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Description
Berlin 1942 When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis
Summary
Bruno is a nine-year old boy who is growing up in Berlin during World War II. He lives in a 5-story house with his parents, his 12 year old sister Gretel and a few servants. His father has a very important job and they have just been visited by a man called the 'Fury' (aka Hitler). After he... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Cast of Characters/Important People
- Bruno: Bruno is a 9-year-old boy living in WWII Berlin. He is very unhappy when his family must move to a place called "Out-With" for his father's job. Although the book is written in the third person, almost all of the story is viewed through the gullible eyes of Bruno.
- Shmuel: Bruno, bored in the family's new house and missing his old friends, decides to go exploring outside - specifically, along the outside of the fences that enclose the camp's perimeter. There he meets and befriends a Jewish boy around his age who lives in the camp - the Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
- Father: Bruno's father, a prominent Nazi, uproots his family on the orders of Hitler to oversee Auschwitz. He is a strict man who is very much in line with the opinions and beliefs of the Nazi party.
- Mother: Bruno's mother is more gentle and caring towards Bruno than his father. She seems a bit more sympathetic towards the family's servants as well.
- Gretel: Bruno's sister, Gretel, is 3 years older than him - a fact she won't let him forget - and just beginning to give up her collection of dolls in favor of more mature things (mature in her mind, at least - she has a crush on Lt. Kotler and, later in the book, hangs maps up on her wall and marks Germany's progress with tacks). Bruno refers to her throughout the book as "The Hopeless Case", but they do share a few nice moments of friendship.
- Lieutenant Kurt Kotler: A young Nazi Lieutenant who Bruno immediately dislikes, but who his mother and sister both lavish attention on. Kotler is your textbook Nazi - blue eyes, blond hair, hates Jews and follows Nazi policies stringently.
- Maria: The family's maid. Bruno is the nicest to her out of all of his family members. She is very reluctant to betray her own beliefs or opinions to the talkative Bruno, for fear of being fired or worse for disagreeing with the Nazis, but occasionally she does slip up.
- Pavel: A nice elderly Jewish man who serves the family as a cook and waiter after their move to Auschwitz.
- Grandmother: Bruno's paternal Grandmother seems to be the most outspoken of the adult characters in the book. She openly objects to the direction the Nazi party is taking and is distraught that her son is such a high-ranking member of the party. Bruno fondly remembers how his Grandmother, a retired actress and singer, would put on plays for the family involving Bruno and Gretel as actors.
Memorable Quotes
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“In fact everywhere he looked, all he could see was two different types of people: either happy, laughing, shouting soldiers in their uniforms or unhappy, crying people in their striped pajamas, most of whom seemed to be staring into space as if they were actually asleep.”
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“...it doesn't matter whether I do or don't. They're not my best friends anymore anyway. You're my best friend, Shmuel. My best friend for life.”
Bruno
First Sentence
One afternoon, when Bruno came home from school, he was surprised to find Maria, the family's maid - who always kept her head bowed and never looked up from the carpet - standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing them in four large wooden crates, even the things he'd hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else's business.
Table of Contents
1. Bruno Makes a Discovery
2. The New House
3. The Hopeless Case
4. What They Saw Through the Window
5. Out of Bounds at All Times and No Exceptions
6. The Overpaid Maid
7. How Mother Took Credit for Something That She Hadn't Done
8. Why Grandmother Stormed Out
9. Bruno Remembers That He Used to Enjoy Exploration
10. The Dot That Became a Speck That Became a Blob That Became a Figure That Became a Boy
11. The Fury
12. Shmuel Thinks of an Answer to Bruno's Question
13. The Bottle of Wine
14. Bruno Tells a Perfectly Reasonable Lie
15. Something He Shouldn't Have Done
16. The Haircut
17. Mother Gets Her Own Way
18. Thinking Up the Final Adventure
19. What Happened the Next Day
20. The Last Chapter
Authors & Contributors
- John Boyne (Author)
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