All The Broken Places: The Sequel to The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas

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At the behest of his publisher, Boyne has included an author’s note with All the Broken Places alluding to criticisms of Striped Pyjamas. We don’t need anyone to teach us how to recognise the barefaced devil; the danger is the insidious and gradual creep of violence into the civilised and everyday. This is what the philosopher Theodor Adorno’s dictum – “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric” – warned of: art unable to recognise the break the Holocaust represented with the past, afraid to apprehend the failure of the civilising project. With this childish drivel in which the villains and victims come labelled and sorted, Boyne yet again seems immune to its lessons. i love so many of JBs other books and they will always hold a very dear place in my heart. but, when it comes to this particular situation/story, JB is showing his true colours as a person and im not sure i personally like the look. Sequel to the hugely successful The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, All The Broken Places is a moving story about grief, guilt and complicity. Needless to say, that with John Boyne at the helm, we’re treated to a storyline full of insight, from the ugliness of life through to the purity of love. Don’t miss this one! Boyne came to the Holocaust as subject matter purely on his own, having never been taught about the history growing up in Ireland. Reading Elie Wiesel’s Night as a teenager, Boyne said, “made me want to understand more”.

When is a monster's child culpable? Guilt and complicity are multifaceted. John Boyne is a maestro of historical fiction. You can't prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of this powerful novel." - John Irving, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The World According to Garp Mother and I escaped Germany in early 1946, only a few months after the war ended, travelling by train from what was left of Berlin to what was left of Paris. Fifteen years old and knowing little of life, I was still coming to terms with the fact that the Axis had been defeated. Father had spoken with such confidence of the genetic superiority of our race and of the Führer’s incomparable skills as a military strategist that victory had always seemed assured. And yet, somehow, we had lost.”

His expression was one that I had seen before, when I was a child and living in that other place. The soldiers had worn it, almost to a man. A desire to hurt. An awareness that there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. It was mesmerizing. I could not look away and nor, it seemed, could he.” We see Gretel as a child in Germany, a teen in France, a young woman in Australia, and through many decades of life in London. What changes did you notice in Gretel’s personality throughout the years? John Boyne does a great job in not connecting the dots. He lets readers contemplate their own conclusions: I respect him for it….. When is a monster’s child culpable? Guilt and complicity are multifaceted. John Boyne is a maestro of historical fiction. You can’t prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of this powerful novel.”

In nearly every stage of her life, Gretel keeps her past a secret—both out of shame and out of fear for her own safety. If you were able to speak with Gretel at any point in her life, what would you say to her about her choice to stay silent? What would you say to her after she finally comes forward with the truth? Malcolm Forbes has written for the Times Literary Supplement, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal. He lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. Boyne uses Gretel to illuminate complicity in knowing something is wrong, terrible, and not doing anything about it, not taking any responsibility. In Gretel’s case, if she, at age 12, went to the authorities and reported what she had seen, could she have saved lives? Instead, she spent her life hiding and ashamed. At age 91, nearly 92, she must confront her culpability. Shall she turn a blind eye? Or, should she do something to help save the mother and boy, which could result in her being identified and humiliated? In 2012, I was awarded the Hennessy Literary ‘Hall of Fame’ Award for my body of work. I’ve also won 4 Irish Book Awards, and many international literary awards, including the Que Leer Award for Novel of the Year in Spain and the Gustav Heinemann Peace Prize in Germany. In 2015, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of East Anglia. I believe everyone has their own line in the sand, the point beyond which they either won’t go or would be uncomfortable going. As we become more experienced and learn more, we may shift that line from ‘won’t’ to ‘uncomfortable’, depending on pressure and circumstances.

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A young family moves into the apartment below her and against her usual judgement ends up building a friendship with Henry, a young boy who reminds her of memories she would rather forget. The author asks the question: What would you have done in twelve-year-old Gretel's shoes? Would you have alerted the authorities once the war was over? Did she turn a blind eye and pretend it wasn't happening? And with the death of her brother, did she pay a high enough price? When someone makes a mistake early in her young life, is she doomed for the rest of her days - can she be forgiven? Following the kidnapping, Gretel relocates to London, where she finds work at Selfridges. She falls for a coworker, David, initially unaware he’s Jewish until his friend Edgar tells her so. Nevertheless, she begins a romantic relationship with him. However, after attending a showing of a film about the Holocaust and seeing footage of her family in the film, Gretel runs out of the theatre and jumps in front of a bus in an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide. In the hospital, Edgar informs her about David’s past; how he was born in Prague and escaped with his grandparents after the occupation, and that parents and sister were delayed and disappeared, ultimately being murdered in Treblinka extermination camp. Gretel also learns in hospital that she is pregnant with David's child. After being discharged, she comes clean and tell David the story of her life. He is disgusted and abandons her despite that she is carrying his child. Eventually, Gretel marries Edgar and gives up her and David’s daughter (whom she names Heidi) for adoption. John Boyne will seat us right next to Gretel as she shuffles the scenery of her youth in Berlin during World War II. She's twelve years old and the family has moved to Auschwitz in Poland where her father is a commandant of one of the Reich's most notorious extermination camps. The family maintains their home right on the other side of the camp. Family life ignores the element of horror and tragedy only so many feet away. In 1946, German born Gretel, and her mother escaped Poland for Paris, after a monumental event took place in their personal lives. Physically they may have fled their past, but psychologically, the shame and accompanying fear meant they would never really find peace.