In the beginning

So let’s begin. What’s in a beginning? More importantly what should the beginning of any writing do?

Before I tell you what I think an opening line should do let’s look at what American Book Review considers the top five opening lines. Imagine the daunting task of choosing these from thousands and thousands of books. Somehow they did it and here are the results.

Number 5

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.

 Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)

As is the case with many of the novels in the list of 100, I had to do some research regarding this book. From this opening line it is evident the POV character has an infatuation with Lolita. This sentence wants the reader to ask who Lolita is, and what makes her so desirable? The shocking answer is that she is a sexually promiscuous girl of twelve which makes the character of Humbert Humbert a pedophile.

Let’s move on.

Number 4

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967; trans. Gregory Rabassa)

After reading this opening, two questions come to mind. What did Colonel Aureliano Buendia do that caused him to be sentenced to the firing squad? Next, why would he think about his first time seeing ice when facing his death? Basically this book is a multi-generation account of the Buendia family. In 1982, Gabriel Garcia Marquez won the Nobel Prize for his body of work. This book, being his most popular work, definitely had a lot to do with that decision. Thanks in part to his opening sentence.

Number 3

A screaming comes across the sky.

Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow (1973)

Combined with the title this opening sentence spoke of something new. The two words in the sentence that speak to me are “screaming” and “across.” Set in Europe at the end of the Second World War, this combination depicts a rainbow which stretches from one place to another. Some device which screams across the sky could only be a rocket. The V-2 rocket which if perfected before the end of the war may have changed the course of the war’s outcome.

Number 2

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

Did these words carry more weight two hundred years ago than they do now? A bold statement is that something could be acknowledged a universal truth. Our universe is a vast place and to think that anything could be true throughout it is quite staggering. Then to say that a single man with money would want a wife simply boggles the mind even further. So why would a single man with money want a wife? Who is this single man, and where did he get his money? Does he want a wife? Does he need a wife? Will he find a wife that will make him happy? Does he need love? How many more questions could this sentence spawn? I don’t know?

Finally we’ve arrived.

Number 1

Call me Ishmael.

Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (1851)

That’s it? Why not: My name is Ishmael. Maybe: They call me Tom. What about these three words is so powerful? Why is it considered the best opening line in literature? Why did he use the name Ishmael? It certainly doesn’t have the same impact today as it did one hundred and sixty two years ago. So to get a better understanding of the line, I think the reader has to be aware of how important The Bible was to people living in 1850s. Since Melville could have chosen any name for his narrator the question as to why he decided upon Ishmael is important. The name comes from The Bible and is the name of Abraham and Hagar’s son. I won’t go into the complete details of the significance of this correlation except to say that Melville uses the name to signify the narrator as an outcast. If we examine the line we see that he doesn’t say his name is Ishmael but to call him that. In essence he is saying that he is an outcast. By doing so he proclaims himself unworthy.

Someone living in the 1850s would have been very familiar with The Bible and would be aware of the name and the significance of it. When someone of that time read that first line it would’ve created a number of questions. Why did he call himself Ishmael? Why does he consider himself an outcast? Why is he unworthy and of what? Will this man ever tell us his real name? What happened to this man? To find out we must read further.

The main goal of an opening line is to make the reader want to read the next line. The line creates a desire to know more about the person, place, or thing the story is about. The lines that make the reader need to answer these questions and read the next line are the ones that go down in history as great opening lines. This line deserves to be at the top.

Out of the list of one hundred books with the best opening line(s) I myself have only read seven.

#12   The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1885)

#48   The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway (1952)

#53   Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1953)

#56   Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe (1719)

#59   Catch-22, Joseph Heller (1961)

#64   The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

#100 The Red Badge of Courage, Stephen Crane (1895)

I’m not going to list the opening lines of these books as well, but if you’d like to check to see how you’re doing in your reading of best opening line novels you should check out this link.

http://americanbookreview.org/100BestLines.asp

Now when it comes to reading, everyone has their own personal tastes. Some people like mysteries while others like action adventure. I’m sure you have your own favorite first lines from books that you love. If you’re a voracious reader then your list probably changes quite often. Here are my top three lines.

One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin.

Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis (1915)

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow.

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960)

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

Stephen King, The Gunslinger (1982)

Although they didn't make the top one hundred list it doesn't matter. I've read them. Tell me what are some of your favorite lines. Maybe I'll read them too.