I didn't read any in Dune last night or the night before, but I did tonight, after returning home from writers critique group; twenty pages, bringing me up to page 316. My edition has 515 pages of book, plus about 30 of appendixes. Tonight I read when Paul and Jessica are accosted by a group of forty Fremen, but are able to work their way out of it and to gain the protection of this desert community. These were two nicely written chapters (found one typo; just a missing close quote). Paul quickly becomes enamored with a Fremen girl his age, and his mother seems to have an opening for a romantic relationship with the leader of this group.
In the next to last scene, Jessica takes advantage of the superstitions planted around the universe by the Bene Gessirit, and as a result we see a Fremen religious ceremony. I found this scene hard to follow. My mind drifted off twice, and I had to re-read to get it; even on the re-read I found it tough. I don't know if that was the writing or just a normal (for me) aversion to pagan religious stuff.
Despite that one difficulty, the book continues enjoyable. Hopefully I can cover the remaining 200 pages in not more than 20 days, and come back to give a full report.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I tried to read this once and never did make it all the way through. Kudos to you and please do post a review of your thoughts on it.
Steve
Steve:
Thanks for coming by and commenting.
What makes reading DUNE easier for me, perhaps, is that I love the sagas. My favorite books are the long ones by Herman Wouk (Winds of War, War and Remembrance) and James Michener (Centennial, Space, Chesapeake). Having a love for these under my belt makes Dune a bit easier. The length is not intimidating, and I'm familiar with things Arabic (which many things in the book are based on), so I all I have to do is get into a sci-fi/fantasy frame of mind.
DAT
Post a Comment