After seeing the movie, I really wanted to read the book and I was quite impressed. The innocence of Bruno, the protagonist, makes it so painful; he has no idea what is really going on. He's jealous of all the people in the 'striped pyjamas' because they spend time together and they aren't all alone, like Bruno himself is, without friends. When he meets Shmuel, a little boy on the other side of the fence, he's happy to have a friend, but he doesn't understand why the 'striped pyjama people' have to be separated from himself and his family. 
 Especially given the way it ends, it's heart-breaking to see things through Bruno's eyes. He is so naive, even after everything Shmuel tells him. In a way, this seems to symbolise the way most people purposefully closed their eyes to what was happening around them at the time. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is written in a relatively simple style, which reflects the way Bruno thinks and which also makes the book easy to get through quickly. I think this is a story everyone should read.