Famous Last Lines (And First lines, too)

First Line:
"They shoot the white girl first."
Is from 'Paradise' by Toni Morrison. "Paradise" was published in 1993. The novel is about a town in Oklahoma called Ruby and the nearby convent. The town is considered a refuge by its occupants and the men in the town hate the convent. The convent isn't really a convent anymore, it is more of a safe place for women. The novel is about the social hierarchy's that exist there and the difference between the women and the men. It begins with the men of Ruby massacring the convent. A theme in the novel is the town Ruby trying to be a Utopia and destroying things it doesn't understand, like the convent.

Toni Morrison was born in 1931 in Ohio. She has written several famous novels, including 'Sula', 'Beloved', and 'The Bluest Eye'. She is a Professor Emeritus at Princeton, and has won the Pulitzer Prize.

I probably would not read this book, because it does not sound like my cup of cocoa. I don't think I'm intellectual enough to enjoy it. The book sounds dark, gruesome and dystopian. These things are alright, but I don't like reading about them all at once. Also, I really don't like Oklahoma very much and I don't want to read a book set there.
 

Last Line: "This is not the scene I dreamed of. Like much else nowadays I leave it feeling stupid, like a man who lost his way long ago but presses on along a road that may lead nowhere."
This is from "Waiting for the Barbarians" by J.M. Coetzee. J.M. Coetzee is/was from South Africa. He was born in 1940 in South Africa, though he lives in Australia now.

The novel is about a magistrate of a colony in "the empire." Apparently, the empire is worried about barbarians and comes to the magistrate's town, where they bring back barbarians and torture them. The magistrate starts questioning imperialism, eventually having a relationship with a barbarian girl. This lands him in some doo-doo, and he comes face-to-face with the less glamorous side of imperialism.

I feel like I am more likely to read this novel than 'Paradise,' though it still sounds a little violent for my taste. It also reminds me of 1984 in a way.
Also check out this cover: I think the shades make it. Except it appears to be a different "Waiting for the Barbarians." So that was a let down. The correct cover is on the right.