"The beginning is easy to notice." This is the opening sentence of Ian McEwan's novel "Enduring Love", and in this first sentence the reader is involuntarily drawn into the novel. An introduction like this begs the question: the beginning of what? Capture readers' curiosity and compel them to continue reading. The very word "beginning" allows us to understand the importance of this event, since the narrator must have analyzed it several times to find the moment in which everything began, and therefore it is obviously a significant period of his life. And certainly if the beginning is "simple", what comes will be complex. This and the writer's delaying tactics, attention to precise detail, and a red herring hook the reader and truly draw them into the novel. The reader joins "Joe", the narrator, as he and his lover "Clarissa" are enjoying a romantic evening. picnic in the countryside. Bathed in the sun under an oak tree, "partially protected from a strong gusty wind", the relationship between the two has not yet been disclosed, but McEwan's use of the phrase "partially protected" seems to imply that these two people are have been protected from such horrors until now. Before the cry is heard and the race begins in the tale, a strong picture is painted; the reader can almost taste the air and feel the "fresh neck" of the 1987 Daumas Gassac as he himself tightens the corkscrew. This attention to detail is a technique that McEwan uses frequently in this chapter, to emphasize how important that day was to Joe, how the memory of this day has been replayed over and over in his mind until he is able to reel off almost all the minutiae. mechanically. The reader is then drawn into the story with the morbid curiosity of what will happen… halfway through the paper… the story begins before they take place. This method makes readers feel impatient, almost wanting to skip forward to see what happens, but too absorbed in the story, anxious, but fearful of the moment when the cry will be heard. Expressions like “other outcomes were still possible” once again add to the feeling of impending doom; other outcomes were possible, but did not occur, this clash of men all intent on helping the afflicted was useless. It is in these ways that McEwan manages to create suspense that "requires a kind of physical courage on the part of the reader to continue reading." ", using detail, delay and bait. The first chapter is undoubtedly one of the most effective openings of any narrative, making it not only "unforgettable", but achieving exactly what McEwan intended it to do; the reader's total and unconditional attention.