Imagine this: On a hot summer day, a 16-year old, rotund boy invites you to join a new religion. The rules are simple: you don't have to wear robes like the cult you see in movies (you don't need to sacrifice virgins too!), it's quite informal and Tuesday is the Sabbath. Your god will be called the Ten-legged One, the town's 207 feet water tower. Will you be one of the converts?So, Jason Bock is a highly imaginative teenager who can ruin his chance with a girl by criticizing her habit of using 'so' to start a sentence. He's fed up with his parents' devoutness to Catholic and starts to doubt his faith. Agnostic-and-just-steps-away-to-atheist, Jason concocts his own customized religion. It's god is a water tower ("Water is Life." he reasons). And coming up with much of its doctrine off the top of his head, he names the religion Chutengodianism, the Church of the Ten-legged God. He also creates its own commandments: Chutengodian Commandments1. Thou shalt not be a jerk.2. Get a life.3. Thou shalt not eat asparagus.His bestfriend, Peter "Shin" Shinner is his first recruit. As the founder and the Head Kahuna of the religion, Jason names Shin as the First Keeper of the Sacred Text. Shin is a dorky snail-farmer who, I think, is presenting the qualities of OCPD. He even begins to write their scripture, portions of which precede the chapter. Jason also converts the cute as a button, Magda Price (First Priestess), just normal Dan Grant (First Acolyte Exaltus) and Jason's nemesis, Henry Stagg (High Priest). And as the religion grows, conflicts emerge. And Jason struggles to control it.The quote "Why mess around with Catholicism when you can have your own customized religion?" printed at the back cover of this book (and not to mention the National Book Award sticker) is the reason why I bought and decided to read this. How often will you find a YA that objectively discusses agnosticism and religion? Not often, for sure.Godless is straightforward, fun and well-written... particularly to its target audience. I gave it 4 stars because I can easily relate to it. I think, there's really a stage in your life when you doubt your religion and your faith. As an agnostic-and-there's-nothing-wrong-being-atheist myself, I find Jason's thoughts easy to follow. I also asked some of his questions. Perhaps, the lack of character development and the simplicity of the plot will make some readers dislike Godless. But I think the book's message is enough to cover it.This is not an atheist book nor an anti-Christ (though not a pro-religion either). This isn't also a book that criticizes Catholic churh (though some rites have an issue with Jason). It is about the effect of an organized religion to the people who support it. Some turn into an obsessed believer (like my Physics professor) and others become Protestant. We see schism in leadership and doctrine. We see the consequences of an action taken on a basis of presumed faith alone.Here in the Philippines, where 85% are Christians (most are Catholics) and 10% are Muslims, talking about the possibility that there's no God or you believe in other holy entity is laughable. Remember those semi-cult religion who believes that Rizal is god? Media's laughing stock. Here, we don't ever know the separation of the church and the state. And reading this is kinda refreshing.I like this book because it makes me think of my ah... faith. No, Godless is not a critique whether God exists, it is an exploration of one's struggle in faith. It is easy to say that you don't think God exists. But if you don't believe in God... what do you believe in?My father sighed and sat back and said, "You think you're an atheist then?""I'm not sure what I am."He looked at me for a long time then. I think it was the longest time he has ever looked at me without saying anything. Finally, he spoke."I'm sorry to hear that, Jason.""Why?""Because it means you've got a long lonely road ahead of you."Will I have a long lonely road? I don't really care, at least this is my road. I just hope that I don't have a god as steel and as rusty as Jason's. *I'll just take a nap, then I'll try to write a review. (Now, I wonder if I have narcolepsy.)
I would give this book a 3.5/5*, or possibly even a 4*. This book was 196 pages long and the story was well written.This is a book about a teenager named Jack, who lives with a mother who is determined to prove that her son is sick. With what, who knows...every time he coughs, sneezes, sleeps too long or drinks too much she is sure that there is something wrong with him and so she has him at the doctor all the time getting tests done. And then there is his father who is a lawyer but also who is very religious. He has his family attend church every Sunday and Jack has to attend TPO classes, which is similar to bible study classes, once a week. The problem with that is that Jack doesn't believe in God.And that is what the story is about, without all the talk about God. Jack and his friend are hanging out by the town's water tower one day when Jack has an ephinany. Why not make the water tower a god?So Jack starts asking his few friends if they want to join him in worshipping this water tower. What starts out as a joke of sorts develops into something more during only a few weeks time.Something that started off as something innocent and just for fun ended up becoming something a little more serious and ended up changing people's lives.Jack had gotten 4 of this friends to join him and together they came up with a name for their "religion" and a set of commandments. Also, one of the kids started a "bible" of sorts.Jack didn't think that anyone would take this whole water tower as being a "god" thing seriously and so he continued on with it. Before you knew it they were all climbing to the top of the water tower for a "midnight mass". All of them, except one. One who was afraid of heights.While up on the top of the water tower they thought it would be fun to go SWIMMING inside the tower and so they cut off the lock and dove in. Into this tower of drinking water for the town! When they had enough they got out and started to get their stuff back on. But while one of them was trying to get his boots on he slipped and something terrible happened.Something that almost ended up being fatal made the kids open their eyes and see what they were actually doing. I am sure the fact that they all got in trouble with the police and with their family also had something to do with it.Jack got blamed for the whole thing even though the whole thing was not his fault, but his father said that his friends are always going to do what Jack says. OK, I understand about peer pressure, but there are some things you just have to take responisibilty for for yourself and I think that this was one of those things.Just when we think that everything is over and they all had learned their lesson and came to their senses that a water tower simply cannot be a "god", the boy that didn't climb to the top of the water tower does something very shocking.This book was a coming of age story and even though it is about discovering who God is or isn't, it isn't heavy at all on religion. Even people who don't believe or are unsure of what they believe can read this book without feeling like they are pressured into thinking one way or another.I really liked how this story was written ( and even though I only read 1 John Green book-An Abundance of Katherines...this book reminded me of the writing style of Green) and the character development was well done.If you haven't read a Pete Hautman book you should check out this one.
What do You think about Godless (2005)?
Genre: philosophy, teenage angstSummary: Jason Bock and his friends create a new religion worshiping the town's water tower. It's all fun and games until it gets out of control. Jason and his friends climb the tower late one night and Henry breaks into the tower and they all go swimming in the town's drinking water. They lose their flashlight and have to struggle to find the ladder out and when they get out, Henry falls off the roof, only to land on the catwalk breaking his femur. Jason is arres
—Kiera Beddes
This was an honest and irreverent tale of an agnostic kid who decides to start his own religion for kicks. What I really liked about it was that the followers he recruits are all in the joke cult for different reasons (just like real religion) and all practice differently (just like real religion) and some would rather split into their own sect than follow rules the founder sets (just like . . . well, you know). What's also WONDERFUL about this book is that the cult members--"Chutengodians," who worship the town's water tower as a god--do some stupid and dangerous things as a show of their faith, and in most books a preachy author would use this pattern of "kid doubts faith, kid gets in HUGE trouble or gets hurt due to events following directly from his lack of faith, kid returns to established faith and finds happiness." But in THIS book, that does not happen (thank the Ten-legged One). Despite not having any actual belief that the water tower is God, the main character, Jason Bock, manages to have "religious experiences" in association with his Chutengodian adventures, and admits that they were wonderful and will be remembered his whole life. Some of his followers, he finds, are doing it to prove they're rebels. Some are doing it because everyone's doing it. Some are doing it to impress someone else. And some . . . as Jason finds out all too bizarrely . . . actually believe the craziness, even with full evidence in front of them that they made it up themselves. The narration is borderline blasphemous at times without being nasty (like when Jason tells his dad that Catholicism is just as made up as Chutengodianism, or his suggestion that transsubstantiation can be described thus: "the host the priest places on your tongue is actually a sliver of Jesus meat"). I'd also like to say Mr. Hautman gets brownie points for making his main character decidedly overweight without making it this big point or sticking in dumb self-improvement messages where he loses weight as a symbol of bettering himself. It always annoys me when the fat kid is either the comic relief, the obvious target of bullying, or a symbol of something to get past. It's nice to just see a fat kid once in a while and have nothing made of it except he's a fat kid.
—Swankivy
It can be hard to find young adult realistic fiction that isn't about Issues. While I totally understand the import of books on serious topics, sometimes teens are interested in regular kids with regular problems. This book is relatively straightforward: there's nothing supernatural, probably nothing that could trigger something overcoming trauma (except for a short aside about how one character's dead father was physically abusive), and just deals with a regular guy navigating his social circle and, oh yeah, his struggles with faith. I particularly enjoyed the way that aspect of the book worked, because it seemed like a non-traditional approach to growing up in a religious household but believing.
—Shoshana G
