"Godless" Critique (FYI: I LOVED this book!)

I love when I'm surprised by a book because it feels as if I have been given a present for no reason! That is exactly how I felt after the first few pages of Godless by Pete Hautman.

First of all, let me say that I read the "About the Author" section beforehand, and I'm glad I did because I found out that Pete Hautman was from Saint Louis Park, Minnesota and I was happy that it was written by a Minnesota-native.  Secondly, the character of Jason was great!  I really enjoyed his characterization and I could actually see him in my mind, and he definitely felt like a teenager.  I hate it when books are written from a teenagers point-of-view and the teen is so childish and makes such stereotypical  mistakes, or speaks as if they are vapid and shallow.  Some teens may be like that, however a lot of teenagers are actually mature and intelligent and can carry a conversation with an adult.  Jason was definitely an intelligent teenager (though he does mention that at the beginning).  He's not overly smart though.  He doesn't really show people up, he still makes mistakes and he still has those questions about life and God that a lot of teenagers grapple with.  Yet, his moments of clarity are profound and realistic and he handles the knowledge of being responsible for his friends' actions rather maturely and logically.

In this book, I liked how Hautman examined how each of the teens dealt with their new religion, and how not one of them reacted the same.  Shin became obsessive, which clearly showed that there was an underlying mental health issue, though Jason is quick to say "that's just Shin".  Henry had no self-preservation, so he threw himself into it unabashedly and turned it into something he could have fun with.  It gave him a reason to be reckless.  Even Magda and Dan, though lesser characters, seemed to react to it in their own way: Magda was clearly into it to be with Henry, and Dan just seemed to kind of want to feel it out and see what happened with it.

The premise of the story seemed rather odd when I read the back cover, and I was definitely skeptical about this book being any good, even though it did win the National Book Award.  However, the plot runs smoothly and cohesively.  It's not too fast, but it's not too slow either.  It follows the stream of consciousness for Jason and how the reader is along for the ride with him as he discovers and creates this new God and religion.  I also thought that the dialogue at the church teen meetings was interesting and a nice little break, that brought insight to the audience and added to the characterization of Jason and the reasons behind him starting his religion.

To put it shortly.  I'm in love with Jason, as a character.  He was funny and sarcastic: snarky, which is a characteristic I love in people.  Granted, it can be inappropriate at times, however I did not think Jason was too inappropriate, and luckily he had enough tact (an important characteristic to carry with oneself if one is snarky) to know when and where his sarcasm was appropriate.  I think what's really great about his funny comments and sarcasm is that he doesn't try to be funny (which sometimes makes the sarcasm fall flat) and instead it's just who he is.  For example, here is a list of some of my favorite quotes from the book (that actually made me laugh out loud, causing lots of weird looks from those in my vicinity):

"I think they're made out of some kind of digestible paper." (When referring to the Holy Eucharist at Catholic Masses)

"My point is, the miracle of Holy Communion is when the priest turns these little white disks into the flesh of Jesus Christ...So, if you buy that, then the host the priest places on your tongue is actually a sliver of Jesus meat." (Something I've often thought of myself during my Catholic days, though I never thought of it as "Jesus Meat"...I think I called it a "Jesus Salad" once, for those vegetarians out there!)

"Henry Stagg is, of course, certifiably insane.  But I do wonder what it would sound like to crank up some Metallica or Eminem inside that enormous metal cavern.  If you got it loud enough, maybe people would hear it coming out their faucets."  (Great imagery!)

I think in the end, Jason actually has a good point.  When speaking with his father he argues (rather convincingly) that his religion is no different than what his father believes: "Forget the water tower.  What makes being a Catholic so special?  What about Buddhism, or Hinduism, or whateverism.  Look, I admit it was a dumb idea to climb the tower.  I'm sorry.  But that doesn't make chutengodians any dumber than your religion."  All religions start from one person or point and from there, ideas and notions and rules can grow exponentially.  And once you get more and more people involved, the more people and groups will disagree and divide and create varying sects, though they are all derived from that one point.  Jason's experiment with religion shows how that can be done, but on a smaller scale.  It's kind of like the "if you give a mouse a cookie" concept...If you give humans a god then they're going to want a religion, and then they'll want a history and rules will eventually follow, which will only be followed by disagreements and divisions and new versions of that religion will pop up, and the whole cycle will start over again once people are tired of the deluded religion and god that has evolved from the original.

The story itself could be seen as a commentary on religion and how, like mentioned above, that it's no more ridiculous to worship a water tower, than it is to worship an unseen figure.  The only difference is that the Catholic tradition, and Christianity as well, have been around for two thousand years, while Jason Bock's has only been around for a few days.  I also think the story comments on how fanatical or ridiculous people will become about their god.  Religion gives people power.  Some gain it through creating it (Jason), some gain it through corrupting it for their own purposes (Henry), and some say they are ordained with power from the god himself (Shin).  Others are just followers and are content to be just that (Magda and Dan).

Clearly I have a lot to say about how much I like this book, so I'm going to keep going because so much of it was cleverly written, and it wasn't drawn out and everything he wrote was pertinent to the plot.  The story also began and ended in a giant circle, with Jason ending exactly where he started.  Which was on his back, looking up at Henry Stagg.  I thought that was a subtle, but very good ending to the book.  I secretly wished that Jason could have one-bettered Henry, however, heroes cannot always win, and the ending is actually better this way.  In reality, not everyone will prevail over their foe, especially with teens, and this just shows that you get knocked down too often sometimes, but you can always get back up, or at least go on with your life.  The silver lining is still there, it's just a bit harder to see.

The ending isn't necessarily happy, but it's not depressing either.  It's not a neat little package tied with pretty bows and I think these kind of stories work better sometimes (like Scorpions).  It helps the reader realize that not every character "lives happily ever after."  (Though, those stories have their place as well and are pertinent to our ideals of hope).

The last two paragraphs sum up the entire story for us and gives the audience the reason why Jason set out creating a new religion in the first place: he was looking for something to believe in.  He wanted faith, and he thought that creating his own belief system would give him that.  He realizes that it doesn't: "I have a religion, but I have no faith."  Which is exactly where he was at the beginning of the story when he was struggling with Catholicism.

This book would create some really great discussions about religion, though that can be a touchy subject.  So a teacher would have to tread carefully, however I would not want to discourage my students from expressing their opinion.  I would probably say something at the beginning of the class that would remind the students to respect everyone's opinions.

A fun project to do with the students is to either have them work together to create a religion, giving them different roles, or to have each of them create their own religion.  It would be very interesting to see what the students come up with!