Dune

Video review is now up!

Read for my resolution to read classical sci-fi.

One of the classics of sci-fi and the best-selling sci-fi (in paperback), Dune is about the young Paul Atreides after his father Duke Leto is given control of the desert planet Arrakis by the emperor. However, there is a traitor plotting the downfall of the Atreides family and when the betrayal is finally enacted, Duke Leto dies and Paul and his Bene Gesserit mother, Lady Jessica, are thrown into the desert wildlands of the Fremen people. There, Paul learns about the spice, Arrakis' most covenanted product, the Fremen people and their prophecy of the one to come and save them.

But is Paul really a hero?

It took me quite a bit of time to read Dune. It is a very complex novel with a lot of things going, characters with many motivations, and many warnings about hero worship and the way the environment has influence on people. Let's go ahead and focus on the elephant(s) in the room: the dialogue, the portrayal of women, and the colonialism thing.

The dialogue isn't as terrible as I thought it would be. Yes, there are some characters with weird dialogue like Piter, the Baron, Thufir Hawat, and Gurney Halleck. Everyone else was mostly fine; Lady Jessica was kind of a middle ground. The dialogue flowed a bit strange at times and the characters' mental reactions to certain statements often sounded like a computer talking. But other than that, fine.

The women of Dune. Those who have not read Dune are probably unaware that the story is partially narrated, or at least partially described, by Princess Irulan the daughter of the emperor and a Bene Gesserit. Irulan's excerpts reveal her omniscience, but also reveal how she knew Paul was not the hero everyone initially thought him to be. Lady Jessica I felt very conflicted about. She certainly could outsmart several people, especially men, as a result of her Bene Gesserit training. However, at times Lady Jessica seemed like the stereotypical overemotional motherly figure that has been featured in many stories, not just sci-fi. Jessica and Gurney have a debate on being emotional versus being very logical; an argument that readers will soon learn is not just on page. It feels kind of essentialist to make Jessica the emotional one and Gurney the logical one, that whole "women are emotional and men are logical" thing. At one point Jessica is so emotional that she fails to see that Dr. Yueh is the traitor just as he's about to tell her. On the other hand, Gurney gets so logical he fails to see how emotions play into humans' actions and decision. I don't think Jessica is the worst depiction, because she is very strong and smart, but still it feels stereotypical.

And Chani, Paul's Fremen lover. To be honest, Chani was just kind of there. She was certainly strong given her Fremen upbringing, but her impact on the story was not as much as I had been led to believe. She is certainly a motivational factor for Paul, but beyond that not much else.

Alia was probably the best female character. Innocent yet calculating in her thoughts and actions. I am so glad that Frank Herbert didn't kill her off in the final cut, though I wish we could see more of her.

The Bene Gesserit are an order of psychic witch-geneticist-nun-things who have trained many of the women in the empire. They have a breeding program to create the perfect male version, the Kwisatz Haderach--whom they believe Paul to be, or at least fit the myth of the Kwisatz Haderach into Paul--, and thus have become concubines for various male rulers, like Lady Jessica, in the empire to secure and purify the line. The Bene Gesserit are responsible for many things and events within Dune, including the desiring of the spice drug and initially planting the religion among the Fremen to control them. An all-female organization with malefic intentions was not too common back when Herbert wrote this book. The Bene Gesserit are not the primal antagonists of Dune; interestingly enough, that right goes to power-hungry and corrupted men like the Baron and his nephews and the emperor. However, the fact that the Bene Gesserit are responsible for some many things and are all women makes me question the reasons. At no point in the story are women outright described as being inherently villainous, but why the Bene Gesserit like that? Who knows?

As for the colonialism aspects of the story, Dune is actually pretty self-aware of this at times. It's clear that the empire and the Baron do not treat either the Fremen nor the planet well and the Fremen have every right to hate them. The book does not shy away from the Bene Gesserit's religious manipulation of the Fremen, even. One of the most important scenes in the book is Liet-Kynes' death. Before he dies, Liet-Kynes has a hallucination of his father who warns him that his support for turning Paul into a hero is one of the worse things he could've done for the Fremen and that Arrakis' environment influences people way more than they expect. A hero from the colonizers/settlers/offworlders--whatever you want to call them--cannot be a true hero for the natives of the planet, he will only doom them. However, Dune also at times enacts the "noble savage" archetype. The Fremen are strong and courageous, but are ultimately wildlings with a regressive and superstitious society. So close, yet so far.

Okay, anyway, an actual review.

Dune is actually one of the most poignant descents into villainy--tyranny?--I have ever read. The whole book is a warning about hero worship. Paul Atreides goes from being an inexperienced duke's son to Usul Muad'Dib, the messianic figure of the Fremen religion. According to his mother, he actually wasn't supposed to embody the religious aspects of the hero, and yet he does. Paul is literally a contradiction to every single other character's ideals and goals. He shows how logic and emotion and coexist in someone (Jessica and Gurney), how eliminating those you have deemed as failed is actually weakening yourself (the Baron), and how the religious superstitions you plant might have truth (Jessica and the Bene Gesserit), and how status of birth and breeding guarantees no certainty (again the Bene Gesserit).

Back to the environment thing. Arrakis' rigid environment has influenced everyone and everything who has touched it. The necessity of the spice, the prominence and strength of the Fremen religion, the political arrangements--everything! This went hand in hand with Paul's rise to power. The emperor and the Baron thought they knew or could control Arrakis and cause the downfall of Atreides, but instead their misunderstanding and pride only caused the birth of a (anti-)hero. Arrakis will deal with Paul later, I'm sure. But on its own.

Paul's rise was subversive. I went from expecting to fearful in such a subtle and gradual way. Dune isn't perfect. But I'll be damned if it isn't significate.

5 ⭐️
2024 Re-read

I have consumed the Water of Life and felt the spice agony.
It has revealed to me the error of my past ways. But as the Lisan al Gaib teaches us, ways can change.



Original Review
4 ⭐

A word of warning as you venture out to peruse the veritable smorgasbord of delectable reviews for this Sci-Fi/Fantasy Classic!
Be sure to do your Du(n)e diligence. Be wary of key phrases such as “I don’t usually read Fantasy/Sci-Fi”, “Too many made-up words” or “I’m just reading before the movie comes out”. These individuals have come down with a bad case of bandwagonitis and any self-respecting Sci-Fier-er cannot count on their reviews being in any way accurate or beneficial!
As I’m firmly placed in the 3rd category of Blockbuster-hungry fools, I’d advise you to immediately move on to another review, there’s nothing of value here. In fact, I won’t actually be writing a review, I’ll simply address one simple question:


What is Dune?

Dune is sand as far as the eye can see.
Dune is the sphincter opening.... of a desert tent.
Dune is thirst. The distillate esthers of reclaimed waste; the sour effluvia of humanity. It is greedily, no… joyously sipping your overweight Uncle’s recycled knacker sweat in a desperate effort to quell the rapid loss of your own bodily fluid.
Dune is the Water of Life; Molecular Modification; a Transcendental Trinocular Acid Trip. The [Boy] with Kaleidoscope Eyes experiencing a Psychokinesthetic extension of self.
Dune is the middle-aged man who, on hearing praise for his young sons, must always exclaim "I taught them everything they know!"
Dune is defiance of fear.
Dune is an unsettling change in POV turned familiar, insightful friend.
Dune is saying very little with a great many words.
Dune is Pardot Kynes, micro-ecology, patience and long-term goals.
Dune is the Shai-Hulud; the scandalous straddling of a worm.
Dune is religion, planted and shaped to the needs of the latest conquests and heraldic symbols.
Dune is the Ghost Wind of the Jihad
Dune is Alia, is Stewie Griffin.
Dune is Feyd-Rautha, is Commodus playing Gladiator.
Dune is a feint, within a feint, within a feint.
Dune is the house Atreides, is the Greek house Atreus.
Dune is the Kwisatz Haderach; the Messiah; a planet afflicted by a Hero.
Dune is power and wisdom at the cost of humanity; Friendship lost to worship.

n  ”Everything he touched brought death and grief… it was like a disease that could spread across the universe… How little the universe knows about the nature of real cruelty!”n

Dune.

No other single syllable means as much to the science fiction genre, a single word that conjures images of sandworms, spice wars, great battles between rival dynastic families and a massively detailed and intricately crafted universe. No wonder this is widely regarded as not just a Science Fiction masterpiece, but a literary achievement as well.

Like a study of Shakespeare, the reader finds that this is an archetype upon which many influences and imitators have based their works. The complexity and depth of the creation is staggering and I am continually astounded at the discipline with which Herbert must have focused his imagination.

This is the book upon which Herbert would base his greatest series and one that would outlive him as his son has continued to expand and add detail to the vast, immaculate tapestry woven by a true master of the genre. Encapsulating political, economic, sociological, biological, cultural and dynastic themes, Frank Herbert has set a high standard for later practitioners.

Brilliant.

***2015 reread - Read years later, this has lost none of its narrative power, if anything I can better appreciate the virtuoso attention to detail Herbert exhibited in his epic creation. From the perspective of having read his later 5 Dune sequels, I am astounded at the rich tapestry he has woven. Most impressive was his close omnipresence, analyzing the thoughts and minute actions and subtle nuances of his complicated dynamic interplay of characters. The exhaustive training of the Bene Gesserit and the intricate relations of the Houses and the Guild would stand as a monumental benchmark for speculative fiction ever since.

This time around I found myself looking more closely at the Harkonnens and will likely read some of Brian Herbert's additions to his fathers great work.

***2019 reread - I'm even more in love with this book and am again in awe of Herbert's narrative skill. This time around I noticed that all of the quotes that begin chapters are from Princess Irulan and I paid close attention to how Herbert crafted these interludes.

I also was drawn to the religious undertones that really began very early in the book and how Paul realized his gifts and was preparing for his role in the beginning chapters - all demonstrating Herbert's great narrative skill.

Finally, I became more aware of what a great character was Gurney Halleck. While the ghola of Duncan Idaho dominated the later books, Herbert's creation of Halleck was an enjoyable and thought provoking addition to this masterpiece.

Rating: 4* of five

UPDATE 23 November 2021: I saw the Villeneuve version. Very beige. Not a huge fan. Memo to Chalamet's people: Don't let anyone else cast him in a role where the reason he's there is his cheekbones. He's better than that.

5/18/2019 The 1984 film is free with Prime on Amazon. With a new version being filmed right now and including some serious firepower from Director Denis Villeneuve to Timothee Chalamet as Muad'dib the Kwisatz Haderach, it seemed like a good moment for a rewatch. It truly is a gorgeous film, but really not so hot on the woke front. Surprise surprise surprise says my brain in its full Gomer Pyle mode.
2/15/17: I found this 2003 mini-documentary about the 1984 film on YouTube. I wasn't wrong. The film wasn't very good. Beautiful, yes; good, not so much.
***
I first read this novel in 1975. It seems impossible that it was over 40 years ago, but the math is inescapable and time inexorable. My teenaged brain was rewired by the read. I had a standard by which to judge all future SFnal reads, and it was a high one. I was transported into a future I was utterly convinced would be the the one I'd have descendants to live in. I suppose that could yet happen. I'm a lot less convinced now that the human race's future is that long. Age might bring wisdom, I wouldn't know about that, but it sure brought me a booster shot of cynicism.

The Orange Catholic Bible, the books of the Empress Irulan, they all seemed to me so real...the cry "never to forgive, never to forget" rings louder today than it did in 1975 because I've lived through so many iterations of it by now. Us people, we love the shit out of our vicious vengeful vendettas, don't we. Frank Herbert got that right as all hell.

Trouble is, ol' Frank wasn't any kind of a writer, was he? He had flashes of good phrasemaking, he had long stretches of competent prosemongering, and then there was the rest of the ninety jillion words in the novel. Serviceable is le mot juste. And TBH I feel pretty generous putting it that way.

But then came David Lynch. Oh dear, oh dear. I'm not a worshipper of Lynch's at the best of times. I thought Blue Velvet was brummagem and boring; Twin Peaks was portentous twaddle. So the Kool-Aid passed my seat, I fear. His 1984 adaptation of Dune was downright laughable. I left the theater torn between gales of laughter and gusts of grief-stricken tears. Sting in that stupid winged underwear! KYLE MacLACHLAN as Paul Atreides!! Ludicrous, all of it, and the problems started with the butchery of so much of the novel that even the bones were scattered in no sensible pattern. Inevitable, really, as the runtime of the film was a paltry two hours and seventeen minutes. Imagine trying to wedge a 600-page magnum opus dense with world-building and replete with internal ironies and levels of meaning into the length of a good winter's nap. Didn't work so good.

SciFi Channel, gods please bless their collective hides, approved a mini-series written and directed by John Harrison in 2000. It was 4:17:07 in total. That was *almost* enough to do justice to the story. The result was infinitely superior to the Lynch version. It was a joy to watch for me, a forty-year-old cruelly wounded mess of a man, and felt like a balm to my fanboy memory of the novel. Perfect? No. Great? Yep!

Then I found it on YouTube (of course it's since been deleted) and thought I'd take a respite from reality by giving it a rewatch.

You know what? Special effects age badly. Mid-budget TV ones age really, really, really badly. The screenplay clunked a good deal. The story, however, was all there and was well done, with the prunings and bonsai sculptings well chosen and well shaped. And the story was just about as timely as anything I could've hoped to avoid!

Dune bashed me upside the temples with its portrayal of the collapse of Empire and revolution of the have-nots in a way it couldn't have 17 or 42 years ago. It felt more timely, it packed more wallop than it possibly could have in fatter times. This is my idea of good myth-making: A story that isn't finished telling us the truth yet, and doing so in a way that compels, impels, propels us to go on the journey ready or not. The idea of a Savior come to rescue us is eternally appealing, the sight of the unworthy getting their comeuppance is evergreen. It wasn't what I was seeking, wasn't escapist boom-bang-blowwie, but it was what I needed. A bit of heartening to fight again, odds be buggered.

And now I'm told that there's a new version on the way, possibly to be directed by Denis Villeneuve of Arrival fame. That's some fire-power there. A director with clout and access to Hollywood's cash box could do something special with this epic...though I'm still very concerned with the issues inevitable in adapting the story to movie length.

Isn't it interesting how every decade seems to call for a new version of the story? The 1960s had the novel; the 1970s the unmade Alejandro Jodorowsky adaptation, a perfect reflection of the decade's malaise/limitation mentality; the 1980s cheesy, overblown one-note-and-it's-the-wrong-one ethos; the 1990s void, again perfectly in keeping with the culture; the 2000s TV version, as everything shrunk in the aftermath of the floodwaters of Bush's election stealing; and now a big-budget, major-talent remake! That hasn't happened yet! And bids fair not to, in the parlous economic times ahead!

Frank Herbert's Dune is a great rewatch. The novel hasn't finished with us yet. I hope it won't any time soon.

When people ask me what my favorite book is, Dune is always my answer. Words cannot even do justice to what an epic tale this is. We learn about spirituality, human nature, politics, religion, and the making of a hero.

I loved the spiritual aspects of the book the best. The philosophies and practices and Pranu Bindu training of the Bene Gesserit that Paul learns and builds upon. The Bene Gesserit believe in a training regiment that results in a superior human being - one with every sense as refined as possible. This means a focus on learning, on controlling emotion, on controlling your body.

My absolute favorite quote from Dune is the Bene Gesserit litany against fear:

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."

The litany is meant to be recited when you are in a moment of fear, and as I first read Dune 20 years ago, I've employed it many times. After Paul employs it when he is fighting Jamis, the affect on him is described as "a cool bath washing over him. He felt muscles untie themselves, become poised and ready." I have read a lot about people who perform at high levels - whether it be in athletics or business, and success is all about getting into that zen state where you have a clear, focused mind. Fear is the biggest thing that can cloud one's mind - usually fear of failure, but there are other forms too. While this Litany won't always eliminate it, I've felt it to be useful to recognize the fear and call it out for what it is.

There is also a focus in the book on being able to read people by paying attention to the minutia. In many crucial scenes we see Paul and Jessica and others employing this skill, using not only their eyes, but reading the tone of what a person says, what their body language or actions say, and more. Imagine the poker player I could be if I learned these skills!

"If you rely only on your eyes, your other senses weaken."

It's interesting to me that so many science fiction novels contemplate a future with AI (aka post-singularity). In Dune, the Butlerian Jihad was the human rebellion to rid itself of AI or "thinking machines". They are now banned, and in their place we have Mentats, who are humans with processing powers far greater than any thinking machine. It's unclear to the software engineer in me how exactly that could be without some sort of physical manipulation (insertion of massive amounts of transistors, for instance), but the affect is pretty cool, we get Spock-esque beings who analyze everything extremely logically, and are great at political planning "feints within feints within feints".

There was a lot in the book about leadership. It started with Paul first learning about it from his Father, and also from the Bene Gesserit. This quote stood out to me:

"She asked me to tell her what it is to rule," Paul said. “And I said that one commands. And she said I had some unlearning to do." She hit a mark there right enough, Hawat thought. He nodded for Paul to continue. "She said a ruler must learn to persuade and not to compel. She said he must lay the best coffee hearth to attract the finest men."

Later as he grows into a leader himself, Paul learns that the most essential ingredient to be a leader is to lead people to a worthy goal.

"It was another of the essential ingredients that she felt her son needed: people with a goal. Such people would be easy to imbue with fervor and fanaticism. They could be wielded like a sword to win back Paul’s place for him."

Much has been made in modern reviews of Dune of the fact that it's clearly a statement about oil and the Middle East. The book even admits the Fremen are of Sunni descent, and many words they use (Jinn, Jihad, etc) are Arabic. I'm not sure I understand all the undertones, but one thing that was clear was about control of the worlds most precious commodity: "The people who can destroy a thing, they control it." I hope we are closing in on the end of the days when oil controls so much, but we aren't there yet. In the meantime, we had best beware of any future Harkonnen's.

3.5/5

Honestly, I never know exactly how to start my review after finishing a nearly nine hundred pages book, but I guess I'll start by saying that I definitely enjoyed it, but was it a life-changing reading experience? Unfortunately, not for me. This book is considered a classic of the science fiction genre, Frank Herbert did an amazing, or even one of a kind job, creating the entire universe in which Dune takes place, all the characters, descriptions and practically everything in this book was simply fascinating. I really wanted to be one of those people who closes this book and is completely in love with it, and then when someone asks if they've read it say "Yeah, I love Dune, it's my favorite book." but as it turns out, I'm not that person. At least, yet. This is the first story in a six-volume series, so I hope that changes.


Like I said, I liked it, but I genuinely think I would have loved it if I hadn't watched the movies. In my opinion, the movies are even a close-to-being-perfect adaptation of the Herbert’s work and pretty much everything that happened in the book also happened in the first two films - with some small changes and a few scenes were in a different order, but it didn't change the fact that I still very much enjoyed watching both of them. Dune I and Dune II, being great adaptations, unfortunately meant that watching them before reading the book wasn't the best idea as I was bored for most of the story because I just knew what was going to happen. The first four hundred pages took me the longest to read because I watched Dune I twice, but thankfully it took me much less to finish the rest. The beginning (read the said first four hundred pages) were hard to read - which may not be much of an incentive for those planning to start I know - but the second half of the book even got me hooked. Frank's writing style may not have been entirely to my liking, the "wow, what's happening" moments didn't shock me as much as I thought they would, but the characters were amazing so I have to thank them because they are the reason for me being invested. Jessica was definitely my favorite here, followed by Paul, which I know is a boring answer, but what can I say, I liked them. They may even have become my favorite son and mother duo in books, which says a lot considering I've read a lot of stories in my life.

n  n    "If you harm my son,” she said, “you’ll have me to meet. I call you out now. I’ll carve you into a joint of—"
“Mother.” Paul stepped forward, touched her sleeve. “Perhaps if I explain to Jamis how—”
“Explain!” Jamis sneered."n  n

Finally ending my rant, because I didn't plan to write so much, which is basically still nothing, because you could talk and talk without the end about this book, but I definitely plan to continuing this series. Maybe I'll even manage to finish all six books this year, we'll see. I hope at least.


——————

maybe I'll be able to read all six books by the time the next movie comes out (2027?) we'll see (I'm already having trouble with all the names)

I feel like I'm throwing myself to the sharks here, but my thoughts on this book are so conflicting.

Is it about white-saviorism or is it a critique of white-saviorism? Who knows?
And this surely has some very badass female characters but can we also talk about how disturbing the idea of that order of nuns - the bene gesserit, is? And the almost complete absence of reproductive rights had me squirming. It's also fascinating how certain gender roles from Herbert's time are preserved even within the story.

I'm so tired of the 'history is cyclical, you cannot completely alter the future even with enough foreknowledge' trope in sci-fi, but I guees Herbert was amongst the first to use it and that must be lauded.

One of my Goodreads friends, Jan-Maat, told me about historian Daniel Immerwahr's analysis of the Dune series and I'm so into it.

Dune is predominantly about ecology and preservation of indigenous culture. It's about the seizure of native lands and the dispossession it causes. In the first book the protagonist Paul Atreides 'goes native' and joins the indigenous fremen in their revolt against the galactic empire after his family is betrayed. He takes a fremen name, learns their culture, takes a fremen 'concubine' and turns into a messiah figure (this is where the debate about white saviorism plays in.) Herbert himself was very sympathetic towards indigenous communities and rallied for their causes, but he was also a libertarian, far-right political writer. Immerwahr tries to show that this unresolved conflict between Herbert's two opposing political commitments shows up in the power dynamics and political differentials within the series. And I must say, I agree.

'Spice' has been interpreted as a psychedelic drug and there are clear middle-Eastern influences in the writing of fremen culture (although Herbert had a very surface understanding of middle-Eastern culture and politics, and never went deep into it.) The far-right on the other hand, has been very intolerant of drugs, the middle East, climate change, ecological preservation and indigenous populations. This difference in Herbert's ideologies is so clearly discernible in Paul's shifting roles between hero and villain.

The book is also about counter culture and interestingly, we have seen a rise of right wing counter culture recently and a renewed interest in the Dune series. Coincidence? I don't think so.

60 pages in and then i DNFed. world building is literally shit in this book.
i wanted to read this book just in case i accidentally bumped into Timothée or Zendaya but i really tried being ✨that bitch✨ but ✨that bitch✨ was not trying to be me. horrible, unreadable, and should be illegal
but think about it, if this book was written by a woman i just know i’d be able to actually read it cover to cover. never again