Week #35 – Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Last year on Mondays we had fun with books. This year, we'll look at most of the same books but also some new ones, and see if the first line [or first paragraph] met the goal of a first line which is ==> to hook the reader's attention.

Here are some tips on writing a first line

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/tips-for-writing-the-opening-line-of-your-novel

Week #35 –   Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_Girl_(novel)

First published: May 24, 2012

Here's what the story is about: The narrative alternates between Nick and Amy Dunne. Nick's narration begins shortly after arriving home on his fifth wedding anniversary to find Amy is missing and there are signs of a struggle. Nick is the prime suspect. Both Nick and Amy are revealed to be unreliable narrators.

First line/paragraph:

When I think of my wife, I always think of her head. The shape of it, to begin with. The very first time I saw her, it was the back of the head I saw, and there was something lovely about it, the angles of it. Like a shiny, hard corn kernel or a riverbed fossil. She had what the Victorians would call finely shaped head. You could imagine the skull quite easily. 

First person POV. A man musing about how he thinks about his wife. Very strange that he always thinks of her head. Not her smile or anything else about her. Always her head. We don't have anything of the plot, just this thought. I'm somewhat intrigued about a man who thinks of his wife's head before anything else about her. And in the next paragraph he thinks about unspooling her brain. A bit creepy but I'm intrigued enough to keep reading.

Does this first line/paragraph hook your attention? If you had never heard of this story, would you buy this book in 2024? Knowing the story, would you change the first line? Tell us in the comments!