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I was reminded, in passing, of an excellent example of an opening line in a book:
"When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen."
As a child, this immediately made me inclined to like Mary. As an adult, I admire that it cheerfully deploys our protagonist in the passive voice (twice!) and explicitly tells us about her (instead of ~showing~) and still manages to give the reader an excellent idea about the protagonist, her personality, and her surroundings.
In any case, now I'm going to go read The Secret Garden again. Mary is so grouchy. I like her.
( In fact, have the whole first paragraph, it's a delight. )
"When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen."
As a child, this immediately made me inclined to like Mary. As an adult, I admire that it cheerfully deploys our protagonist in the passive voice (twice!) and explicitly tells us about her (instead of ~showing~) and still manages to give the reader an excellent idea about the protagonist, her personality, and her surroundings.
In any case, now I'm going to go read The Secret Garden again. Mary is so grouchy. I like her.
( In fact, have the whole first paragraph, it's a delight. )