A favorite novel opening of mine comes from Ben Okri’s masterful tale The Famished Road.
“In the beginning there was a river. The river became a road and the road branched out to the whole world. And because the road was once a river it was always hungry.”
I asked five of my writer friends to share their favorite opening passage or line from a novel. Not surprisingly, many of their choices are also among my favorites.
Victor Lavalle – Author, Educator, Guggenheim Fellow
“By Christmas, 1980, the earth had had enough and was beginning to send out hints.”
—Ishmael Reed, The Terrible Twos
Tammy Greenwood – Author, Educator, Photographer
“Sth, I know that woman.”
—Toni Morrison, Jazz
Lolita Files – Author, Producer
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.”
—Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
Jeffery Renard Allen – Author, Educator
“How much is a nigger supposed to take?”
—Toni Morrison, Beloved
Ellery Washington – Author, Educator
“There is an internal landscape, a geography of the soul; we search for its outlines all our lives. Those who are lucky enough to find it ease like water over a stone, onto its fluid contours, and are home.”
—Josephine Hart, Damage