In these playful and perceptive commentaries, Oz shares his rich and rewarding experience as novelist, critic, and teacher. As he analyzes the opening sections of novels and short stories by such writers as Gogol, Kafka, Chekhov, Garcia Marquez, Raymond Carver, and with passing reference to other classics of world literature, Oz instructs, challenges, guides, and he entertains. Who hasn't been through the experience of sitting in front of a blank page, with its toothless mouth grinning at you?

Some great writers write and rewrite the first sentence of a book a hundred times and never get beyond it. Others, presumably, give up altogether and, perhaps in despair, decide to begin just as it comes to them.

Oz explores with passion and wit why beginnings are as important as endings. He highlights opening paragraphs in which authors make promises they may not deliver, or deliver promises in unexpected ways, or deliver more than they have promised. It is a game that miraculously and playfully engages both writer and reader.