Saturday 17 November 2007

Recommended Reading

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

By John Boyne

If you only read one book in the next fifty years, I implore you, let it be this one. When I put this on my Amazon Wish List (thank you, Kitty Poker), I knew nothing about it except that it was highly regarded and would leave a permanent mark. I didn’t have a clue about the plot when I started reading and I’m glad I didn’t or, honestly, it might have put me off, sensitive soul that I am.

So I’m not going to tell you what this book is actually about, except that it’s from the POV of a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. It’s written like a children’s book, right down to the large font, yet it is not for children. And it’s that paradox that makes this book what it is. An atrocity through the eyes of a child.

It did leave an impression, a big one. It was beautiful, funny, devastating, and by the end I could barely finish it. I read it in one sitting – and I recommend you do the same – and I struggled to read the last few pages because I couldn’t breathe, my hands were shaking and I was nearly blind with tears.

Please read this book. Come back and tell me what you think.

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