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176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
Boyne says:
I think the most frequent criticism of the book in the years since it鈥檚 been published is that Bruno is too naive. People say: 鈥淗e鈥檚 verging on the stupid 鈥� how could he not know?鈥� For all the criticisms you can make, I always feel that鈥檚 the wrong one because he鈥檚 grown up in a house with his father wearing a uniform, so I always think why would be question it? There wouldn鈥檛 be any motivation for him to suddenly turn around鈥� if your father came home wearing a doctor鈥檚 uniform every day, you wouldn鈥檛 turn around one day and ask: 鈥淲hy are you wearing that?鈥�
So, Bruno is kind of representing that blindness, in a way. When he goes to the fence, and when he asks that question, he is kind of representing the rest of us who are trying to understand the Holocaust and find some answers to it. Also, when the camps were liberated, the world was surprised through 1945 and 1946. The majority of the Holocaust had taken place over four years and, granted, it was a different information age but I still maintain that in those sorts of movies, the naivety is appropriate. It鈥檚 based on real life.
From:
Lincoln's doctor's dog. An archaic reference in the publishing industry to the notion that the way to ensure a book is a bestseller is to write about Lincoln, dogs, or doctors. This prompted one author to title his book which is about publishing in the 1930s Lincoln鈥檚 Doctor鈥檚 Dog.
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