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[Spoilers] Dune Messiah. Am I too stupid to understand it? (self.dune)

submitted 1 year ago by Flapjack to c/dune

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I'm still quite early on in the book, I'm starting to feel really, really stupid. The ghola is here and we understand about the plots to overthrow Paul. We can see cracks in the empire and the criticism of religion in the form of the blind faith that people have in Paul. I understand the overall themes and I love them.

However were I'm up to Paul has just taken a shit load of Spice and had a vision of a falling moon. Ok symbolic.... I get it...but I feel completely lost whenever he starts to have a philosophical debate with Ghola. I've got no clue. ME STARING AT WORDS BUT ME BRAIN NO UNDERSTAND.

Paul Raged. "What do you know of prescience?"
"I've seen the oracle at work," the ghola said. "I've seen those who seek signs and omens for their individual destiny. They fear what they seek."
"My falling moon is real," Paul whispered. He took a trembling breath. "It moves. It moves"........ bla bla bla and then:
"My moon has a name," Paul whispered.

Mate, you can whisper it or shout it. I've got no clue what the feck you're going on about!

Ok this section is just an example and I can see what the Ghola is getting at. But so much of the book so far just has me stopping and asking, what are you on about!?

I'm finding it really tough going. Do things become clearer? I'm just feeling really thick right now... so stick it to me Dune community of Lemmy.World....am I just too thick to read this book?

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[–] j4k3 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Keep Messiah in its historical context to understand it better. The first book was an unexpected hit. Frank didn't expect to write more, at least not in an accelerated timeline. Messiah was a rushed magazine piece when such magazines were still a relevant source of SciFi media. Later, it turned into the book. The second half of Messiah reads much better than the first IMO. The first half is like a weak second draft that was locked into cannon prematurely. It was my slowest reading section of the entire series including the concluding books by Brian.

[–] Flapjack 3 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the thoughtful reply. I really hadn't thought about it before from this perspective. I'm enjoying the theme of the story, it's just like I said I find some of the individual conversations tough to get my head around