This is a fairly high 3 stars. It's a very short "novel" (I listened to it on audio-3 discs) about a naive Jewish boy who's parents sent him away to a catholic orphanage in hopes that he wouldn't get caught and sent to a camp, or even know what Hitler and the Nazi's were. This boy constantly tells unrealistic stories to himself to keep himself happy and ignorant about the world, and to make other people feel better about their situation, or to try and improve their life.

For moments, I kind of hated the book, because this boys ridiculous stories at times seemed to be some attempt at a form of humor, when in reality horrible things were happening. Eventually the balance slips, and you know this little boy knows what's really going on and keeps telling himself lies only as a coping mechanism, and it no longer seems like it's supposed to be funny, it's just increasingly sad. By the end of the novel, this point is very effectively made. There were moments of cliche writing that bothered me, but overall, a thought provoking piece.