For June the hosts of The Classics Club have another member submitted question asking “What is your favourite opening sentence from a classic novel (and why)?”
For once, I don’t have any real issues with this question; the only problem though is how do I narrow down the great opening lines? I am going to add a self-imposed limit as I have done in the past to keep the focus on The Classics Club and only choose from the 24 books I’ve read so far for the group. This allowed me to revisit my posts and relive some great novels, plus it kept me from choosing some obvious fun and more contemporary classics like The Hobbit or Harry Potter or pretty much anything by Margaret Atwood. The quote I chose I don’t know if it’s my favorite, but it has by far had the most impact on my reading over the past few years:
“You better not tell nobody but God. It’d kill your mammy.”
If you didn’t recognize it, it is from Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. And the first time I read that line I got chills. Even now I get an eerie feeling because I know what’s happening and what happens next, but even without knowing you know it’s not something good.
GREAT first line.
Really interesting choice! I went for two pretty obvious ones 😛
Haahaa. I was going to go for one of the ones that is super classic and well known, but the more I thought about it the more I knew this was the quote. There’s just so much in it and its not required that you’ve read the book to get the chill the quote provides.
What an excellent choice Geoff. It’s a very direct style that takes a little bit of time to sink in but what a great novel
It really is a direct style. The novel would not have been as great if the style were different, regardless of how uncomfortable it made me at times.
good point Geoff, it would have been a much weaker novel