Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion
This topic is about
Dune
Buddy Reads: Current & Upcoming
>
Alex, Brittany & Jenny - Buddy read of Dune (Dune #1) by Frank Herbert starting Jan 1, 2021
date
newest »
newest »
Spice is very nice !!
Haha, happy to have you both! I just finished chapter 3...moving on to the 4th...is it normal to be a little confused the first read through?
Worry not. It all shakes out as you go. You are learning a lot of names and titles, and there is a lot of political intrigue. If you are confused, ask me. I can probably explain without spoilers.
Or I can at least try. teehee
Am on P 108 and WOW-what an imagination that Frank Herbert has and would be so fun to have a long supper with him.My thoughts-when and sorry if this is spoiler to Brittany(if so cover your eyes)when In the book when Paul first meet his father, Duke after not seeing him for awhile-no embraces or smiles-pretty apathetic greeting. page 37-spice is introduced as to how important spice is.
The beginning of each chapter with quotes from books is so intriguing-loving this book !!
"Royal" families. I can't imagine that warmth and monopoly games after dinner are a thing.I think if this is humanity's future amongst the stars, and I can see it happen, the important ruling families would be the Musks, and the Waltons, and the Bezos. Kind of creepy.
I do sort of wish to have some of the Bene Gesserit training. The voice and the being able to tell if someone is lying. Could be fun.
I am listening to the audio this time. Good narrators.
Oh, and good luck with the dinner with Herbert as he is no more, alas.
LOL- Herbert faked his death so he could control the spice-another brilliant move on his part.
I did not know that little tidbit. Wow.
Thank you!I am on page 59 now
Ok, so my understanding so far is Paul (and his family the Atreides) are human...I think. And they live on Caladan but will soon be moving to Arrakis for some reason, but it is apparent that the Duke (Pauls dad) will be deceived when going to that planet.
Lady Jessica (Pauls mom) had him tested to see if he might be a Kwisatz Haderach, which basically is a male Bene Gesserit?
But in the last chapter I read, the Duke suggests Paul has Mentat capabilities, and I think Mentat are robots who look like humans and serve the humans on an intellectual level.
Let me know if I got any of that wrong?
Am I understanding the ideas properly?
Alex Ill catch up to where you are soon and read what you posted earlier :)I saw youre on page 108 and stopped reading your post further, in case of spoilers.
Basically. Everyone is human, really, even the mentats. They are just trained to think like robots or computers. The Kwisatz Haderach is the supposed culmination of centuries of directed breeding by the Bene Gesserit. Think "Messiah". Powerful, and directed by the breeding program to serve the Bene Gesserit's goals.
Paul was supposed to be a girl, but Jessica decided to not direct her ovaries to go that way. Mind over matter! Paul is not supposed to exist. The animal test was to see if he was perhaps a danger to the Bene Gesserit, or dim-witted, or instinctually more animal than human in his thinking. It is kind of mis-leading.
Instead of thinking of humans vs non-humans, think good vs evil.
Even though over the millennia, people have been bred to be better fighters or better thinkers or better evil politicians, (teehee), they are all still human at the core.
I stopped listening at chapter ten, as the phone rang, and it is hard to talk to one's sister and listen to a book at the same time. I will pick it up later today or tomorrow. I so love this book.
Okay good to know!! Thank you!So I’m on page 113 now and it’s a long chapter with the duke and his strategy staff arranging how they are going to run the planet?
This chapter is a bit sleepy and harder to understand.
Are the Fremen just people who live on Arrakis?
And the Harkonnens were the last family to live there, moving when the Emperor told them to move so the Atreides could move in?
Lol @Alex about Herbert faking his death. I’m excited to learn more about this spice.
It’s funny I just finished a book that was clearly inspired by dune. The book was about being a good taster for the king or higher up ruler to make sure he wasn’t being poisoned. Midway through the book a secret “bean” was discovered and they spent the rest of the book trying to figure out what this “bean” did to people. It ended up dulling people’s senses and the enemy used that to their advantage. The “bean” ended up being something resembling cocoa and it was a highly prized substance.
Maybe I’m reaching but it reminds me of the value of the spice in Dune.
I love the imagery in this book so far. It makes me appreciate water and live plants!! The hunter seeker...any ideas what it looked like? I pictures a little ferret type thing swinging madly in the dark holding a little knife lol.
Yup. I don't remember if the Fremen back story is ever fully explained- when how and why they ended up on Arrakis, but they have been there a long time, and are the only ones who really understand the place. The Emperor's reasons for moving the families is explained at some point I think. I can't remember for sure. I don't recall if the Harkonnens displeased the Emperor or if was just political machinations.
The Harkonnens ran the planet and controlled the spice trade for quite a while. Shocking that they don't really want to give up that power.
I pictured the hunter thingy as mechanical. Now I can't recall whether I am remembering my impression on first read, or an art director's version in one of the movies.
am on page 180-can't put the novel down !!
Im catching up to you soon Alex. I've begun watching a book club breakdown every few chapters so I can try to understand this book better and I'll tell you, most of the interpretations, I did not understand just by reading it one time lol. So I'm learning a lot from the youtube breakdowns every few chapters.
Ok Im page 206 now and it got way better!!! I hope it keeps building like this. The first 150 pages were not easy!!
The world building is a bit intense. But, you have it firmly in your brain now, don't you? So descriptive and so interesting.I have just a couple of hours left on my audio. I will finish tomorrow morning probably.
I understand the politics and the main picture better now. Which makes it easier to understand the little details. The dinner with everyone before the *spoilers* Duke is kidnapped was really interesting. That was my ah-ha! Moment where I started to understand the big picture better.
The YouTube breakdowns are helping too, she’s explaining things I didn’t catch the first time around but I only listened to her fore the first 95 pages and haven’t gone back and listened to the rest of her breakdown yet.
I’m writing down some really cool quotes from the book too. It’s pretty well crafted I will say.
"Fear is the mind killer"
Synopsis
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for...
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream