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John Boyne Biography

John Boyne (born 30 April 1971) is an Irish novelist. He is the author of ten novels for adults and five novels for younger readers. His novels are published in over 50 languages.

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John Boyne Quotes

War today is such a more visible thing. We see it on television, on CNN. In 1914, war was a concept. There was a naivety and stupidity that war would be a great lark. It's not that different from Gone With The Wind, where all the young men can't wait to go off to fight and then two hours later in the movie, we see how the reality of that has come home to them.

Fighting, Home, Lark, Reality, War

Bruno: We're not supposed to be friends, you and me. We're meant to be enemies. Did you know that?

Enemies, Enemy, Friends, Pajamas, Supposed, Supposed To Be

Do you see the irony at all, Tristan?’ I stare at him and shake my head. He seems determined not to speak again until I do. ‘What irony?’ I ask eventually, the words tumbling out in a hurried heap. ‘That I am to be shot as a coward while you get to live as one.

Coward, Determined, Eventually, Speak, Tumbling, Words

I like the idea of standalone novels. I always found with series of books, it's something that publishers love obviously because they can make a lot of money and they build an audience from book to book, but I don't like that as a writer. I prefer the idea of just telling a story, completing it within your book, and moving on and not forcing a child to read eight of them.

Audience, Book, Children, Completing, Moving

I was a very quiet child, quite introverted, really. Independent, yes; I didn't need a lot of supervision. Less so than I did when I got older, maybe. But I was a bookish child, not surprisingly. I could sit quite happily in a corner for hours and entertain myself with books.

Book, Children, Corner, Independent, Introverted

I enjoy the research element. There are so many stories from the past that interest me, that I want to learn more about, just as an interested person. And if I'm going to learn, if I'm going to research, it's probably going to lead me to writing a novel.

Interest, Past, Probably, Research, Stories, Writing

Well you've been brought here against your will, just like I have. If you ask me, we're all in the same boat. And it's leaking.

Ask, Ask Me, Boat, Brought, Leaking, Wells

I think that books for young people should have serious and important themes, they shouldn't be trivial. So the books I write, they would be the kind of stories you would write in an adult novel only they just happen to feature a child at the center of them.

Book, Books, Child, Children, Stories, Writing

There is cruelty in the world Eliza, you can see that, can't you? It surrounds us. It breathes on us. We spend our life trying to escape it.

Trying, World, Breathe, See, Surrounds

In his heart, he knew that there was no reason to be impolite to someone, even if they did work for you. There was such a thing as manners after all.

Heart, Manners, Reason, Thing

He looked the boy up and down as if he had never seen a child before and wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do with one: eat it, ignore it or kick it down the stairs.

Boy, Boys, Children, Eat, Ignore, Stairs

(J)ust because your version of normal isn't the same as someone else's version doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you.

Mean, Normal, Same, Ust, Wrong

Bruno opened his eyes in wonder at the things he saw. In his imagination he had tough that all the huts were full of happy families, some of whom sat outside on rocking chairs in the evening and told stories about how things were so much better when they were children and they'd had nowadays. He thought that all the boys and girls who lived there would be in different groups, playing tennis or football, skipping and drawing out squares for hopscotch on the ground. As it turned out, all the things he thought might be there-wern't. '' -The boy in the striped Pajamas

Children, Evening, Football, Girl, Lived, Sat

Bruno: Why do you wear pajamas all day? Shmuel: The soldiers. They took all our clothes away. Bruno: My dad's a soldier, but not the sort that takes people's clothes away.

Away, Bruno, Clothes, Dad, Day, People

I don't buy into the idea that an Irish writer should write about Ireland, or a gay writer should write about being gay. But when I found the right story, I saw it as an opportunity to write about being a teenager and being gay. Most people, whether you're gay or straight or whatever, have experienced that relationship where one person is much more interested than the other.

Gay, Interested, Saw, Teenager, Writer, Writing

Very slowly he turned his head back to look at Shmuel, who wasn't crying anymore, merely staring at the floor and looking as if he was trying to convince his soul not to live inside his tiny body anymore, but to slip away and sail to the door and rise up into the sky, gliding through the clouds until it was very far away. '' -The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Anymore, Away, Boys, Clouds, Doors, Looking

The dot that became a speck that became a blob that became a figure that became a boy

Blob, Boys, Dot, Dots, Figure, Figures

He suddenly became convinced that if he didn’t do something sensible, something to put his mind to some use, then before he knew it he would be wondering round the streets having fights with himself and inviting domestic animals to social occasions too.

Animal, Convinced, Fighting, Mind, Occasions

With the adult ones, I feel I need to get as deep inside the psychology of a character as I can, and that needs to be first-person. In the children's books, I feel I need some distance. I don't want to be the nine-year-old at the center of the story. I need to have some type of narrative voice.

Book, Books, Children, Deep, Distance, Psychology

There will be outrage and disgust and people will turn on me at the last, they will hate me, my reputation will forever be destroyed, my punishment earned, self-inflicted like this gunshot wound, and the world will finally know that I was the greatest feather man of them all.

Earned, Gunshot, Hate, Men, Self

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