, when a book touches our very core. Either makes us aware of our feelings for a unknown issue, or reminds us of something familiar and we experience another take on it.
I get the feeling from reading your post, that this book shows the humanity, compassion and innocence that can be found even during the dark times in mankind's history.
It was very much about those things. What I took from it, mostly, was how when we don't know how we're 'supposed' to think or the prejudices we're 'supposed' to have, we realize we are all simply human and we see our commonalities as opposed to our differences. Sadly, it's a lesson we humans don't ever seem to learn... until it's too late.
I was lucky to have visited the Holocaust museum in DC a few years back. It was heartwrenching for me and my family..I will keep the name of this book in my mind for reading this winter.
My memories of this tragedy all began when i was a young girl and read Anne Frank's diary--nothing has ever moved me like her book..still does.
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