Let me start with an excerpt.Here he could look at her closely. He began wandering among the many different birthmarks and beauty spots. As for Ellen, her questions seemed to direct him towards her state of dress. For a moment, without looking down, Ellen wasn't sure whether she was being buttone...
Iain Banks' Crow Road begins thus:'It was the day my grandmother exploded.'Why this is a famous opening baffles me. It is vulgar, too brash. It is an opening by a writer that wants the reader to look at him, not the words on the page. It shows off.Murray Bail's short story 'Camouflage' begins thu...