Opening sentences

Another week's gone by with little attention to fiction, but I'll console myself by mentioning that 2007 hasn't started yet, so not making NY Resolution progress is not yet a bad thing.

I did rediscover my copy of Sol Stein's Stein on Writing and am ready to devour it again, along with his (IMHO) better How to Grow a Novel. Early in Stein on Writing he talks about opening sentences and paragraphs, which gave me the impetus to examine a few of my favourite novels and their beginnings.

Andrew McGahan's Praise -

Things started with Cynthia in October.It was three days after my twenty-third birthday. I'd just quit work at the drive-through bottle shop of the Capital Hotel.

It sets the tone: the rest of Praise is similar. Simple story-telling but so honest that you just have to keep reading. It grabs some interest: what's the whole story with Cynthia. How does it work out? Is Praise a love story? Yeah, but ... anyway, this kind of opening fits, even if it doesn't exactly drag me in.

Nikki Gemmell's Shiver -

They put me into a small, white, still room and that was wrong. One day Rick came and took me outside into the air that was vivid with smell and colour and noise.

Funny, I adore this book but this opening means nothing to me. It's a kind of prologue in italics, and the opening of chapter one works much better for me.

Hanif Kureishi's The Buddha of Suburbia -

My name is Karim Amir, and I am an Englishman born and bred, almost. I am often considered to be a funny breed of Englishman, a new breed as it were, having emerged from two old histories. But I don't care - Englishman I am (though not proud of it), from the South London suburbs and going somewhere.

Perfect, for me. Karim is "going somewhere", I want to find out if he makes it. He's obviously not 100% English with a name like that. I really, really want to know more (and I highly recommend this book, for a laugh and some insights).

Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down -

Can I explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block? Of course I can explain why I wanted to jump off the top of a tower block. I'm not a bloody idiot.

Master storyteller or what! Totally conversational, totally hooks me in, and I totally have to know more. The whole book is like that, using four different characters and such wonderful first-person narrative from all of them. Great idea for a story and great execution, and it all starts off (in my mind) perfectly.