Your Stephen King's Favorite Beginning

[michal]

Enough with all these discussions about "Favorite Endings", what about openings people? Maybe Saint-Exupery's Little Prince preferred sunsets, but I like a good sunrise once in a while - those first pages that can be promises of anything.

So, my favorite SK openings - Wolves of the Calla (right from the first page I knew this one is going to be great) and maybe, surprisingly, Dolores Claiborn. I just blinked and was immediately inside her world.

What's yours?

[thymeoperator]

'IT' - i think that is the most intense well-written immediately engrossing surreal opener to a book ever - i mean the first maybe 50 pages, the whole story of georgie's death, i've never known 50 pages to go by so quickly. i thought it was so clever, i instantly knew it was going to be an incredible book.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Two -

'The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed' (of course!)

And

'This is what happened' (The Mist)

Long days and pleasant nights

[sam peebles]

'IT' - i think that is the most intense well-written immediately engrossing surreal opener to a book ever - i mean the first maybe 50 pages, the whole story of georgie's death, i've never known 50 pages to go by so quickly. i thought it was so clever, i instantly knew it was going to be an incredible book.

I've got to go with IT as well. That book just never let up. Starting with Georgie's death (his mother playing Fur Elise on the piano while the rain keeps coming down), and then skipping ahead twenty seven years and going right into the man thrown over the bridge and Pennywise taking a big chomp out of his armpit. IT got its hooks in me from the start.

[ginapenn]

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.."

[Jack Frost]

I absolutely LOVE the opening to Pet Sematary where he lists people who have died and have books written about them and then a list of people that did the autopsies, buriels, etc. that have never had their story told and then ends with the AMAZING line of:

“Death is a mystery, and burial is a secret.”

Wow!

[Jack Frost]

'IT' - i think that is the most intense well-written immediately engrossing surreal opener to a book ever - i mean the first maybe 50 pages, the whole story of georgie's death, i've never known 50 pages to go by so quickly. i thought it was so clever, i instantly knew it was going to be an incredible book.

I was actually going to list this as my number two favorite opening. I agree completely...SOOOOOO intense. Loved (and hated) that beginning!

[cfin5256]

I will go with It as well.

[Matthew.Degnan]

I agree with John on - 'The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed' because it is the opening line to (in my mind, might be wrong, correct me if im wrong) the longest story ever written.

[Srbo]

The Mist, like John said...

" This is what happened".

Even though Steve admits in the book that he simply stole that line from Douglas Fairbairn`s novel " Shoot ".