The nineteenth book that I’ve finished reading this year is John Boyne’s “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”. Thanks E for providing me this copy. Set in the Holocaust era, the story is told from the perspective of a na?ve narrator, Bruno, who moves with his commandant father from bustling Berlin to ostracised “Out-With”. A natural adventurer, what novel lands will Bruno discover, and what will he encounter there? Peeling away the innocent tone and frank curiosity that Bruno displays, this story reveals layers of cruelty and malice beyond imagination, pulling on the reader’s heartstring through discreet details that manage to slip through the fairytale-like fa?ade of Bruno’s perspective. A well-protected fledgling, Bruno has little idea of what is happening outside of Berlin, let alone the atrocious acts committed by the Nazi regime. He doesn’t even have any idea of what his father does. When he meets “the dot that became a speck that became a blob that became a figure that became a boy” on the other side of the fence, he first learns about the fact that he’s in Poland rather than Germany, and grows ever more dumbfounded by Shmuel’s emaciation, constant hunger and pervasive sadness. Nonetheless, he was thrilled by having a new friend in this strange place, and their friendship is developed through innocent dialogues, where words are obliviously candid and bare, hurting unintentionally.? Youth is often paired with immaturity. Despite Bruno’s good intentions, he is unable to withstand pressure from oppressive adults. In the one incident where he meets Shmuel away from the fence, he yields to betrayal. How does Shmuel react to this? Though also 9-years-old, he accepts and forgives. When I read this, I could not help but wince at this reaction. This 9-year-old knew that he no longer had the privilege of throwing tantrums when things didn’t go his way; he has suffered to the point of numbness, yet his kind heart stands unobliterated. How precious, yet how poignant! Eventually, Bruno gathers up bits and pieces that seem to form a story as he observes the inconspicuous people around him: Pavel, the self-claimed doctor who waits on their table in a white jacket and gets smaller and smaller everyday; Maria, the “overpaid maid” who is so careful with words, so reserved but full of emotions…yet Bruno’s privileged naivety continues to separate him from the truth. The juxtaposition between him and Shmuel continuously reminds the reader what is deprived from a 9-year-old who ought to enjoy his carefree childhood, evermore highlighting the atrocity of the Holocaust. Bruno serves as a mirror, reflecting “all that could have been” for the children in the concentration camp, until he took the final step across the fence to see for himself, the elusive mystery behind all the bizarre circumstances surrounding him, as he atones for a sin that he did not commit. Finishing the book in the earliest hours of the day, I could not help but gasp at the powerful impact of the ending. Many years ago, when I was still a student, I watched the film version of this story in the classroom. I must have misremembered the ending; when I closed the book, and closed my eyes, I was simply unable to fall asleep, haunted by phantoms of memory. To be honest, back in school, I never understood why an Asian school would put so much emphasis on The Holocaust, that we were not only learning it in history, but also in almost every other subject, especially English. It wasn’t until I visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel that I felt the chills creeping beneath my skin even in the warm air-conditioned rooms, that I saw the uncontrollable winces on the face of the guide whose parents survived the camp, that I realised what a significant role this genocide played in contemporary history, that it occurred so recent, yet so far away that “nothing like that could ever happen again//Not in this day and age.” It’s been a long time since I have read a book so powerful yet so unsettling. Compared to “The Devil’s Arithmetic” (which I read when I was in school), where the protagonist is a Jewish girl in the camp, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” provides a much more relatable perspective, as student readers from my part of the world are mostly outsiders to this event, resembling Bruno’s profile to great lengths. Hopefully I would be able to arouse their interest in this topic and provide a path for them to explore and navigate their way around this regrettable stain in history.?