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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 369 KB, 1524x2340, dune.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8640272 No.8640272 [Reply] [Original]

Why does ANYONE recommend this book?

I'm halfway through and it's fucking horrible. I want to quit.

[Insert needlessly long and difficult to pronounce name here]

[Insert badly described rock formation for the hundredth time]

[Insert description of Fremen eyes again just in case you didn't catch it the first hundred times]

IT'S HORRIBLE AND IT HAS ALMOST PUT ME OFF SCI-FI FOR LIFE (AND THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD ONE LOL).

IS THERE ANY WORK THAT COULD POSSIBLY RE-INSTALL MY FAITH IN THIS MOST ARDUOUS GENRE?

Fanx

>> No.8640288

You're beyond saving, go watch Hollywood movies or something

>> No.8640289

>>8640272
lol reading genre fiction

>> No.8640291

>>8640272
I, Robot.
Best sci-fi.

>> No.8640296

>>8640272
OP, skim through those sections and focus on the themes.
If the themes of desert warfare, religion, drugs, and politics don't get your neurons firing, you really should kill yourself and save everyone us some trouble.

>> No.8640331

>>8640291
>Look up the I, Robot collection on Amazon
>its cover is a picture of Will Smith

lmao

>> No.8640338

>>8640296
They are all shallow as fuck though. The novel is at its best when it's not doing its half baked allegory and sticking to being an adventure in vein of John Carter. "What if religion is just there to contol us" or "hey guys corporations are bad" or even "are the good guys even good? Woah" are not ideas that should impress anyone beyond their teens.

>> No.8640340

>>8640331
Book has nothing to do with the movie beyond the three laws of robotics. Seriously.

>> No.8640343

>>8640340
That's why it's so silly

>> No.8640347

>>8640272

It's a good story....but the writing and execution is pretty lame.

I think the sci-fi channel adaptation of it is probably the best current way to get all the good shit out of dune without having to read all the garbage.

>> No.8640371

yEAH BECAUSE EVERY BOOK YOU READ HAS TO BE THE GREATEST PIECE OF ART EVERY CONCOCTED LOL PULP IS THE FOUNDATION ESSENTIALS ARE BUILT ON YOU ARE FUCKING TRASH MY DUDE PICK UP ANOTHER FORM OF ARTISTIC COMMUNICATION LIKE DICK SUCKING...UR POWER LEVEL IS TOO WEAK TO HIT pHILIP k dICK SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL GIVE UP ON THIS 'BREATHIN' THING ANYHOW...

>> No.8640382

It's not a great novel, but you should like it more than you do.

>> No.8640387

>>8640371
Already read D.A.D.O.E.S

It was miles better than Dune.

>> No.8640398
File: 44 KB, 325x500, Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8640398

>>8640272
I like this one

>> No.8640400

>>8640288
>ha he must only like things in the accessible mainstream, unlike genre fiction
I think you're confused

>> No.8640417

>>8640272
Sci-fi fans have relatively low standards, because there's vanishingly little in the genre that's well-written enough to compare to good litfic. The go-to for legitimately well-written sci-fi is Gene Wolfe, also maybe Ursula Le Guin.

>> No.8640439

>>8640417
Lem is also pretty good. Bulgakov also. Zelazny occasionally produced a gem.

>> No.8640467

>>8640272
Don't like it, don't read it. Who cares? Stop wasting space with your garbage on the board, post about something you love and actually care and have any kind of real thought about.

In short, fuck you generic shitposter, nobody gives a fuck what you like or don't like.

>> No.8640491

>>8640347
Must... not... take the bait.

>> No.8640522

>>8640467
>In short, fuck you generic shitposter, nobody gives a fuck what you like or don't like.

The next person who was going to pick up this shitbook will now think twice upon seeing this thread.

You're just mad that I have called out your favourite book for being a piece of dull shit. Fuck you and your shitty taste in books, cuntflannel.

>> No.8640524

>>8640272
It's sci-fi without any science, it's really a book about the present, about an ecological catastrophe and politics.

>> No.8640569

My bud told me the appeal was it's the politics of old timey afganistan but in space and I'm like bruh, If the best you got is that it's a reductive analogy then count me out.

>> No.8640606

>>8640272
you're stupid

>> No.8640614

I consider this a sci-fi version song of ice and fire , written 40 years before and way better

>> No.8640667

>>8640272
Compare it to a well written novel, and it's poor.
Compare it to other scify, and it's brilliant.

>> No.8640812

considering that it was written in 1965, the story was way ahead of its time.

>> No.8640827

>>8640272
This guy gets it.

>> No.8640918

>>8640272
I share your feeling but I don't think it's that horrible. But yeah I can't quite see why so many people like it in the first place, granted it's the only sci-fi novel I've read.

>> No.8640976

>>8640417
>believing this
>2016

Most litfic is on the same level as genre fiction: boring dross written by worthless hacks.

>> No.8640992

>>8640272
>being unable to enjoy truly great literature
>oh noes it's hard to understand
>why can't the literature of ideas not hold my hand more, waaaaaaah

How does it feel to be a witless fuck, you semi-functional child?

>> No.8641006

>>8640272
>judging a genre based on an example that is highly unorthodox and arguably couldnt be described with just that label

lmao what a pleb

>> No.8641026

>>8640272
>baiting this hard
Man, /lit/ trolling really is babby-tier. You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

OP is probably is a huge scifi nerd (like most of us here, really) who didn't like someone shitting on Star Wars. Soooo, here we are.

>> No.8641175

>>8640992
>truly great literature
>dune
gr8 b8 m8

>> No.8641321

>>8641026
>Like most of us here
Speak for yourself.
Sci Fi is boring as hell.

>> No.8641508

>>8640296
You're gonna mention themes and not mention environmentalism?

>> No.8641694

>>8640614
anon i had this exact thought after reading both

>> No.8641706

>>8640338
>didn't get it
Dune is suposed to be Frank's geobiology homework dude.
The faux middle-eastern conflict is just there because it was a thing at the time, and he wanted to explore environmental change in desertic places.
You'd probably be better off away from hard sci-fi, try new wave guys like Zelazny.

>> No.8641709

>>8640331
>Implying shit getting movie covers is a new thing
Happens all the fucking time. Even to the god damn Hobbit and the Films were fucking awful.
Just look at Despicable me. A somewhat enjoyable animated movie. But if you see it on Amazon or Netflix what's the cover image for it? A fucking Minion. No sight of the main guy or even the kids. Just the Minion. Because LOL MINIONS.

>> No.8641728

>>8640272
>Insert needlessly long and difficult to pronounce name here
your attention span and need for familiar whitebread names isn't an argument

>Insert badly described rock formation for the hundredth time
nothing helps the reader visualize the story more than reading " a big rock" 20 times a page

>Insert description of Fremen eyes again just in case you didn't catch it the first hundred times
imagine that, the writer mentioning his symbolism more than once

>all caps
kill

>AND THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE GOOD ONE
your

>LOL
self

>> No.8642582

Read Bakker's 'Second Apocalypse' series. It's literally a better Dune.

>> No.8642589

>>8642582
Is it?

>> No.8642730

>>8641706
I didn't mention his treatment of environmentalism since he himself didn't give more than two chapters to it. I have a difficulty with "hard sci fi" since it is never as deep as the word "hard" would imply. At most it just means some turboautism pseudo-scientific explanations for the most extraneous aspects, but Herbert doesn't even do that. Like I said it's a golden age adventure novel at its core with a bunch of half baked ideas that never got fleshed out, and yet has the gall to claim that makes it "deep".

>> No.8642753

>>8642589
Pretty much. Dune in an epic fantasy setting with actual characters.

>> No.8642781

>>8642730
That's what I've been saying; it's the best sci-fi novel ever written.

>> No.8642792

>>8642781
>all sci fi is even worse than dune
lads...

>> No.8642824

>>8642781
Errr, it's barely even sci fi. More fantasy.

>> No.8642863

I have tried multiple times to read it, but it's just a slog to get through the world building. I don't give a shit about the characters or their troubles, and there's so much expository stuff to read.

I like Heinlein way more, I think "the moon is a harsh mistress" is a better read and a more interesting seeing.

>> No.8642876

>>8641709
are you autistic?

>> No.8644594

>when /lit/ is so abstract in memes I don't know who to believe
>not even myself

>> No.8644660

>>8640289

snob

>> No.8645053

>>8640976
That's why I specified
>good litfic

>> No.8645065
File: 41 KB, 320x475, 51WN6TRFQFL.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8645065

>> No.8645070

>>8640272
OP, hi. I had the exact same problem as you. I wanted to get into sci-fi, I started reading Dune, and I nearly burned my library's copy. It's fucking trash.

There are books that salvage the genre, though. Please check out The Invention of Morel by Casares. It's published by NYRB and it has an introduction to the text written by Borges in which he calls the book, "the perfect novel."

The scale of the work is a lot less grandiose than Dune's, but the writing is beautiful, the ideas are a lot more provocative.

I would also recommend Solaris by Lem. It's more of a traditional sci-fi "epic" but the prose is incredible. I don't think it's as good as the Invention of Morel, but it's far and away the second best sci-fi novel I've read.

Otherwise, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and Ubik are entertaining. PKD is not the best prose stylist, but he has high points, and he usually deploys "fantastic" elements to stand in for philosophic problems, which I think is the best use of science fiction.

I also remember enjoying HG Wells in high school, and I hear good things about the gay dude that wrote Times Square Red, Times Square Blue (which is not a novel).

But I feel your pain, OP. Sci-fi is a genre I want to like, but whose "best" authors are usually underwhelming.

>> No.8645247
File: 52 KB, 419x684, FadedSunOmnibus.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8645247

>>8640272

>> No.8645252
File: 135 KB, 800x1334, DownbelowStation1.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
8645252

If this doesn't literally impress the SHIT out of you, feel free to swear off sci-fi.

>> No.8645381

>>8640296
>>8640338
Yeah, just ignore the free will and justice parts.

>> No.8645382

>>8640417
And Dune.

You're not wrong, but Dune is legit literature too.

(Also, it's pretty obvious that being literary and being genre fiction are either mutually exclusive or have so much overlap they're useless)

>> No.8645400

>>8645382
Can you quote a passage of Dune that's legitimately well-written? I remember finding it distinctly clunky, and I was reading it in my early teens- I was hardly picky.

>> No.8645401

>>8645400
No. Jesus Christ anon, how much effort do you think your average e/lit/ist can go through?

>> No.8645405

>>8645400
...actually I should say there are bits that I recall as being quite nice- the litany against fear and some of the little quotes that open each chapter. But I don't have good memories of the normal narrating prose or the dialogue, ie the vast majority of it.

>> No.8645425

>>8645400
>>8645405
>he reads for the prose
You have problems.

>> No.8645833

People who think Dune is shit aren't actually reading it T B R F H

>> No.8646218

>>8645833
I don't think it's -shit- but it's 3/5 at best. It has a lot of problems that mostly have to do with the grand themes and world building actually being rudimentary as heck. It's enjoyable if you ignore that stuff and take it as pulp.