Nine months Landsman’s been flopping at the Hotel Zamenhof without any of his fellow residents managing to get themselves murdered.
-- Narration (chapter 1)

Importance: This is the first line of the novel, and it not only begins to establish the inciting incident of the entire narrative, but it also helps to establish the darkly comic tone of the novel. The narrative begins with the discovery of a dead body in the Hotel Zamenhof, where Landsman has been residing, and this opening line addresses that fact immediately. Furthermore, the conversational, grimly funny tone of the line helps to immediately establish the mood and style of the prose.

A doctor with half a dozen laminaria dilators broke the seal on the life of Django Landsman.
-- Narration (chapter 3)

Importance: This line is part of the exposition about Landsman and Bina’s personal history together. They were married for 12 years, but they divorced after aborting their unborn child. The phrasing...