It was alright...
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I have to be honest, despite the fact that I've just read some rave reviews on this, I found the book to be very luke-warm.
I nearly stopped reading at the midpoint but perservered after the book appeared to turn a corner at this point. The beginning of the book is really just about establishing the background for the second half, having now read the book in it's entirety I would say that it was quite good if you can get past the first half.
The idea behind the book was original enough to keep me reading but if I'm honest I found it a little flat until the last quarter,
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Clever, funny and easily the best book I've read this year
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This book was a joy to read. You don't need much knowledge of Greek mythology to follow along and the story is utterly engaging right from the start. The scene where Apollo brings Ares in to meet the mortals is brilliantly written, I laughed until I cried.
The premise of this book is incredibly clever and well thought out and has been executed beautifully. It'd make a fantastic book to take on holiday because it's short and snappy. I read it from cover to cover in a couple of days.
I enjoyed this book so much that I want to buy copies for everyone I know. I haven't enjoyed a book so much since I read 'Replay' by Ken Grimwood, another light read with a great premise. I would urge anybody thinking that they might enjoy 'Gods Behaving Badly' to buy it right now - you won't be disappointed!
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Entertaining and light
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Remember the Greek gods? Zeus, Hera, Athena, Artmis, Persephone, Apollo and Hermes, to name but a few. Their legendary acts are just that, the stuff of legend. But imagine how this rather unique, incestuous family would manage in modern times. Dsyfunctional doesn't quite fit the bill.
These gods are the real deal but the unfortunate lack of a believer base means that their powers are in decline. That's gotta be tough for once-omnipotent beings to deal with.
Things get interesting when they hire a mortal cleaner, Alice. As in tales of old, the mortals play with human emotions and lives. However, this time their games take a deadly turn of events.
This is a funny tale, which gives nice nods to the greek legends and myths of yore. The characters are endearing, and at times downright funny. (Think about Aphrodite working as a telephone sex line operator). The book is short, snappy and lively.
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A Fine, Fun Read
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Nestling uncomfortably under a brightly block-coloured cover with a cute, handwriting-effect title, this book understandably led a friend of mine to ask, "Are you reading a chick-lit?" While Gods Behaving Badly has a light-hearted, gently ironic tone that wouldn't be out of place in a Bridget Jones book or the like, and comes complete with a happy rom-com ending, it's poorly served by its presentation.
The ancient Greek gods have lived in London since the 1660s. Their power is diminishing (suggesting that they are finally succumbing to age and at risk of dying), they miss being important and adored, and they're heartily sick of each other, until Apollo, through a thoughtless act of cruelty to a mortal and a trivial slight against Aphrodite, unintentionally sets off a chain of events that radically affects them, the world and the lives of a small handful of mortals that wander unwittingly into their affairs.
To be fair, I love this kind of thing. Neil Gaiman does it all the time, and I lap it up. But Philips has an engaging approach to it. For one thing, while Gaiman's gods are very post-modern, more or less integrated into the modern world while self-consciously referencing ancient archetypes, Philips' gods are the real deal and couldn't give an arse about anything that happened after about 300 BCE. For another, while most other contemporary fantasies about the gods are more or less ecumenical - every god that people believe in is simultaneously real, and therefore none of their claims of absolute primacy are entirely valid - in Gods Behaving Badly the Greek gods are the really, absolutely, real gods and everyone else before and since has been wrong. Even (and especially) the Christians, who are therefore in for something of a shock given that they represent a clear majority (although, in a particularly fine nod to absurdism, Eros is a Christian in spite of knowing with certainty that the Christian God isn't actually real).
The story itself, while very modern and very natural, is also a perfect Greek divine myth, straight out of Ovid or Herodotus; a petty squabble between Gods ends up being a matter of life and death to several mortals; someone dies, there is a journey to the Underworld, and the day is ultimately saved by courage and virtue more than by power or guile.
The style is pacy, immersive and fun. Philips manages most of the writing in a light banter that captures the utter thoughtlessness of the Gods (and the banality of the particular mortals in question) perfectly, interspersed with some fine sections of more sober prose when suited and one or two pieces of grotesque black comedy that actually made me laugh out loud.
A fine, fun read. Well worth the day or two it'll take to read.
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A Fine, Fun Read
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Nestling uncomfortably under a brightly block-coloured cover with a cute, handwriting-effect title, this book understandably led a friend of mine to ask, "Are you reading a chick-lit?" While Gods Behaving Badly has a light-hearted, gently ironic tone that wouldn't be out of place in a Bridget Jones book or the like, and comes complete with a happy rom-com ending, it's poorly served by its presentation.
The ancient Greek gods have lived in London since the 1660s. Their power is diminishing (suggesting that they are finally succumbing to age and at risk of dying), they miss being important and adored, and they're heartily sick of each other, until Apollo, through a thoughtless act of cruelty to a mortal and a trivial slight against Aphrodite, unintentionally sets off a chain of events that radically affects them, the world and the lives of a small handful of mortals that wander unwittingly into their affairs.
To be fair, I love this kind of thing. Neil Gaiman does it all the time, and I lap it up. But Philips has an engaging approach to it. For one thing, while Gaiman's gods are very post-modern, more or less integrated into the modern world while self-consciously referencing ancient archetypes, Philips' gods are the real deal and couldn't give an arse about anything that happened after about 300 BCE. For another, while most other contemporary fantasies about the gods are more or less ecumenical - every god that people believe in is simultaneously real, and therefore none of their claims of absolute primacy are entirely valid - in Gods Behaving Badly the Greek gods are the really, absolutely, real gods and everyone else before and since has been wrong. Even (and especially) the Christians, who are therefore in for something of a shock given that they represent a clear majority (although, in a particularly fine nod to absurdism, Eros is a Christian in spite of knowing with certainty that the Christian God isn't actually real).
The story itself, while very modern and very natural, is also a perfect Greek divine myth, straight out of Ovid or Herodotus; a petty squabble between Gods ends up being a matter of life and death to several mortals; someone dies, there is a journey to the Underworld, and the day is ultimately saved by courage and virtue more than by power or guile.
The style is pacy, immersive and fun. Philips manages most of the writing in a light banter that captures the utter thoughtlessness of the Gods (and the banality of the particular mortals in question) perfectly, interspersed with some fine sections of more sober prose when suited and one or two pieces of grotesque black comedy that actually made me laugh out loud.
A fine, fun read. Well worth the day or two it'll take to read.
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