The boy in the striped pyjamas - is it just me or

[Themumsnot]

is it a pile of sentimental tosh masquerading as a meaningful exploration of the issue of German responsibility for the concentration camps while actually completely trivialising the issue?
I've just had to read it for book group and I have to say I have rarely felt so repulsed by a book.

It's a long time since I read it. But I think it was good because it didn't revel in the awfulness - to the boy falling off the swing was as an important part of his day as chatting to the lad over the fence. Children are self centered like that. Like when he ate the food he was supposed to be bringing.

OP, yeah I thought it was trite and predictable, but then it is aimed at children. I didn't know that when I read it.