The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

I haven't seen the movie yet, because I prefer to read the books first.  I'm not entirely sure why, I just do.  Probably something to do with my OCD.  In any case, I finally got around to reading (well, listening, I'm still on restriction) to The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.  One thing I will advise for those who have not read it, have a box of tissues.  Like seriously, an entire box.  I ugly cried so hard at the end of this book!  

So, for those who don't know of this book (are there any?) it's about Auschwitz and the Holocaust.  Bruno is the son of someone very high up in the ranks of Hitler's army and is moved out to Auschwitz to take over the concentration camp there.  Bruno is 9 and doesn't really understand much of what's going on, but he does know he's not happy about it.

About a third of the way through the book, I happened to browse through some reviews because I had seen a few with 1 or 2 stars and I just couldn't understand what these people didn't like about the book.  One thing I saw mentioned was that the boy and girl in the story seemed much younger than they were said to be.  For example, the boy at 9 years old kept saying things wrong and seemed kind of naive.  I discussed this with my friend, Liz, as she has a 9 year old daughter and has read the book as well.  The thing we both ended up thinking and pointing out to each other was the time frame.  Back then, a 9 year old would be more naive than a 9 year old now that has access to all this technology and knowledge.   Also, this particular family had led a very sheltered life and only ran in limited circles.  Anyway, that didn't bother me at all.  Liz pointed out that other people didn't like the ending.  It was sad, for sure, but it was POWERFUL and it got the message across in a big way.  The last line in the book really hit me hard.

I HIGHLY recommend this book.  It was SO good.  I am looking forward to watching the movie.  Even though I know I will likely cry even harder than I did when reading it.

Have any of you read this one, or watched the movie and have thoughts to share?