Discussion Questions for Dune Read-Along, Part II

Credit: Jenni Elyse

Can you believe it's week two?  I'm behind in my reading already :)  Here are the questions (again, courtesy of Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings) for this week's reading.  Post your answers on Saturday, July 21st, or before/after as you prefer.  I will have the linky for your posts up on Saturday. And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out the Dune Read-Along intro post. Warning: the question might contain spoilers if you haven't read the book!

1. Was Liet’s identity a surprise? who do you think he really works for?

2. What do you think of the Fremen culture? is this a culture you think you’d enjoy spending some time with?

3. What do you think of Count Fenring’s unusual verbal mannerisms?

4. This is a far future empire with very little in the way of computerization. Information is often passed down orally, and schools (such as the Mentats and the Bene Gesserit) have formed to train young people in memorization and information processing. What are you thoughts on a scifi story that is very “low-tech”? Does that sound like a feasible future? a ridiculous one?

5. If you found the beginning of the book tough to get into, do you find that you’re having an easier time with the middle portion, now that all the “set-up” is complete?

6. The center portion of the book is still pretty dialog heavy, but what I’ve noticed is the subtlety of the dialog. Things left unsaid are often more important than things that are said. What do you think of that as a stylistic choice? does it make the dialog more interesting? less interesting?

7. Dune was written in the 60′s. Does it feel dated to you? How does it compare, writing style-wise, to more contemporary science fiction you’ve read?

8. If you’ve never read this book before, where do you think the storyline is headed?

How are you doing in the read-along?  Making any progress?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage