If you’ve had a sneaking suspicion that this
blog has been on auto-pilot for the past two and a half weeks, you’re very
astute. (Was it the eight straight days of Bookish Nerd Bait that tipped you
off? The lack of responsiveness to comments? The dearth of weekend posts? All
of the above?) Well, we’re back. And we’re better than ever.*
My vacation spanned
three weekends, two countries, and despite my best efforts, only one book. So
without further ado, let’s resume First Line Friday by looking at the opening
of that particular book:
“The circus arrives
without warning.
“No announcements
precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or
advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was
not.”
It’s the opening salvo
in Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus,
and if you’ve read the title of this
book before you get to the first page (hey, I’m not making any assumptions
about your crazy reading habits) you already have some vague idea of what it’s
going to be about. You know what a circus is, of course, but you may be asking
yourself what the devil a night circus might be.
The first line gets
right down to business. There’s no beating around the bush, no backstory or
exposition, no long lead-in. Just answers. It’s slightly mysterious, yet it
already unveils some of the mystery the reader brings to the reading. It begins
to explain and yet it raises new questions. It’s a great hook, and that’s what
first lines are all about.
The book is by no means
a great work headed for the Western Canon, but it’s a pretty decent opening if
you ask me. Check it out.
*
We’re not actually better than ever, but we probably feel a bit better
post-vacation
