Friday Firsts

The first line can make or break a reader’s interest. Just how well did the author pull you in to the story with their first sentence? Participating in this weekly book meme is extremely easy, so bring it on! (And don’t forget to link back to Well-Read Reviews!)

*Grab the book you are currently reading and open to the first page.
*Write down the first sentence in the first paragraph.

*Create a blog post with this information. (Make sure to include the title & author of the book you are using.) Did this first sentence help draw you into the story? Why or why not?

*Link back to Well-Read Reviews in your blog entry.

Share your Friday Firsts here! Leave a comment – if you don’t have a blog, just share your book’s title, author, and first sentence. If you do, don’t forget to link back so I can visit!

My Friday Firsts is from: White is For Witching, by Helen Oyeyemi

Miranda Silver is in Dover, in the ground beneath her mother’s house.
Her throat is blocked with a slice of apple
(to stop her from speaking words that may betray her)
Her ears are filled with earth
(to keep her from hearing sounds that confuse her)
Her eyes are closed, but
Her heart thrums like hummingbird wings.

Synopsis: (Taken from Amazon.com)This novel weaves a tale of four generations of women and the house in Dover, England, they’ve inhabited—a vengeful, Gothic edifice that has always rejected strangers. The latest occupants are twins Miranda and Eliot, who were 16 when their mother, Lily, died and when their father, Luc, converted the house into a B&B. Miranda’s grief is “far far bigger than her.” She develops pica, an eating disorder, eschewing her father’s cooking and binging on hidden caches of chalk and plastic. After Miranda is discharged from a clinic, Eliot grapples with his brotherly responsibilities, telling Lily’s ghost, “She won’t forget or recover, she is inconsolable.” Lily’s mentally ill mother and grandmother still “inhabit” the house—each understanding that “we absolutely cannot have anyone else.” Oyeyemi’s style is as engimatic as her plot, with juxtaposition of past and present and abrupt changes in narrator, from third to first person, Eliot to Miranda, Lily to her mother. In all, a challenging read laced with thought-provoking story lines that end, like Miranda’s fate, mysteriously.


Thoughts: Sorry, I know I totally gave you more than one sentence. But I had to share this first section. Just the set-up and punctuation grabbed me at first, but then I got sucked in with the text. I’ll tell you, it’s certainly not a “breeze-read”, but I’m quite engaged in the story already. I’m wondering, is the girl dead? But no, it says that her heart is still beating. Is she trapped? Hmmm, a possibility. Guess I’ll have to read further to find out!