Gave up on Dune halfway through, then a coworker wouldn't stop talking about it

Everyone raves about Dune like it's the greatest sci-fi novel ever written. I tried reading it three years ago and put it down at page 200 because the political stuff was dragging. Then last month, my foreman kept referencing the book during lunch breaks and made it sound interesting. I picked it back up and forced myself to finish it. Now I get it the world building is insane but it still felt like a chore to get there. Has anyone else had a book click on the second try after hating it the first time?

2 comments

2 Comments

beth_butler7529d ago

That's fair but I see it a little differently. For me the pacing really clicked once I stopped expecting it to be a typical action-heavy sci-fi book and started treating it more like a political thriller with some weird spiritual stuff mixed in. Herbert spends all that time on the world building for a reason even if it feels like a slog at first. The scene where they're crossing the desert and Paul finally starts to understand the Fremen culture hit way harder on my second read because I actually paid attention to the boring parts the first time. Your mileage may vary obviously but I think Dune rewards patience in a way most modern books don't bother with.

nancyd8529d ago

Wait does that mean you actually like it now or you just finished it out of spite lol. I tried reading Dune like 4 years ago and got maybe 100 pages in and was bored out of my skull. Everyone acts like if you don't think it's a masterpiece then you're just not smart enough but honestly the pacing is terrible. The whole thing feels like a history textbook pretending to be a novel and yeah the world building is cool but so is like. Any wiki article about a fictional universe if you read it long enough. I bet half the people who say they love it just don't want to admit they skimmed through the boring parts too.