Dune, by Frank Herbert

You've probably heard of the movie Dune, released in 2021. It was a pretty impressive success, and Denis Villeneuve is now a real national star. It was a wonderful movie, even though I couldn't understand anything that was going on and it almost broke my eardrums the first time I saw it in the theater (this movie is a white noise party and it was cranked up to the max for an "immersive experience").

Yes, I saw it twice in the cinema. I didn't understand the second time any more than the first.

But at Christmas last year, my father-in-law gave me the complete set of Duneand I started reading it in tandem with my boyfriend. And now I've learned that Dune is the most popular science fiction book of all time with 20 million copies sold. We've read the first three books (there are six), and we both liked it a lot, even though he's a tad more enthusiastic than I am. Let me tell you about it.

Summary

I have read the first three volumes of the Dune cycle so far, and I will certainly read the last three. But in order not to take anything away from the pleasure of discovering the story, I will simply give a brief summary of the first volume, which will also allow you to understand the movie, better than I understood it.

Far in the future of the human race, Duke Leto Atreides reigns over his fiefdom, on a planet called Caladan. His official concubine, Lady Jessica, has given him a son, Paul Atreides. In doing so, Lady Jessica has disobeyed a strange all-female school to which she belongs and which ordered her to produce a daughter. This school, whose members are called the Bene Gesserit, are indeed carrying out a strict genetic selection in the hope of creating the Kwisatz Hederach, a man who will be able to see "what they cannot see".

One day, the Emperor orders Leto to manage the planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. This incredibly barren and desert planet possesses a resource of incredible value: spice, which allows interplanetary travel, but which also confers mystical visions on those who consume it.

Leto knows, however, that this is a trap: by taking control of Arrakis, he makes himself vulnerable to attack by the Harkonnen family, the planet's previous managers and historical enemies of the Atreides. However, he has no choice but to fall into the trap. So he tries to use his knowledge of the plot to protect his family from danger as best he can.

Impressions

I have to say that once again, the book far exceeds the movie.

There's really no way to do better. The universe of Dune is among the most complex I've encountered. I think that The Lord of the Rings could compare to it, but I haven't even read it. To really do justice to all this complexity, it would take a series (A mini-series was made in 2000but it only has three episodes. I'd be curious to know what people thought of it.)

To introduce us to this universe without boring us with pages and pages of explanations, the author, Frank Herbert, uses a technique which I do not know the name but which consists in putting us in the middle of it, without preambles (a kind ofin medias res for the universe rather than for the action). The result is that the reader has to deal with words specific to the political system, animals, races, materials, etc. of this universe and deduce their meaning from the context. It works, because you end up understanding a lot of things without breaking the action. But on the other hand, you have to pay attention. And that's not the best thing to ask of a reader like me, who tends to read quickly while thinking about my weekend and wondering what I'm going to eat for dinner. Luckily my hyperfocused boyfriend was with me to make up for my attention lapses.

Not only that, but the characters in Dune are quite a handful. Duke Leto Atreides is in constant danger of death, so he has learned to detect the innuendo and sub-undertone of every conversation and must develop strategies every time he opens his mouth or takes a step. Lady Jessica, on the other hand, is a Bene Gesserit, and these women have been trained their whole lives to control their bodies and thoughts to achieve their goals. Her husband Leto is an amateur in comparison. And Paul, well he's the son of these two, and even though he's a man, his mother trained him in the Bene Gesserit manner. Imagine the social dinners. It's a headache.

All this can be a bit arduous, but that's what makes the charm of Dune It's a smart book that treats us like smart people. It's very rewarding to give the book the attention it deserves and follow everything that happens, because it's captivating. We dread the desert Arrakis (keep a bottle of water, I promise you'll be thirsty), we both admire and hate the Bene Gesserit, we want to taste the spices, and we're terrified of the desert worms. Once you're in, it's very difficult to get out.

So, will you help the book get to the 21 million copies sold?