Bought for my NSSFC partner - enjoy!!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy!!

I was very impressed to receive this as part of my NSSFC so soon after putting it on my wishlist! I was recommended this read by a good friend of mine in Germany so I'm looking forward to reading it soon! Thank you very much!

I really loved this book. It is apparently now a major motion picture so it will be a real weepie. The story is told through the eyes of a 9 year old boy called Bruno who moves with his father from Berlin to Poland to a place interpreted by the boy called Outwith. His father is the Commandant of a concentration camp. From an upper window of his house he can see tiny specs of people behind a fence and one day he decides to explore the area and befriends a young jewish boy called Shmuel at the fence perimeter.

The story is full of innocent and childish speculations but is so very moving. I would like to put this book out on a ring for other people to experience and enjoy as well. It's too good to wild release!

This is now to go out on an international bookring and I hope there is going to be lots of interest for this powerfully moving story.

Participants as follows:

Posted to 1st person on list 24/1/09
1. Okarih - UK
2 .Herbertlooby - UK
3. Flutterbies9 - UK
4. Marsala - Netherlands
5 .Emgee - Netherlands
6. Laui - Netherlands
7. Jaybob - Netherlands <<<....>>> apparently lost on its journey to Italy
8. Madhad - Spain
9. Martjxox - Italy
10. Mr.Baggins1 - South Africa
11. 2of3Rs - USA
12. RRCaron - USA
13. Kerbam1421 - USA
14. BethanyKay - USA
15. Therubycanary - USA
then return to:
RedDahlia - UK

I received the book today - thank you MoJeDenUK! I had a rubbish day at work so it was nice to come back to something that made me smile. I'm going to start reading this straight away.

I've just finished this book and I'm so glad I was at home and not sitting on the tube because I couldn't stop crying for a while after I finished it. I won't say too much in case I spoil it for anyone but the horrific situation seems even more horrific (if that's possible) because it's being viewed from an innocent child's perspective. This is going to be a book that will stay with me for a while... Thank you, MoJeDenUK, for sharing this.

I've received the address from the next reader on the list so I'll be going to the post office tomorrow.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to Herbertlooby today.

Thanks so much Okarih - I shall look forward to reading it. Its very snowy here today so the temptation is to stay home right now!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Going to the next person in the ray/ring (can't remember which!) tomorrow hopefully. Enjoy!

Glad that this has arrived. Unfortunately, I received another ray book at the weekend and not knowing when this one was going to appear, I have started that! I'll finish it as soon as possible (within two weeks anyway) and then be right on this one. Wow, I've just looked at the ring participants; I had not realised that this one was going so far, I'll not delay it too long. Promise.

Sorry for taking so long getting around to this one and holding everyone up.

I loved this book, but somehow I can't see me going to see the film. Despite its somewhat gloomy subject, the book was so well written from the viewpoint of a fairly innocent nine year old that it was very easy to read. The ending was so sad - though not unexpected - that I can see why it has been described as a tearjerker. The mispronunciations of Bruno are easily interpreted by an adult audience and lend a slightly surreal, childish charm to the tale.

I cannot praise this too much and hope others enjoy as much as I did. I did not want to put it down once started and read it easily in two sittings.

I've now received the details for the next person in the ring so I'm parcelling this up to go into the post.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Off to the Post Office on Saturday.

The book arrived safely today. Will start it as soon as possible!

I must say I saw the movie before I read the book, so I allready knew how it was going to end. I liked reading it and it's an impressive tale. I just wonder wether children really are that ignorant about what's going on in the world. I doubt it.

Contacting the next participant now.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

On it's way to the next reader.

The book arrived today. It will go on the TBR stack for now. Marsala, thank you for holding on to it for some more days. The book arrived save and sound in an empty mailbox :).

I finished reading the book, it's a good book although the end is not quite satisfying. I would have liked it better if it would tell a bit more about what happend to the family in the end.

I already have Laui's address, so it's going in the mail this weekend.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The book is on it's way to the next reader, sorry for the delay in posting the book.
Enjoy the book

Caught it. I have one other book to read now, but also a holiday coming up, it shouldn't take me more than a month to finish!
May 24th: started reading.

I feel bad for not liking this book as much as I’d hoped. Maybe I did get my hopes up too high and this book just failed to meet my expectations. I’ll try to explain why and I really do hope that you can forgive me my negative sentiment here (in other words: if you think you can't, don't read on).
The story was just dragging along and that got on my nerves. To me, it was plain boring. The repeated use of certain phrases (about the five floors in the house in Berlin, or the packaging of Bruno’s stuff by Maria) was something I found extremely annoying. In some cases (Out of Bounds And No Exceptions) it was kind of useful, but when it got any longer than that it was just annoying. The way Bruno is depicted he sounded more like a six-year-old; I agree with Marsala, I doubt that nine-year-olds are this ignorant of what is happening around them. They might not know how to interpret certain things, but they will definitely know what is going on in the world (even six-year-olds do).
Apart from that I was a little annoyed with the facts not being historically correct. Of course, it is fiction, but it isn’t exactly a fairy tale either. Children of higher officers in the German army were all indoctrinated by the Nazi-ways of the world (Hitlerjugend and Bund Deutscher Mädel for instance), and I felt that the teacher didn’t quite represent that. And I really don’t think it would even have been remotely possible for two boys to sit on either side of the fence without being noticed.
These things are all minor things and I could overlook most of it, but for me those things put together made that I’ve been a bit disappointed in this book. It’s not all that it’s cracked up to be, honestly. But it still does not change the fact that the basic story is horrifying and very sad, and that John Boyne has found a new angle, I’m just probably too much of a nitpicker anyway.

I've asked jaybob for his address and I'll send this on asap. Thanks for sharing this one, I really looked forward to reading it and I'm glad I did ;-)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to jaybob today.

Received this book today, Thanks Laui.

Should start reading at the weekend as have a long flight. should post on the 18th or 19th June when Im back.

Just finished this book and while I thought it was a unique story I did find that reading it through the eyes of a 9yr old made this book appear as if it was written for a child but then again I suppose this was the only way to write it.
Was expecting more on the friendship of the two boys instead of halfway through the book but still a good read and a great wartime fictional story.

Just waiting for the details of the next on the list so I can post asap.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Posted to Martjxox in Italy today from Lanzarote,Spain.

Enjoy!