Arbitrary – DaneCobain.com

John Boyne – The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | Review

Title: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

Author: John Boyne

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 216

Rating 2/5

I’d heard such good things about this book and it left me so disappointed. I just struggled to suspend my disbelief throughout, and it also felt as though the author was constantly trying to exploit the reader’s emotions. On the back, it implied that it was for adults, whereas I felt it was more like middle grade. And then you can see the ending coming from a mile away, as soon as Bruno discovers that he can tunnel beneath the fence and into Auschwitz.

Speaking of which, how was he able to spend so much time speaking to a Jewish kid? Where were the guards? Why didn’t the kid just climb under the fence and escape? How had a 9-year-old living in Berlin in 1942 never heard of Hitler? And if his father was high up enough for Hitler to be paying them house visits, why wasn’t Bruno in the Hitler Youth? And why, at the end, do the Nazis randomly gas an arbitrary group of Jews that happen to be standing together instead of specifically targeting the sick, the elderly and the unfit to work? Weird.

Click here to buy The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Damian McKinney – The Commando Entrepreneur | Review

Title: The Commando Entrepreneur

Author: Damian McKinney

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 160

Rating: 9/10

Damien McKinney – The Commando Entrepreneur

Disclaimer: While I aim to be unbiased, I received a copy of this for free to review.

With business books, I quite often find that people have tried to define some arbitrary formula to success, and I get annoyed with it when it seems forced. I’m pleased to say that that’s not the case here – McKinney, who was a former Royal Marine, puts his point across very clearly, and I agree with him.

Put simply, he talks about the mindset of the commando, and how the mindset of the entrepreneur should be the same. As Alex Pratt, the founder of Serious, says on the cover, “Commandos don’t dabble. They decide. They deploy. They deliver.” McKinney delivers like a true commando with this one, and there are tips and case studies galore for you to pick up on. Create success.