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A review by maurganne
Godless by Pete Hautman
2.0
Godless
By Pete Hautman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Ages: 7-10 grade
Addresses atheism explicitly: A
Shows atheists as being moral people: D
Portrays those with contrary beliefs compassionately: C
Jason Bock is a typical 15-year-old misfit- his only real friend is the odd kid in school who collects snails and is more socially inept than he is himself. “I respect power,” Jason says in the first few pages as we’re getting to know him, and it’s an honest assessment of himself. Throughout the book, his actions are largely based on that need to have some power over his world. His mother is a hypochondriac and his father is deeply religious, and Jason is equally dismissive of both. It’s obvious that his mother’s constant need to find something wrong with Jason is illogical- “nuts” in his words- but it’s not entirely clear how Jason came to the same conclusion about his father’s religious beliefs. Everyone in Jason’s world believes in god, and while Jason’s “agnostic-going-on-atheist” belief is established early on in the book, his objections to religion seem to be based on frustration at being expected to believe, rather than on whatever reasons he might legitimately have for his lack of belief.
After an encounter with a bully that ends with Jason knocked down and dazed, he has what he refers to as a religious experience. He realizes the power of water in his community, and in particular, the value of the town water tower. To him, this is as logical a god as the unseen version his father and his youth group would like him to believe in. It starts off as a joke, a way to shock his youth group leader, but he soon finds that his stated belief in the town water tower as a god has unexpected but not unwelcome consequences, at least at first. Being the founder of his own religion is a type of power he can’t resist. If religion can get people to church, get them to take the words of the preacher seriously, and get them to donate to the collection plate, it seems logical to Jason that being the leader of that kind of organization is a much better proposition than being in the congregation. Even though he doesn’t really believe in the Ten-legged God he invented, he is carried away with his new found power to influence people.
There are some interesting comparisons between the progressions of Jason’s new religion to the world’s more established religions. Jason likens himself to the persecuted of all newly formed religions when he finds himself in trouble for some of his actions. He witnesses first-hand as his religion develops factions that turn against each other. He discovers the danger of religious fanaticism. Perhaps most tellingly, he finds himself compromising his morals in order to convert and try to keep members of his new religion. He justifies his behavior in terms of the religion he doesn’t even believe in. He points out the precedence of this kind of justification in established religions throughout history. These parallels seem like they should lead him to some sort of conclusion about his own religion, his own lack of faith, but they don’t.
When all is said and done, Jason is left with more questions than answers. He has alienated himself even further from his community and has not resolved any of his feelings about god or religion, much less his own moral compass. His father, the devout Catholic, is surprisingly forgiving of Jason’s confusion. “There are a lot of perfectly good religions out there. You’re a smart kid, Jason. I know you’ll find what you’re looking for.” This implies, of course, that any religion is better than no religion. And Jason seems to agree- he envies the “power and contentment” that he ends up crediting his father and the other religious people around him with, despite having seen no such power or contentment in them throughout the book, nor in his own ill-fated experiment as a religious leader. He leaves us while still clinging to the Ten-legged God he doesn’t believe in, because it seems he must have something standing in for god.
While Jason’s voice is well-written (he’s a good story teller and probably quite relatable for the young adult reader), this reviewer did not find him to be a particularly likable character. He doesn’t know what he stands for and he doesn’t ever really figure it out- and his best friend pays the price, which Jason is barely able to acknowledge. Although the book is perhaps brave in that it does attempt to address outright what it might be like to be a young atheist, it doesn’t seem to come at that topic from any particular point of view, and the result is not particularly enlightening from either a religious or an atheistic perspective. Readers may find themselves re-examining their own thoughts on religion, but any conclusions they draw will, perhaps, be in spite of what they find in this book.
By Pete Hautman
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Ages: 7-10 grade
Addresses atheism explicitly: A
Shows atheists as being moral people: D
Portrays those with contrary beliefs compassionately: C
Jason Bock is a typical 15-year-old misfit- his only real friend is the odd kid in school who collects snails and is more socially inept than he is himself. “I respect power,” Jason says in the first few pages as we’re getting to know him, and it’s an honest assessment of himself. Throughout the book, his actions are largely based on that need to have some power over his world. His mother is a hypochondriac and his father is deeply religious, and Jason is equally dismissive of both. It’s obvious that his mother’s constant need to find something wrong with Jason is illogical- “nuts” in his words- but it’s not entirely clear how Jason came to the same conclusion about his father’s religious beliefs. Everyone in Jason’s world believes in god, and while Jason’s “agnostic-going-on-atheist” belief is established early on in the book, his objections to religion seem to be based on frustration at being expected to believe, rather than on whatever reasons he might legitimately have for his lack of belief.
After an encounter with a bully that ends with Jason knocked down and dazed, he has what he refers to as a religious experience. He realizes the power of water in his community, and in particular, the value of the town water tower. To him, this is as logical a god as the unseen version his father and his youth group would like him to believe in. It starts off as a joke, a way to shock his youth group leader, but he soon finds that his stated belief in the town water tower as a god has unexpected but not unwelcome consequences, at least at first. Being the founder of his own religion is a type of power he can’t resist. If religion can get people to church, get them to take the words of the preacher seriously, and get them to donate to the collection plate, it seems logical to Jason that being the leader of that kind of organization is a much better proposition than being in the congregation. Even though he doesn’t really believe in the Ten-legged God he invented, he is carried away with his new found power to influence people.
There are some interesting comparisons between the progressions of Jason’s new religion to the world’s more established religions. Jason likens himself to the persecuted of all newly formed religions when he finds himself in trouble for some of his actions. He witnesses first-hand as his religion develops factions that turn against each other. He discovers the danger of religious fanaticism. Perhaps most tellingly, he finds himself compromising his morals in order to convert and try to keep members of his new religion. He justifies his behavior in terms of the religion he doesn’t even believe in. He points out the precedence of this kind of justification in established religions throughout history. These parallels seem like they should lead him to some sort of conclusion about his own religion, his own lack of faith, but they don’t.
When all is said and done, Jason is left with more questions than answers. He has alienated himself even further from his community and has not resolved any of his feelings about god or religion, much less his own moral compass. His father, the devout Catholic, is surprisingly forgiving of Jason’s confusion. “There are a lot of perfectly good religions out there. You’re a smart kid, Jason. I know you’ll find what you’re looking for.” This implies, of course, that any religion is better than no religion. And Jason seems to agree- he envies the “power and contentment” that he ends up crediting his father and the other religious people around him with, despite having seen no such power or contentment in them throughout the book, nor in his own ill-fated experiment as a religious leader. He leaves us while still clinging to the Ten-legged God he doesn’t believe in, because it seems he must have something standing in for god.
While Jason’s voice is well-written (he’s a good story teller and probably quite relatable for the young adult reader), this reviewer did not find him to be a particularly likable character. He doesn’t know what he stands for and he doesn’t ever really figure it out- and his best friend pays the price, which Jason is barely able to acknowledge. Although the book is perhaps brave in that it does attempt to address outright what it might be like to be a young atheist, it doesn’t seem to come at that topic from any particular point of view, and the result is not particularly enlightening from either a religious or an atheistic perspective. Readers may find themselves re-examining their own thoughts on religion, but any conclusions they draw will, perhaps, be in spite of what they find in this book.