September 17, 2018
readnothingyet
THE BOY AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN | JOHN BOYNE | DOUBLEDAY | 2015 | 215 PAGES |
{ When Pierrot becomes an orphan, he must leave his home in Paris for a new life with his Aunt Beatrix, a servant in a wealthy household at the top of the German mountains. But this is no ordinary time, for it is 1935 and the Second World War is fast approaching; and this is no ordinary house, for this is the Berghof, the home of Adolf Hitler. Quickly, Pierrot is taken under Hitler’s wing, and is thrown into an increasingly dangerous new world: a world of terror, secrets and betrayal, from which he may never be able to escape. } { goodreads }
This is the third book that I’ve read by John Boyne and I must say it’s my favourite. I thought the boy in the striped pajamas was quite good and the end shocked me, but I never really felt a part of the story. This was definitely different for this book. It really sucked me in and I felt very protective of some of the characters.
Pierrot starts out as such an innocent boy and I adored his friendship with the deaf Jewish boy Anshel. His life in Paris is good, despite the fact that he and his mom don’t have much. After her tragic death, Pierrot comes to live with his aunt who works at Hitler’s house in Austria. When he arrives, he is too young to realize who Hitler is and how dangerous it could be to share certain aspects of his life. Thankfully his aunt looks after him and I thought she was a great character. You can tell she and the chauffeur Ernst do not agree with Hitler’s politics and this adds an interesting twist.
“Don’t you ever think,’ he asked cautiously, ‘that it would be better to be a bully than to be bullied? At least that way no one could ever hurt you.’
As Pierrot, or Pieter as he is now called, grows up he becomes more and more indoctrinated by Hitler’s politics and his desire to impress him. I was appalled to see who Pierrot turned in to, but at the same time you can hardly blame a young impressional boy for looking up to a strong male role model (even if he’s a class A villain). This was definitely the hardest part to read, but I think this realistic and dark note to the story is something that is characteristic of John Boyne’s books.
If you’re into historical fiction books about WW2 written from a young boy’s perspective I would definitely recommend this book, as well as the boy in the striped pajamas.
“Just don’t ever tell yourself that you didn’t know…. That would be the worst crime of all.”
On a final note, I loved that there was a reference to the absolutist in this book. Pierrot’s father fought in the first world war and witnessed an English soldier shoot a young German soldier whom they had captured. This is a scene from the absolutist in which the main character of that book was part of English soldiers. I usually don’t pick up on these kinds of things, so that was quite fun.
Source: readnothingyet.wordpress.com/2018/09/17/review-the-boy-at-the-top-of-the-mountain-john-boyne/
