The Boy in the Striped Pajamasby John Boyne
What a shocker! I was lucky not to have known all about it beforehand. I started the book with no more than the mental image of a small boy sitting on the ground behind a tall, barbed-wire fence.
After the end they had an interview between the author and the publisher--I wish all books would have that! They talk about where the idea came from, how the book was written, and what the readers' reactions were. He didn't give very many specific reader's criticisms, unfortunately because I was wondering if some people were upset at the things he left out. Not me--I was glad to be spared the details. Some were things you wouldn't expect a 9-year-old to understand or even recognize, like his mother's issues. And a few were simply to awful for him to speak about, if he even knew the words to use. I think Mr. Boyne made a very wise choice to leave some pages blurry and let the reader imagine what he would, based on his age and level of sophistication. It broadens his base of readers. I hope the movie did the same.
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