Best opening of a novel

Nice thread idea

Absolute favorite now and forever is the opening of Infinite Jest, Hal meets with the academic spokesmen and comes out - "I am in here."

For David Copperfield, which was his second work I read, Charles Dickens already had me with his opening line:

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

Same goes for the beautiful written and irony dripping opening of "A Tale of Two Cities":

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" opens quite similiar with a reference to the time in which the novel takes place and amusing itsself over the conventions of it's time.

Raymond Chandler was a master of opening paragraphs as well. For example "The Little Sister":
“The pebbled glass door panel is lettered in flaked black paint: “Philip Marlowe . . . Investigations.” It is a reasonably shabby door at the end of a reasonably shabby corridor in the sort of building that was new about the year the all-tile bathroom became the basis of civilization. The door is locked, but next to it is another door with the same legend which is not locked. Come on in—there’s nobody in here but me and a big bluebottle fly. But not if you’re from Manhattan, Kansas.”

Carlos Ruiz Zafon in The Shadow of the Wind manages to melt atmosphere, mystery and melancholy into what makes a wonderful opening.
“I still remember the day my father took me to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books for the first time. It was the early summer of 1945, and we walked through the streets of a Barcelona trapped beneath ashen skies as dawn poured over Rambla de Santa Monica in a wreath of liquid copper.”
After I read the first few pages of the book I already knew I would hardly put it down for the rest of the day.

Leo Tolstoy's opening for "Anna Karenina" is also great.

Antonio Tabucchi's "Pereira Maintains" is also very hypnotizing from the start with it's over and over repeated "Pereira Maintains".

jimmalone



I think it sounds better in the original language " Sostiene Pereira "
😉

Sure. I just think that Italian, giving you the chance to choose between "Sostiene Pereira" and "Pereira sostiene" (sorry for German obliging you to put the verb in the second position of the statement), is more effective 😀

Have you seen the movie with Mastroianni btw?

Moby Dick has a pretty stunning opening chapter

I promessi sposi (1827)

Quel ramo del lago di Como che volge a mezzogiorno tra due catene non interrotte di monti, tutto a seni e a golfi, a seconda dello sporgere e del rientrare di quelli, viene quasi a un tratto a ristringersi e a prender corso e figura di fiume, tra un promontorio a destra, e un’ampia riviera di rincontro […]



The betrothed (British edition 1944)

That branch of the lake of Como, which extends towards the south, is enclosed by two unbroken chains of mountains, which as they advance and recede, diversify its shores with numerous bays and inlets. Suddenly the lake contracts itself, and takes the course and form of a river, between a promontory on the right, and a wide open shore on the opposite side...

The English version doesn't work well unfortunately.

Not a novel but this may be the best opening to anything, ever: Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado"

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but
when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.

You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance
to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely
settled--but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved,
precluded the idea of risk.

I must not only punish, but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution overtakes its
redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.