Book Review: Gods Behaving Badly

I recently finished reading Marie Phillips' book Gods Behaving Badly. Not bad for the first time out of the chute. In this tale Ms. Phillips brings us up to date on what happened to the Greek Pantheon. Seems that after losing the limelight to that young upstart Jesus and the spread of Christianity, Zeus, Aphrodite, Apollo and the clan have done a reverse "Beverly Hillbillies" and moved downmarket from Olympus to a tumbledown house in modern day London. It seems that, for reasons only alluded to early in the book, the gods have lost most of their powers, able to barely perform their assigned tasks (or in D&D terms, oversee their portfolio). Apollo can still make the sun rise and set but to work on on television as a TV psychic he has to rely on tricks having lost his ability to prophesy. Poor Demeter can no longer cultivate plants. And Zeus seems to have disappeared completely (you find out where he is later). Mankind is represented by Neil and Alice, two rather ordinary people who go about their lives. Neil is the typical nerdish engineer and Alice works as a cleaner who winds up taking the job of cleaning the townhouse of the gods. Due to squabble between Apollo and Aphrodite the lives of Alice and Neil are turned upside down as they learn what happens when mortals interfere with the gods (or at least those of Greek mythology whose historic exploits are marvelously updated by Ms. Phillips for those who never read Edith Hamilton's works).

Is this a tome for the ages? No, but I did come away with some thoughts particularly in the area of the power of belief (or to "religify" it, faith) and the concept of myth. Let me try to tie the two together without creating too vulgar (in the sense of undeveloped and not that of profanity) an analysis. What Phillips shows her readers (or at least those who care to look) is the consequences of a people who forget the myths and narratives of humanity. Modern man carries on actions without any meaning or context (some of the Christian existentialists like Gabriel Marcel immediately come to mind). In the book Artemis talks about dogs becoming docile and forgetting what it means to be a dog. Sex becomes common to the point where Aphrodite works as a phone-sex operator. Dionysus runs an underground club where he dispenses his special wine. In mythology the gods embody the meaning, the "why" of various human activities. As belief in the gods wane man carries on but there is something lost, the activities become hollow when separated from their raison d'être. For the existentialists this is part of what is referred to as an inauthentic life (for some wonderful analysis I really do recommend Marcel's Man Against Mass Society).

So, is this a "must buy"? No, but if you enjoy anachronism and the figures of myth as I do it does merit consideration for your hard-earned dollars (thanks for giving this to me Eugenia). Ms. Phillip's easy writing styles creates a breezy book that can, if one wants to, make you think and if not you come away not regretting having picked it up. I'm looking forward to seeing what she does for an encore.