The boy in the striped pyjamas!

The two most important persons in the book are the boy Bruno and his father. My first impression of Bruno was that he was serious and always wants a clear answer. Bruno always asks why if he doesn´t understand the answer he gets. This bugs his mother of and sometimes she gets really angry. Bruno has got a problem, he wants to be polite but he still has to be honest to himself. Because of this a problem occurs, since his mother and father use strange sentences and words to describe things Bruno usually don´t understand and have to ask again, and sadly this is considered rude . Like the argumentation with the father, he says what he really thinks about living in Out-whit. The father you haven´t heard that’s much about so far in the book. It feels lite Bruno and the father is living totally different lives. The only time they talk to each other is in the father’s office. He is a really busy man, and as far in the book he seems like a strange and strict man. I don´t really like him.

During whole chapter 2, Bruno was complaining about the new house and I think that he will keep complaining a few chapters ahead. Finally I think Bruno will accept his situation and try to do the best out of it. In the very end of chapter 2 it says “something made him very cold and unsafe”. I presume that this is something that will get the story going and since it made Bruno feel cold and unsafe it is probably not a good thing. So my guess is that Bruno will start to explore and visit this place and that he won´t like what he finds. In the other hand Bruno might keep away from the lace but I don´t think so because then the book wouldn´t be that exciting.

The father will probably not do very much the following chapters since he has a lot of work to do. I think that the father will play a more important role in the end of the book.   

Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah

Alem and his father are sitting on a plane on their way to the UK on a vacation, or at least that is what Alem thinks… After a few days in London, Alem´s father disappears overnight. Alem is alone in a whole new world with no friends, no money and no home. Follow Alem´s life as a refugee in the UK.

The story is very special and moving. Benjamin Zephaniah is such a good writer! As a reader you can feel the emotions in the book. When Alem is sad or mad Benjamin Zephaniah explains Alem´s feelings so well that you get touched.

The story takes place in early 2000 and was published in 2001. Everything in the book is very realistic; the characters, the nature and the story itself. Since Alem is from Africa his new life in the UK affects him a lot. Everything in the UK is different from Africa. Alem has to change and adjust in order to fit in. Because of this Alem changes as a person. In the beginning of the book Alem was shy but further into the book Alem gets more independent and his self-confidence is getting better.

Alem is a hard-working kid that puts education and family before everything. He is very serious and he is a thinker. Even if something really bad happens, Alem finds a way to collect himself and move on. Alem´s father is loving and caring. Together with Alem´s mother he decides to send his only son to another country in order to protect him from war and give him a brighter future. My own opinion is that Alem´s father is a very wise man and he knows exactly what is best for his son.

The main theme in this book is drama, but a new and modern type of drama. About refugees and about how hard the life in a new country is. I think that these kinds of books are written not just to entertain the reader but also to educate and inform the reader about a specific subject. The book is very interesting and at least I got more respect for refugees. Refugees move to other countries because they have had a hard life in their homelands so they should not get an even harder life in their new countries.


You can read this book in many ways. When I read it I really tried to understand all the thoughts and characters. If you just want to finish the book it is not fun at all. You will miss the core of the book. The "Refugee boy" is nothing like an ordinary action book, where you do not have to think so much. In action books all the excitment is given to you directly in the text and there is no deeper meaning. "Refugee boy" has a deeper meaning and you have to think and reflect on real life if you want the excitement.
  

“Love it”, are two words that describe what I think of the book. There are many reasons why I love this book but the two main reasons are the way Benjamin Zephaniah writes and all the unexpected things that happens in the book. Benjamin Zephaniah writes with such feeling that I almost think this is a self-biography. He also includes many details in the story. All the unexpected turns in the book keeps you interested and that is very good because without interest there is no reason to read at all. I loved the parts in the book when important decisions are made, for example when Alam has to go to court in order to get his asylum. Actually I loved the whole book so I have no “least favorite” parts of the book. Well, if I have to choose I would say that the end could have been better, because I want to know what happens to Alem.

"Refugee boy" is very different compared to other books by Benjamin Zephaniah, but I noticed that all his books are about kids. Anyway "Refugee boy" is a dramatic and well written novel. The book is not like anything you have read before, I can guarantee that and I recommend it for everyone. 

Overall reflections

Refugee Boy is a dramatic and well written book by Benjamin Zephaniah. The author includes a perfect number of details, not so many that you get annoyed, but still enough to make the book better. Of course how many details a reader want depends on how interested he or she is. However Benjamin Zephaniah managed to catch my interest early in the book so I liked all the details.

Sadly I have to give the book some negative feedback, the ending. When I am reading a book I want an ending, in this case what happed to Alem. It felt like Benjamin Zephaniah was really into this book, but in the end it felt like he just wanted to quit writing. Apart from the end I have nothing negative to say about this book.

The book is written in third person, such as “Mrs Fitzgerald suggested that Alem should have a day off school but once more he was determined to go and his father agreed.” I do not know why Benjamin Zephaniah decided to write in third person. Maybe it was because he felt more confident writing like this or  maybe it was because it is easier to write in third person. But I think Benjamin Zephaniah wanted to include the whole society’s view of refugees. This book is all about refugees and I think Benjamin Zephaniah wanted to show the world how people look at refugees, both negative and positive, and it is very hard to do this if you write in first person. It is possible to achieve this when writing in third person since the author can mix Alem`s thoughts with society`s thoughts. This way of writing also makes the book entertaining and at the same time full of information.

I have heard that a few of my classmates that did not like their books so much. However, I really liked my book and would have read it even if I did not have to! 

Structure

One thing that I had in my mind when I was reading the book was the structure.  Most of the books I have read have had a rather simple structure and it usually goes like this:

- Introduction, the author starts the story and maybe writes some background information

- Start, the story begins (a long period)

- Turning point, something interesting happens (might be more than one turning points)

- The end, (usually something expected)

Now this amazing book has a totally different structure. Benjamin Zephaniah really knows what he writes about. The way he writes makes you emotional. All different kind of emotions, happiness, sadness, hope, fear, despise and so on. However, the feelings that Benjamin Zephaniah creates makes the reading experience so incredible. As a reader you can almost feel Alem´s pain when he hears about his father’s death. Also the structure of the book is different. It starts off with a beginning, some background information and so on, but the details are different. In a normal book it might be four or five turning points but this book is full of them. Things happen all the time, one thing after another and because this book is about getting an asylum anything can happen.

“This is not the end”, is the last words in the book and how many books end like that? It is a very open end and I believe that a second book will follow soon.

The book is very good because Benjamin Zephaniah gives the reader an opportunity to think a lot.

A short summary

A home in Eritrea

“As the family lay sleeping, soldiers kicked down the door of the house and entered, waving their rifles around erratically and shouting at the top of their voices”.

A home in Ethiopia

“As the family lay sleeping, soldiers kicked down the door of the house and entered, waving their rifles around erratically and shouting at the top of their voices”.

These are parts of the book that show the reader Alem and his parents´ situation.

Alem´s father is Ethiopian and Alem´s mother is Eritrean. Eritreans do not want any Ethiopians in their country and Ethiopians do not want the Eritreans in their country. Therefore a problem occurs.

The book is about Alem and his life as a refugee in the UK.

Suddenly one day Alem´s father takes his son on a holiday to the UK. During Alem and his father´s time together Alem feels good, but overnight the father is gone. It turned out that Alem's father had gone back to Alem´s mom in Africa. With no money and no home, Alem 14 years old, is alone in a whole new world.

In the book you get to follow Alem´s life as a refugee in the UK. The author Benjamin Zephaniah tells you how Alem gets connected to the refugee committee, lives in a foster home, adjusts to school in London, and deals with the legal system which assesses Alem's right to asylum in the UK.

Touching words

"Look at me, look at all the things I am capable of, and think of all the things you could call me - a student, a lover of literature, a budding architect, a friend, a symbol of hope even, but what am I called? A refugee."
These words touched me. All that this text says is so right. Everyone, no matter where they come from should be called their names, what they work with or at least what they are good at. So do not come up with stupid names like "refugee" just because they are from other countries!

Something that really makes me mad is that even after people get their asylum they are being called refugees! If you think about it, you will understand that everyone is a refugee! Your great-grandmother's great-grandmother might have come to this country as a refugee. So everyone is a refugee or at least his or her mother or grandmother were refugees. Without refugees there would be no countries.

I am going to be honest with you. Before I read this book I also called some people refugees. Yes it is true. But now I respect refugees more. They have moved to another country because they had a hard life in their homeland, and when they are in their new country they should not get an even harder life.

Task B

I picked a quote that all but a few people just would read past but I find it very interessting and symbolic. My quote reads: "I bet even the spagetti made in England is made by Italians". By saying this to his son I think Alem´s father is trying to convice his son that the UK is a better place Africa. That Alem has a brighter future in the UK. The thought of how a simple and short quote like this can have such a deep meaning is incredible. Spagetti is Alem´s favorite food and when his father tells him this he already likes the UK. When something you like is good in another country, you will like the country. That is human nature. For example, I like golf and in the US they play a lot of golf so I like the US.