Best First Lines (cont.)

[liadnan]

I put it to the vote: which is the better* opening line:

"A man obsessed with pop singer Sonia, who believed the Germans were controlling his mind, decapitated his 80-year-old mother with a chainsaw, a court heard today",

as Greyarea would have it; or

"Before Toma Petre's relatives pulled his body from the grave, ripped out his heart, burned it to ashes, mixed it with water and drank it, he hadn't been in the news much",

as Liz contends?

*Edited to add: look, I have a loud and annoying inner pedant, and it gets very cross when I make grammatical errors, so I correct them silently when I spot them.

Comments

[anarcha.livejournal.com]

The second.

[greyarea.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think I'm going to have to with number 2 as well. Which is a bit of gut.

[fairymelusine.livejournal.com]

Absolutely the second one. It's the punchline that makes it.

[clodaghfiona.livejournal.com]

the second definatly...the first one is TOO ridiculous and not resolved enough...the second is absurd - yet oddly believable

[liadnan]

Wel, seems unanimous so far, even having the vote of the promoter of the first one.

On which I like Jim's comment on the Culture: "why did the pop singer Sonia believe the Germans were controlling this man's mind?"

[kateelizabee.livejournal.com]

Going off on a small tangent, but I think the second has the best line within the body of the article:

The first time, he was frightened, so he had a little graveside drink, for courage. He ended up with a little too much courage and couldn't use the shovel.

[lizw.livejournal.com]

*big grin*

[rparvaaz.livejournal.com]

Oh, the second! I am unanimous in that....