After watching the movie The boy in the striped pajamas couple weeks ago, based on the novel written by John Boyne with the same title, I felt compelled to read the book, and find what were the parts of the book the film didn’t cover. Well, few changes were made, of course, in order to bring some more action to the big screen, but nothing that took the emotional narrative away from it. As a faithful Literature lover with poor reading skills in English, even I could feel the power of the narrative in my bones. So I humbly recommend both, the movie and the book.
For young readers of all faiths, it’s a great opportunity to be introduced to the Holocaust, from the perspective of a nine year old German boy. While for me as an adult, it was an opportunity to find out how Cruelty can try, but not destroy Innocence; after all, the two boys in the story are protected by their own infantile way to read the events that were going on before their eyes.
The novel is beautiful, and extremely moving. I could not stop reading it. I cried at the end, as I did when I watched the movie. I’ve read about History of Genocides and stupid Wars, but it’s still very hard to understand, why we can be so much in love at times, and also able to carry so much hate for other Human Beings. It’s a challenging question, that I might not be able to clarify on my mind, because I’ve been told before, “Grace, you worry too much about things that are not important”, of course, according to some of my “friends” I am not intelligent enough to understand Math, of Physics, or other Science that are too exact for my wondering mind. And maybe because I’ve been called stupid by so many people, and so many times in my life, I stopped trying to be smart, and I decided to be a dreamer.
I dream of a time where there will be no more Cruelty, and more Innocence. I time with less Hate, and more Acceptance of the difference that makes each of us so unique, and so special. Maybe we can try it Next Year.