The Worm - (Dune pages 75-160)
Thinking Man Book Club Week 2
John’s Comments:
In this week’s update on Dune, not much has changed. Well, at least story-wise. A few things have happened. Nothing outstanding or that insane. Nothing that really jumped out to keep my eyes glued to the pages. But, it could be worse.
By that I mean the drooling over the young youthful ducal heir has been cut down substantially. Thank Maud’dib for that one.
The writing has also improved drastically. It’s still not my cup of tea, but the needless descriptions and character thoughts mid-conversation have cut down drastically.
Although I still haven’t been able to fully get behind the book, I can understand the significance. It came out in 1965, 12 years before Star Wars was birthed into existence. So, Dune is really one of the first ever complete and total world-building science fiction works.
I think I took that for granted during the first 75 pages. Having witnessed the entire Star Wars franchise get beaten to death during my lifetime, I forgot there was a time when stuff like it didn’t exist.
You basically get to see a complete film written down into every detail of the novel with the constant descriptions of strategic planning and the business side of things that we have been sifting through. This is something other books from the era may breeze through to keep the reader entertained—Herbert did not care to do this, for better or worse.
In sum, do I get why the book is the greatest sci-fi book of all time, or “sci-fi’s greatest masterpiece” as Melissa’s copy claims to be? No. Not really. But I can understand why people would think so. Perhaps it’s a case of an ‘it’s not you, it’s me’—sort of, at least.
This week's reading has left me with one question: was the Dune worm an inspiration for Wormy from Spongebob? Think about it. Anyway. The Trump Worm is the best thing this book has given me so far, and I finally got to see one worm in action in the final few pages of this part. The second best thing has got to be the popcorn bucket they're selling at theaters for the film. Look it up, it's pretty unbelievable. I pray that I won't find one of them in my brother's room in the weeks to come...
Melissa’s Comments:
Has it been a whole week already?
Another week of our guide to Dune has passed, and it feels like significantly less (in that not much has happened in the book so far) and also significantly more (in that each chapter of the book has taken me excruciatingly long to read).
Admittedly, this is probably my fault. Objectively, it’s not a bad story. There’s intrigue and suspicion and betrayal, and it seems like something’s brewing (albeit slowly). It’s also very, very, (very, very, very…) long, and we’re still firmly entrenched in the ‘setup’ portion of the book. Things might change.
John’s comparison to Star Wars makes a lot of sense—which doesn’t bode well, because I’ve never successfully made it through a Star Wars movie.
That’s all for this week. When we check in next time, we’ll have finished Book 1. Hopefully something worth mentioning happens by then.
It’s honestly a bit wild to read your guys comments so far. I appreciate your candor in that you don’t hide how neither of you seem to particularly care for the book yet but it really almost feels like we’re not even looking at the same work
Granted, I don’t find myself currently lost in the sophistications of Plato’s Republic or Orwell’s London as a place of reference but perhaps it’s actually a gift to have the mind of a simple pleb in this case
I hope that neither of you take this the wrong way as I have no problem admitting the bias of my desire to defend Herbert’s work as well as my interest in it. I also would like to come forward and say that I haven’t extensively read any of your other articles, reviews, or commentaries. From what I do see, you paint yourselves as highbrow individuals promoting the readings of Dostoevsky and making attempts to teach the rest of us facts of history which is why I find it so strange that you neither of you seem to view this as an allegory or commentary on society and values
It seems Ms. Petrie has a much more open mind towards the work than Mr. Mistretta for whom I would recommend to go back to bookshelf and find that shelved copy of Foucault’s Pendulum because for as little as Paul’s short responses add to the book in your narrow view of exposition, I would propose that your long responses add even less to the discussion of this fine literary work
and as another unsolicited piece of advise. . . I’d say the ~75 pg/week pace that felt “natural” for you guys does a disservice to the reading experience - I think you’d find the story more enjoyable if you push through at a faster pace. It’s something that could easily be finished in a day of dedicated solid reading and yet for you to stretch it out over almost 2 months so you can clout chase seems unwarranted
Of course it’s your book club though, do what you will but I’d love to delve into a discussion about some of the comments each of you have made so far! Worth specific mention are some of Ms. Petrie’s earlier chosen quotes and the interesting and astute correlations she’s made to our world. I think Mr. Mistretta would do well to have someone discuss with him various differences in the humans of our society and those of a fictional world, set ~20,000 years in the future, in which psychotropic drugs and cult based training programs have risen to the forefront of an imperialist society. I’d also be happy to bring up other topics of social conditioning, etiquette, effects of colonialism, or even religion - all topics which are clearly brought up in this “boring” work - but he seems more pressed in discovering mysteries of SpongeBob SquarePants at this point
Please forgive my fanaticism. . . Looking forward to next weeks publication!