Books I Got Hooked on from the Opening Lines
Fahrenheit
451 –Ray Bradbury
“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a
special pleasure to see things eaten, too see things blackened and changed.”
In Love
Given I had been in a book drought for
quite a while, but I was in love. While I understand 1984 is more popular, because it has a bigger world, and discussions
the themes of the book comes very naturally, I prefer Fahrenheit 451. The way Ray Bradbury writes is the reason why. When
writing, authors need to pay attention to the way words “sound” when someone is
reading them. This is part of that “voice” category of writing rubrics that
instructors use in high school and college that mystified me to no end. It’s
how your writing sounds like you; it’s writing that has character. Ideally,
with writing sound, the words and sometimes the sentences flow seamlessly
together.
Some Subtlety
For example, in that last sentence I
originally wrote “the sentences flow together nicely” but that in of itself
didn’t flow together nicely. So I rewrote it, “the sentences flow together
smoothly.” but, personally, I didn’t like the way that the “t” in “together”
broke up the softer sounds. Therefore, I reworded it again so that “together”
was at the end. Finally I changed “smoothly” to “seamlessly”. While “smoothly”
conveys the meaning “without bumps” that I was looking for “seamlessly”
implies, to me, some subtlety to the art of crafting sentences. Similar effects
can be achieved with punctuation or varying sentence length.
Pay Attention!
Also sometimes writers want to startle
their readers. Wake up! They capture their audience’s attention with shorter sentences
or odd comparisons before delving in deeper. That now iconic first line “It was
a pleasure to burn.” Is a perfect example of this technique. It’s a shorter
sentence to ensnare the reader into consuming more of the book and most people
wouldn’t think burning is a fun activity. Burning is destructive, hot, and dangerous
work. But from the perspective of Guy Montag, the protagonist, those
traditionally negative attributes morph into twisted intoxicants.
A Tale of Two Cities –Charles Dickens
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it
was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of
belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…”
Matching
Another notorious opening line, I had heard of this one before I
even read the book. As my eyes took in the words, I started reciting them in my
head. However, the rest of the book had to live up to the iconic line and it
had to connect with the rest of the story. Since at this point in my life I was
still suspicious of classics, I had low expectations going into this book,
especially given the fact that it was Charles Dickens and I already knew he
didn’t write the happiest books. However, the extreme juxtaposition of the
opening lines is reflected in the rest of the book.
Volatility
Throughout the book there are incredible high moments, such as
Darnay being released and getting married, and devastating lows, like the next
third of the book where he is arrested again. The first line seesaws back and
forth between positives and negatives, as the book see saws back and forth
between successes and losses for the protagonists. Nevertheless, these extremes
aren’t in there just for the drama; they actually reflect the volatility of the
time and the insecurity that people had to deal with during the French
Revolution.
Little Lord Fauntleroy –Frances Burnett
“Cedric himself knew nothing whatever
about it. It had never been even mentioned to him.”
What is “it”?
For the last quote, I picked a book off
of the youth classics list I went through last during last year. It’s not the
most popular book and it sounds absurd, but the first lines piqued my interest.
What is “it”? Why wasn’t “it” mentioned to Cedric? As Burnett described this
good-hearted poor boy, I began to wonder what had befallen him that was so
shocking that it had been kept from him for years. Turns out “it” was the fact
that Cedric was the son of a disowned English nobleman. Like the rest of the
book, the first lines are a bit cheesy to modern ears.
Despite the somewhat cheesy nature, the
book impressively manages to contain a lesson in compassion, while managing to
avoid sounding preachy. Like Cedric, the book wins you over with its simple
desires, to tell you a story and make you happy. In the most frustrating
situations, where you are certain Cedric will have to accept defeat and loose
his friendly disposition, he and Burnett surprise you with the clever yet
believable way they evade the negative situation. According to one author,
Polly Hovarth, Little Lord Fauntleroy was
the Harry Potter of the 1880s (1). Although the book definitely is compelling
and worth a read, I wouldn’t quite liken it to Harry Potter as it isn’t part of
a series that children grew up with. Nonetheless, this book deserves high
praise and hopefully the opening lines hooked you like they hooked me.
What about you?
What are some of your favorite
opening lines? What moments got you hooked? Let me know in the comments!
Sources:
Image Credit:
Mugaini, Joseph.
Fahrenheit 451 Cover. Ballantine Books.
A Tale of Two
Cities Cover. Penguin Classics. ISBN: 0140437304.
Rust, Graham.
Little Lord Fauntleroy Cover. David R Godine Pub.
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