Gods Behaving Badly was the first book I read after The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. In this case, it was a book I had found entirely on my own. So far, nearly everything I've reviewed has been from a class, or recommended to me--not this time! Truthfully...it's not a very hard book to read. Very simple, not too long (just over 300 pages, but a little larger than average font size), and I'd never heard of Marie Phillips before (although I still don't know her now...I may have had to look up the author...)So why did I decide to read this book?
I'm a sucker for Greek Gods, that's why. The plot of the book revolves around the 12 major Greek Gods, living together in modern times, many of them as roommates. Yep, that means that Artemis, Apollo, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, Zeus, Hera, Dionysus, and Hephaestus all live in the same house. Poseidon still lives under the sea, Persephone and Hades are in the Underworld, while Eros lives outside the house and has found refuge in Jesus. That was probably my favorite part of reading this book--I may have had some issues regarding how some of the characters were portrayed "personality-wise", but I loved the "modern representation" of the Gods. Dionysus runs a night club and makes his own wine, Aphrodite is a phone-sex operator and Apollo is a tv fortune teller.
Now, the question has probably come to mind as to why Eros is believing in Jesus, when he is a God himself. Well, that's where the true plot of the story starts to come in. The Gods are slowly losing their powers--they're immortal, but their power is still fading, and once it's gone, they'll die. Most likely, anyways. Wrapped up in the Gods quest to restore power are two mortals: Alice and Neil, who are very awkward at admitting their feelings to each other. Their interactions, as well as their later ones with the Gods made for a very amusing read.
Someone well-versed in Greek mythology (like me) would enjoy this book just on that. I particularly enjoyed it because Artemis was given a lot of page-time, which was a nice change for me. She's always been my favorite, and Athena always seems to steal the lime-light. Regardless, the "modernizing" of the myths made me smile to no end, despite the simplistic plot. It's not a "must-read", but if you have it around, and you have a background in mythology, you'll enjoy the book anyways.
NEWS FLASH: Apparently this is being turned into a movie right now. Christopher Walken will be Zeus. But Nurse Jackie is playing Artemis. I am somewhat disappointed by that choice, but I don't know who I'd pick otherwise. Too biased against my favorite Goddess. Also, random thing--changed "Alice" to "Kate". Hooray Hollywood book adaptations!
book smrts u haz um
ReplyDelete