THE SENTENCE: SALMAN RUSHDIE
The first sentence of "In the South", a new short story by Salman Rushdie published in the New Yorker, is wonderful:
The day that Junior fell down began like any other day: the explosion of heat rippling the air, the trumpeting sunlight, the traffic’s tidal surges, the prayer chants in the distance, the cheap film music rising from the floor below, the loud pelvic thrusts of an “item number” dancing across a neighbor’s TV, a child’s cry, a mother’s rebuke, unexplained laughter, scarlet expectorations, bicycles, the newly plaited hair of schoolgirls, the smell of strong sweet coffee, a green wing flashing in a tree.
So wonderful, in fact, that it has inspired a new series here that we'll call "The Sentence". We will now occasionally highlight extraordinary sentences. Feel free to suggest some.
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I nominate the first line of
May 20, 2009 - 15:10 — Visitor (not verified)I nominate the first line of "100 Years of Solitude" as a sentence that suggests a timeline both past and future, an introspective primary character, and a curiosity which draws the reader to continue.
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
"I am an American, Chicago
May 20, 2009 - 15:46 — Visitor (not verified)"I am an American, Chicago born..." (etc.)
First sentences
May 20, 2009 - 16:50 — Emily BobrowInteresting - we are all choosing first sentences. Are these merely the most carefully wrought? Like a come-on line at the bar? A foot in a door?
the sentence
May 20, 2009 - 22:24 — cinetrix (not verified)"Dead men are heavier than broken hearts." - Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep.
Chandler's Sentences
May 21, 2009 - 02:02 — Rockingham (not verified)You can pretty much quote any Chandler sentence in a list of the very best. This from Farewell My Lovely:
"A blonde to make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass window."
Obviously the famous first
May 21, 2009 - 06:27 — Srinivas Anumolu (not verified)Obviously the famous first line of Anna Karenina. I don't find the Rushdie line that great. It seems like a standard first line - start with something dramatic and either harp back to the past or make a list of interesting facts
If on a winter's night a
May 21, 2009 - 10:24 — Visitor (not verified)If on a winter's night a traveler....
First Sentence- John Irving- A Prayer for Owen Meany
May 21, 2009 - 15:36 — Reed (not verified)"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice- not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany."
As far back as I can
May 23, 2009 - 12:47 — faceless (not verified)As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a critic.
Sentence
May 26, 2009 - 21:36 — Jason (not verified)Not very original, but my favorite is still the opening line from One Hundred Years of Solitude:
"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad,
Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant
afternoon when his father took him to discover ice."
In life we get what we
July 21, 2009 - 17:03 — En ligne (not verified)In life we get what we deserve...
Jean En Ligne
Obviously the famous first
October 15, 2009 - 01:27 — jeff (not verified)Obviously the famous first line of Anna Karenina. I don't find the Rushdie line that great. It seems like a standard first line - start with something dramatic and either harp back to the past or make a list of interesting facts ( WoW Leveling Guide | Watch Satellite TV on PC )
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