First sentences

I posted a shorter version of this on FB, but I'd like to expand on this theme here.

Here is the original post:

So have you heard all the hoopla about first sentences in novels capturing what then entire novel is about. (Sorry to end on a preposition, but really!) First I hear a guy on NPR going on and on about he might spend an entire YEAR getting the first sentence of a novel "right," so that it captures what the whole novel is about. (Again.) Then, Barbara Kingsolver is on NPR talking about the same thing; about how the first sentence is so important, and how it must capture the essence of the entire novel. (There!) So I offer: "Call me Ishmael." Oh and 99 others, a few of which succeed in this area, but most are, well, I guess, shitty first sentences in today's world.

And I gave the following link to the 100 greatest opening sentences of all time.

http://americanbookreview.org/100Best...

Suffice to say: I disagree.

Okay, that's not much of an expansion, but really: this is just writer gobbledegook. I would say that the first sentence is just to get you started. What you do in the OTHER 100,000 words might be more important, ultimately. Sure, we try to get every sentence right, but we fail. And we can fail on the first one, but the rest of the novel might be great - flawed, but still a good read! Kingsolver's novel might have been fine, but they gave away the entire reveal on NPR (as she mentioned!), so what's the point?

We all love good writing whether it comes on page 1 or page 1,000. (Although that takes some commitment!) All writing is flawed. No novel is "perfect." (Except maybe Catch-22.) "Call me Ishmael" is considered the best opening sentence EVER. But it could be about a Jewish cleric, or a scholar, or a nerd. We have no clue that he is whaler/narrator.

We all make every sentence the best we can, and sometimes we fail. It's a given. But this notion that we can (or SHOULD) sum up our entire work in one sentence in the opening is, IMHO, silly.