Posted
by Althea Schnacke
November 12, 2009 at 3:22 p.m.
"Dune" by Frank Herbert.
I know I’m going to lose what little geek cred I had, but it must be said: I didn’t like “Dune”.
The seed was planted to read “Dune” when it was mentioned on “The Writer’s Almanac”. Those of you who are up at 5:30 in the morning know what I’m talking about. I started reading “Dune” a month ago when the hot water went out and we were showering at a family member’s house because they had hot water, cable, and a copy of “Dune”.
The basic plot is that Paul, the son of a duke, moves to a desert planet with his family, where his father is promptly killed, he is forced into the desert where he takes up with the Fremen who believe him a prophet.
Or something like that. I’m not entirely sure what point Herbert was trying to make here. He doesn’t seem to ever get to a point. Paul’s a prophet, or is he? The story is about the control of “spice”, or is it really? The entire thing is a veiled allegory of Islam? I really have no clue. There’s a reason that no one has made a successful film on “Dune”. It’s so fricking convoluted that it’s impossible to film.
I suspect that some of the red herrings are explained in later books, but there’s no way I’m reading them. I’m sure I would understand the book a lot better if I were to read it again, but right now, I’m just so annoyed with it that I have no desire to read it ever again. I don’t understand how “Dune” ever became so popular, since I think it’s some of the worst science fiction I’ve read.
I'm not sure what I'll be reading next. Something cheesy and funny or something horrifying.
Comments
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MyName (anonymous) says…
I think the plot was more about oil and ecology and some of the pitfalls of mixing religion and politics, than just about Islam (or any other religion).
What I liked about it was that it was different from any other space opera out there in that Western Civilization didn't really win the culture war in this future. You don't have a United Federation of Planets or whatever policing the galaxy, you're stuck in some kind of sci-fi/feudalism crossover territory. And so the stuff that happens isn't as predictable.
The other point the author was trying to make was that being able to predict the future isn't actually a good thing for either the people involved or society in general.
But it's not really an easy book to get into and if you don't like the sort of fatalistic take on freedom or religion or the economy you might not like the book at all. So you don't really lose geek creds as far as I'm concerned. And I've read like all of the Dune books.
altheasus (Althea Schnacke) says…
I agree, it is definitely different from anything out there at the time. I'm paraphrasing from "The Writer's Almanac" a little bit, but it was said that Herbert was working at a research facility that faced the desert at the time and his inspiration for "Dune" was based on thinking about what would happen if the sand turned against people. Which, really, is a great story idea. I just don't think that Herbert developed it that well into one book, although I had a friend tell me today that some of what I would call red herrings in "Dune" are elaborated on in later books. One of my primary issues with "Dune" is it doesn't stand alone, but it doesn't inspire more reading, like "Lord of the Rings" does.