A book needs to grab its readers from the beginning; that’s why opening lines are so important. They need to entice, intrigue, hook, be beautiful, thoughtful, provocative, and strange. They need to persuade readers to stay. They need to give us a taste of what’s to come. That’s a lot of pressure for one little line, however, here are a few that have done their job well.
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”
1985, George Orwell
“On a very cold and lonely Friday last November, my father disappeared from the Dictionary.”
The Word Exchange, Alena Graedon
“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends. The question of self-pity.”
The Year Of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion
“I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.”
I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith
“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.”
Back When We Were Grownups, Anne Tyler
“It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.”
Matilda, Roald Dahl
“My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973.”
The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
“Miss Brooke had that kind of beauty which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress.”
Middlemarch, George Eliot
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin.”
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”
The Crow Road, Iain Banks
“The magician’s underwear has just been found in a cardboard suitcase floating in a stagnant pond on the outskirts of Miami.”
Another Roadside Attraction, Tom Robbins
“We wanted more.”
We The Animals, Justin Torres
“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.”
Middlesex, Jeffrey Eugenides
“It felt like a noble gesture at the time, and I was in the mood for an adventure.”
Blood Will Out, Walter Kirn
