I've only just started this book but I already know that reading it will be time well spent from the opening lines. This has happened before.

Chapter One is preceded by the following quote:

"Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering in order that they may have existence" - Lêon Bloy

Then, the opening sentence of Chapter One itself:

"A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead."