Great First Sentences

If you’re gonna tell a story and you wanna get some attention quickly, you gotta have a great opening sentence!
by Charlie Leck

I recently read a book that I thought was a teenager’s novel. I remember that my youngest read it in high school and really liked it.

I heard the novelist Pat Conway praising it on the radio the other day, so I downloaded it (in less than 20 seconds) on to my iPad.

In this recuperation period, after hip replacement surgery, I’ve got plenty of time to read, so I took up my wonderful little electronic devise and went to the first page of THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD by Zora Neale Hurston.

I went to chapter one and read the first sentence…

“Ships at a distance have every man’s wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.”

Oh, my!

Needless to say, I read on. Here’s all I’ve got to say to you: This is one extraordinary novel and I don’t know that I’ve read anything so wonderful in many, many years. Obviously, I recommend it to you.

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