Gods Behaving Badly

I am pleased to report that Gods Behaving Badly is a delightful read. It is a very funny and original book. The Olympians are alive and living in London in a decrepit house. However, since no one believes in them anymore their powers are somewhat weakened and must be preserved. No mortal can cross their threshold. Some of them must hold down jobs to keep the family going--Artemis is a dog walker, Aphrodite is a phone sex operator.

Unlike the depiction of the gods in a lot of current books and movies as heroes and role models, the gods in this book are more like the gods in the Greek mythological tales: selfish, jealous, promiscuous and vindictive. Thus, when a young woman on the street refuses to comply with Apollo's request for oral show more sex, he turns her into a tree. Aphrodite, sick of Apollo's antics, convinces her son Eros to cause Apollo to fall into unrequited love with a nondescript mortal. One thing leads to another, and before you know it the whole world is at risk. A real hero must step forward to save the world.

All the major Greek gods play a role in this book. I loved it and read it in one day. I think you would enjoy it most it you are familiar with the Greek gods and their attributes, but it's probably pretty funny even if you're not. Highly recommended. show less

I was anticipating great fun with this book, and it did not disappoint. I'll admit all the parts with Aphrodite were almost too raunchy for me at the beginning, but I'm glad I kept reading.

What an entertaining premise! The Greek gods of Olympus are all living together in a rundown, cramped, poorly maintained flat in London, and they are none too happy about it. Although they are still immortal, their powers have weakened considerably, and they find themselves caught up in petty squabbles. When Aphrodite and Apollo have an argument that escalates, it catches two mortals in the middle of it: Alice, a sweet but mousy cleaner, and her would-be boyfriend Neil, a sweet but mousy engineer.

When Alice and Neil find themselves in a position to show more help save humankind, they discover that power and influence have nothing to do with being immortal and everything to do with being flawed humans. show less

The Greek gods, living in London and down on their luck, find their world turned topsy-turvy when a cleaning woman enters their lives.

What an entertaining book! I absolutely loved Phillips's vision of the Greek pantheon living in squalor in London. It mostly fit with my own knowledge of Greek mythology, (which is admittedly a little sketchy these days, outside of Dionysiac imagery), and it was presented in an absolutely hilarious fashion. I laughed aloud more than once as the lot of them struggled with their fading powers and their inability to understand how mortals view the world. I think Phillips did a particularly good job of finding the humour in the differences between divine and mortal opinions of appropriate behavior.

The book show more whizzed on by and made for some extremely enjoyable reading. It may not have been very deep, but it was a hell of a lot of fun! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a laugh, but I think those with some prior knowledge of the Greek myths will get the most out of it. show less

Brilliantly funny, inventive and well written. The Greek gods living (with limited powers) in modern-day London is a great premise, though risky. She successfully avoids cliche though by exploring the human side of these gods, allowing them room for growth in utterly surprising ways and failure in some unsurprising but equally funny moments.

The idea that gods and other supernatural beings will lose power if people do not believe in them is not a new one. Neil Gaiman did it in American Gods; James Barrie did it in Peter Pan (I bet you clapped your hands for Tinker Bell!). Phillips has put a delightfully humorous spin on this idea. The Olympian gods are stuck in a tumble-down house in London, working menial jobs (though jobs suited to them - Aphrodite is a phone-sex operator!) and sniping at each other. They are slowly losing their strength, and when they make a mistake, they can't always undo it.

Enter a mortal. Eros shoots his arrow, causing Apollo to fall in love with a mortal woman. She does not return the favor, however, being in love with another mortal. All the gods show more get in on the act, with what might be disastrous results for the world.

Phillips has a keen sense of the absurd, but she also knows her ancient Greek religion. Every god behaves consistently with his character, modernized and updated, it's true, but Homer would have recognized chaste Artemis, bellicose Ares, jealous Hera. Her humans are like the people you know, everyday folks, but humans who, like many of us, can be clever and brave and selfless in an hour of need.

I ripped through this in an evening, laughing all the way. You will, too. show less

Read in a desperate attempt for escapist literature, Gods Behaving Badly delivered that and so much more. This modern-day morality tale is equal parts funny and tragic as well as 100 percent entertaining. It lived up to its description of a fun read while teaching what it means to be a hero.

Quite surprisingly, Gods Behaving Badly is not all humor and fun. It has its tragic moments as well. The idea of a group of powerful people, immortal or not, failing to adapt properly to its environment is depressing. Living in squalor and reliving the glory days are no way to go through life. Yet, in spite of its tragic undercurrents, this failure to adapt on the part of the gods creates some of the wittiest scenes in the novel. Their child-like show more attitudes do not mesh well with modern-day pragmatism, causing misunderstandings and other tongue-in-cheek moments that are as enjoyable as they are uncomfortable.

Alice and Neil make for two unlikely heroes. As the complete opposite of the gods, they are quite literally everything they are not. Prudish and chaste, nervous and shy, their simplicity belies their strength of character and determination. They are the epitome of the underdogs, and readers definitely root for their success. Readers want them to succeed not because they want the gods to succeed but because Neil and Alice represent the power of the every man. Their struggle becomes the reader's struggle against impossible odds.

One cannot discuss a novel about gods without discussing the idea of faith. Some of the most amusing points in the novel occur when Eros discusses Christianity with his siblings. This amusing what-if scenario is a twist on our modern belief system and well worth considering the power of faith.

Ultimately, Gods Behaving Badly is not meant to stand up to scrutiny. It is meant to be what it is - an enjoyable, lighthearted screwball comedy with a hidden message about taking oneself too seriously and the hero that lies inside each of us. One couldn't ask for better when searching for escapist literature. show less

What a fun book! And delightfully irreverent and raunchy. Gods get bored too I suppose, and will go to nearly any lengths to entertain themselves, even up to destroying the world along with themselves. I've never been a great fan of the Greek gods, preferring the more pagan variety of gods and goddesses, but I found myself immensely enjoying Artemis and Apollo and lusting a bit after Aphrodite. An entertaining first effort from Ms. Phillips. I would love to see more.