Godless takes place from the point of view of Jason, a younger teen who is insecure about his weight and is struggling with the notion of belief. He questions his parents' Catholic devotion, and reacts to their unsatisfying answers by satirically creating his own religion, based on the town's water tower being "God". He recruits fellow believers and assigns roles. He finds confidence in himself being a leader of something. They go up to the water tower to worship and things get dicey when Shin, his best friend, gets fanatic about the religion. Henry, the bully-turned friend, doesn't help the situation. Jason has to figure out how to pump the breaks on his invented faith, and ends up a little envious of those who believe in something.
I liked the premise of the book, however the story did not grab me as much. I would recommend to future students dealing with faith doubts and devout believers, to challenge their world view and gain empathy for those who like Jason, understandably find it hard to believe.
Content warnings: -religious themes -Paganism -atheistic themes -some language -near death experience

Godless by Pete Hautman
Summary: Jason is fed up with Catholicism and his father trying to brainwash him with religion. So he decides to create his own religion and deems the water tower to be God. His religion, “The Church of the Ten-legged God,” or “Chutengodianism,” is free, you don’t have to dress weird, and you don’t have to go to church on Sundays. He enlists some friends to join, and his best friend takes the religion much more seriously than Jason intended. Things get out of control when more people start joining and they hold their first mass.

I found this book to be very thought-provoking. I am fascinated in hearing different perspectives surrounding religion and the indoctrination of children within different religious constructs and this book provided a lot to think about. I think it presents some interesting ideas about faith and could lead to some profound conversations with young people who decide to read this. I like how the book demonstrated the levels of faith that the different kids had. I also think it was important to show how Jason’s intentions did not align with the result of what happened which I think can be related to other cults and religions and how quickly things can get out of hand.

(Adolescent Lit Class Book #20)

Jason is done being controlled by his overly religious parents! In an effort to undermine the authority of the adults who've frustrated him his whole life, Jason decides to create a brand new religion, one that worships the town's water tower. Pretty soon, a few friends join him in his crazy endeavor. However, the hilarious moments soon turn to nightmares as Jason realizes that he has lost control of his customized faith. Soon, his friends are doing dangerous things. Some even believe what they are being taught. Jason soon finds himself trapped in the very thing he invented to create freedom.
An interesting and quick read, "Godless" calls into question many controversial ideas. Jason's arguments for rebelling against his parents' faith are justified and deep. This book is as informative as it is entertaining. It forces readers through uncomfortable situations as well as comedic ones in order to convey its message about consequences of traditional adherence and blind faith. It is a great book for the YA community as it calls into question many of the struggles placed upon youth by the previous generation. Jason may not be the most likable character, but his stance is one that all should consider as he vents his frustrations throughout the novel.
Content Warnings: Brief Violence, Language, Arguments dealing with Religion

Simon & Schuster’s monthly offerings of free books may be a bit difficult to read from a technical point of view, but it’s always exciting to browse their list of available titles. This month (September 2020) is marked by their selection of banned and controversial YA books. Among these, Godless stands out with its exciting premise: some teenagers start a religion of their own, worshiping the town’s water tower. Hijinks ensue.

It all starts with Justin Bock sprawled out on the ground, looking at the belly of the tallest structure in town, the ten-legged metal giant that has been generously supplying the citizens with water for as long as anyone can remember. Jason meditates on the possibility of replacing the stale phrases of the adults around him with something different and meaningful, something he will have a hand in creating. He shares his thoughts with his nerdy best friend Shin and so the religion of the Ten-Legged One is born.

It doesn’t take long for them to find acolytes and the newly founded religion soon takes up the focal position in their lives. But as the Ten-Legged One gives, so too does he take. Each kid interprets the deity in their own way, according to their needs and wants. As each worshiper comes within reach of their own religious experience, the summer turns into a time in their lives they’ll never forget.

A short, incisive read, Godless is one of those books that are excellent for instigating class discussions and challenging young minds to see things from other perspectives instead of taking them for granted. The author has included some teaching materials on his website.

The style makes it compulsively readable, and the humour is relatable. Jason’s habit of pretending he’s a comic book hero to pass the time and escape from unpleasant tasks is particularly endearing.

It’s not hard to see what makes this book controversial: our hero openly questions figures of authority and points out the inconsistencies in the religious and other teachings of said figures of authority. The adults obviously don’t like it, and neither do some adult readers, apparently.

I would have loved to see more of Shin as a character, and more of the gang’s adventures in general, but as it is, the book is definitely a great read, with a valuable message: it’s okay to be different and to question what you’re born into, and it’s okay to wander off the beaten track and find your own way.

I struggled to decide if this was more of a 4 or a 5 for me. If we could do half stars it'd probably be in between.

Pete Hautman wrote one of my favorite books of all time, Mr. Was, so when I saw a suggestion pop up on my amazon account for another one of his books, I bought it. I am really glad that I did. This man writes some of the most amazing young adult fiction.

This book in particular is about a teen who makes a joke about worshiping his town's water tower at a catholic teen guidance meeting. It ends up turning into a cult that he drags his best friend Shin, a violent outcast named Henry, and a girl named Magda into over the course of several days. The premise is absolutely absurd, and because of this, the book was extremely funny. There was something clever and hilarious written in every chapter because the main character is a smart mouth whose whole story is based on a joke. Still, it ended up also being a bit dark. The lead doesn't understand the amount of influence he has over his friends, and this leads to several severe consequences for his "followers". I won't spoil too much as these incidents are the meat of the story.

I really enjoyed reading this. It was short, it was funny, and it took a silly idea and made it into something very readable and serious. I could see it being offensive, though, so I'd say give it a pass if you can't handle reading a character who questions his faith and beliefs.

"Godless" is about a boy who is struggling with the religious beliefs he believes are forced on him and society. Because of this he starts his own religion, one in which they worship a water tower. Creating it was more of a joke and statement, but his followers soon get carried away. He must try to control them and face the consequences of society for his radical behavior.
The concept of this book was really good. Hautman did good at bringing up an issue that is on a lot of people's minds. The problem I had with the book was the main character. He just bugged me so much. He had a few redeeming qualities but actually creeped me out a little. In the book he was in love with this girl and liked to draw her with very little clothes on, or just naked period. It grossed me out and the whole book I wasn't able to connect with him at all because I'm pretty sure he'd be a porn addict in a just a couple of years down the line.
I'm guessing Hautman wrote this because that's the way a lot of guys are. Still, to me that took away half of his audience. No girl is going to want to read about some guy who's having all these demeaning fantasies. I guess my primary problem is that I have NO IDEA how that helped the story in any way. I thought his character was coming along perfectly until that part and then it completely threw me for a loop.
Another problem I had was that there was hardly any recognition for girls. Believe me, I'm not a radical feminist, but I do believe that this was the epitome of how I don't want to be represented. There was one girl in the whole novel and her only role was that of a love interest. That didn't and still doesn't seem fair to me. Plus the whole time all the guys were treating her as some object and under estimating her. It seemed she was just put in the novel to create a little conflict between the guys. At the ending she is also shown as being a little villainous when in reality she didn't do anything that was bad. Is it okay if a girl likes a guy more than another? Because it seemed that no matter who she chose he would have been a jerk, yet she was hated for her decision.
I may not be giving this book the credit that it deserves, but the characterization ruined it for me. It just didn't seem to represent many sides fairly. It definitely had literary value but there were just some aspects that made me really angry. I would recommend this book only for the themes not of religion but making your own decisions. The rest of the book was waste of my time.

eh.

Interesting, different, but the ending left me flipping the page back and forth going "Really? That's the ending? Pfft."

3.5

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 Commandments

1. 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 thought that this novel was interesting. Having my own religious preferences, I was at first hesitant when I realized what the book was about. However, having read it, it makes sense that the author appeals to the young adult's natural tendencies to question and challenge the beliefs imposed by others. While I can see some parents questioning the content of this novel, it does a good job of portraying the coming-of-age of a boy misfit. I was intrigued, so I read the author's response to criticism on his website, and he defended that he did not intend it to target the belief of God or to deny religions, but tie together some memories from his own experiences and depict the inner struggles and questions that arise in many youth. Hautman also mentioned that part of the inspiration of the book came from hearing about Joseph Smith. As an LDS, I was a little apprehensive about his interpretation about my religion, but he simply commented, "Reading his story I thought, wow--what an incredible coming-of-age story that is!"

Pete Hautman has a way of addressing weighty philosophical issues in oblique, readable ways. In Godless, Hautman tackles religion as a group of intelligent teenagers create a cult based on worship of the Ten Legged God, known by non believers as a water tower.

The book doesn't necessarily attack religion, as the main character is actually somewhat envious of the surety with which his father and other Christians cherish their faith. It does, however, provide a critique of fanaticism as well as the ability of religion to move people to action they'd normally not undertake.

In a world troubled by fanatical zealots capable of acts of terrorism and war, this relevant book should spark lots of discussion and provoke thoughts in any reader.