John Boyne (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) has included some strange references in his latest novel A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom.
Twitter regular and fellow writer, Dana Schwartz, showed followers the mistakes in an excerpt taken from Boyne’s book where he describes ingredients used to make red dye. Despite the book being supposedly ‘historical’, with readers expecting some notion of reality, Boyne had in fact included some imaginary ingredients that only exist in the Zelda video game Breath of the Wild, including an “Octorok eyeball” and “the tail of the red lizalfos and four Hylian shrooms”.
One may assume that a writer as well known or popular as he would be more careful with his Google searches but… Here we are. I don’t want to hear about anyone’s imposter syndrome after knowing even published authors can make such silly mistakes.
OKAY. This is a thread, but it’s worth it I promise.
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 3, 2020
On Reddit today, user u/NoNoNo_OhOhOh posted a page from acclaimed Irish novelist John Boyne’s latest book, ‘The Traveller At the Gates of Wisdom.
Note the ingredients. pic.twitter.com/4RTgZxtUT7
If those ingredients look weird to you, it is because they are straight of out of the Zelda game Breath of the Wild pic.twitter.com/JpebdXJqP1
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 3, 2020
Is it an homage? An Easter egg? Hmm. The book is *not* a fantasy. It’s a historical drama set in the real world. I had a hunch, and tried a google search. pic.twitter.com/o3yHQO4nEU
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 3, 2020
The author John Boyne had something to say on his mistake too…
LOL that is actually kinda hilarious. I'm totally willing to own it. 😂🤣Something tells me I'll be telling this anecdote on stage for many years to come... 😂
— John Boyne 📚 (@john_boyne) August 3, 2020
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