Godless - by Pete Hautman

Thoughts from the Author himself!!

A FEW THOUGHTS, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER...


What sort of book is Godless? It's coming-of-age story, a comedy, a tragedy, a drama, an adventure. I've been told that the title makes it sound like a scary, violent tale about someone or something evil. It is not. My intention was never to equate godlessness with evil. They are not the same thing at all. I was thinking of the temporary godlessness that descends upon a person who is actively searching for his or her faith. Maybe I should have called it "Churchless."
Godless is neither pro- nor anti-religion. The main character. Jason Bock, is Roman Catholic, but he could as easily be Protestant, Jewish, or Muslim.
Godless is not about God. It doesn't weigh in on the existence or nature of a Supreme Being. It is not about which religion is the truest, or the best. It's about how people--teenagers in particular--deal with the questions that arise when their faith has been shaken.
If you strip away the whole religion thing, Godless is about a big fat nerdy kid named Jason Bock who has an excess of smarts and imagination, and his relationship with his even nerdier snail-collecting best friend Shin.
Godless is about the power of ideas--Jason conceives the Chutengodian religion, he sets it in motion, but he is unprepared for the consequences. This is a latch-key teenage moment--our first conscious realization that the expression of our own beliefs can have a huge impact on the beliefs of others--especially our friends. It's about discovering personal power, and the heady experience of plying it.*



WHY I WROTE GODLESS...

Godless was inspired by two events in my life.
First, I read a story about Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons. On September 22, 1827, Smith was just another 14-year-old kid who was vaguely dissatisfied with the faith of his fathers. On that day, according to church teachings, the angel Moroni appeared to Smith and revealed the location of golden tablets containing the Book of Mormon. Pretty soon young Joseph had created one of the most successful of the modern-day religions. Reading his story I thought, wow--what an incredible coming-of-age story that is!
Then I remembered something I hadn't thought about for more than 35 years--a brief teenage interlude when I and a few of my friends devised a mock-religion worshipping the St. Louis Park water tower. It was a summer goof, a way to be irreverant and...well, teens are easily bored, y'know? Anyway, we had this whole epistemology, a pantheon of water tower gods in which the towers belonging to other cities were lesser deities, and so forth. It was something I did for a few weeks one summer and then forgot about.
One thing you learn when you write teen books--all those uncomfortable, embarrassing memories you worked so hard to erase, they're still in there. It all came back to me in a rush.
Godless is not a memoir. It's fiction through and through. But the feelings and the questions raised by the characters are quite real. I know. I was there.

*http://www.petehautman.com/godless.html*


Wow! This book was such an interesting book. I liked it, and I liked how it made me think. The underlying story that progresses through the chapter headings was by far one of my most favorite things. I say a big kudos to Mr. Hautman for a job well done on a thought-provoking book!

A teacher's guide to teaching godless
can also be found at www.petehautman.com/godless.html

Book Specs:
Crown Forum; 4th Printing edition (June 6, 2006)
ISBN-10: 1400054206
ISBN-13: 978-1400054206
320 pages