Famous First and Last Lines

Famous First and Last Lines

First Line: “Of all the things that drive men to sea, the most common disaster, I’ve come to learn, is women.”

This comes from the book Middle Passage written by Charles Johnson. Johnson was born on April 23, 1948 and is currently 68 years old. He started out as a cartoonist but then switched over to writing and became an author. Middle Passage was published in 1990 and is about a freed slave named Rutherford Calhoun and his adventure as he boards onto a slave ship on a voyage headed to Africa. He does this to escape a forced marriage he was almost blackmailed into. It’s set in the 1830’s and really shows talks about the illegal slave trade in the U.S. I may read this but it seems sort of like a history book and I’m not into history. It seems like it may have some cool adventure or action but most likely will be boring for most of it. I don’t think I’ll read it.

Last Line: “...you must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.”

This come from the book The Unnamable written by Samuel Beckett. Beckett was born on April 13, 1906 and died on December 22, 1989 at 83 years old. He lived in Paris most of his life as a novelist, playwright, director, and poet. The Unnamable was published in 1953 and is about an unnamed protagonist. It’s a lot of disjointment and it doesn't have a steady plot. It’s a just a lot about the narrator's feelings. I would not read this book it doesn’t seem like a very interesting book to me. There’s no set plot and just seems like it would be boring. I would not read this book. I do really like the last line though it's great motivation.