Weekly Reader: The Neon God by Ben D'Alessio; Greek God of Chaos and Wine Comes To Wreck Havoc in -Where Else?-New Orleans

 

Weekly Reader: The Neon God by Ben D'Alessio; Greek God of Chaos and Wine Comes To Wreck Havoc in -Where Else?-New Orleans

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It would be interesting to imagine that if the Ancient Gods and Goddesses walked among us, what they would do. Zeus could be a CEO with a bevy of beautiful mistresses. Hera would be a marriage counselor or one of those right wing authors who wrote books on happy families. Ares would be a military strategist right in the thick of the action. Artemis and Athena would be spokeswomen for Feminist causes. Who knows?

Another fun one to picture is Dionysus, the God of Wine and Chaos. The god who was often around when his female followers, the Maenads, were at their most violent and bloodthirsty. He was the frequent rival of Apollo, the God of Order. He was often on hand to raise more than a little trouble in Ancient Greece.

Let's face it, in a modern world gone chaotic it wouldn't take much to place Ol' Dio right at the center of it.That is exactly what Ben D'Alessio does in this biting dark comedy, The Neon God.

 In this fractured fantasy, Dionysus explores modern day New Orleans and embraces its fun loving reputation. He finds the bars are always open, the people always ready for a good time, and the superstitious atmosphere perfect for him to make his presence known. While Dionysus, called Dio, by the locals struts down the Big Easy, he captures the interest of Zibby, a law student and wannabe writer. At first when Dio introduces himself, Zibby thinks that he's just exaggerating or speaking in metaphor when he tells her that he is a god. Then some unexplained things start happening and it looks like New Orleans is in the midst of an Act of God (or specifically Act of A God).

The Neon God has a strong sense of place in its setting. It's clear that D'Alessio loves New Orleans for all of its weirdness and eccentricity. Every street and building is brilliantly captured so well that the Reader can practically smell the spicy cooking and hear the jazz and blues music playing on the streets. New Orleans is a place that excites the imagination because of its closeness to the supernatural, magic, and the voodoo culture. The atmosphere is just right for something magical,something unexpected, and eventually something horrifying to happen.

D'Alessio also captures the modern day lives of the ancient gods with a tongue in cheek fashion. Zeus was last seen in Scandinavia answering to the name of Odin and staying as far away from his jealous wife, Hera as possible. Ares has been hanging out in Syria, Nigeria, all of the violent spots. Athena favors Athens, the city which bears her name and so on. The gods and goddesses divvy up the locations on Earth like spots on a Monopoly board game. They are bickering and as volatile as ever and none are too happy about the potential trouble Dionysus is going to cause in New Orleans.

There are some clever allusions to other mythologies and religions. There are implications that the Hellenistic pantheon change their names and appearances to whoever the local deities are. There is even a clever reference to Jesus Christ which is hilarious but will no doubt offend  any Conservative Christian reading.

D'Alessio has so much fun modernizing the gods and goddesses that I wish that he would do more of them. Besides Dionysus himself, we do see a few other mythological characters pop up, like the handsome Adonis who was an ex lover of Dio's. But it would be fascinating to see how much farther that D'Alessio can stretch this concept perhaps with a sequel or even a series focusing on a separate god or goddess living in modern times.

This is Dionysus' book and D'Alessio captures the dual nature of a god whose sole mission is to create chaos out of order and cause destruction.

At first Dio seems like a harmless party animal. He goes bar hopping, flirts with men and women. He rhapsodizes about wine. Wherever he goes, Dio inspires people to let loose, have fun, get drunk, and ignore responsibilities. He opens up that wild fun loving side that sometimes gets suppressed by jobs, commitments, and pesky adulthood.

However, there is a darker side to Dio's nature that has less to do with good drunken fun and more to do with bloody destruction. Dionysus also encouraged his new followers to embrace a more brutal side. The side practiced by the Maenads. They go into bloody frenzies, attacking and eating people, and drinking their blood. Of course while New Orleans is the city for parties, it is also the city for vampires and other dark creatures. Dionysus' devotees become mass murderers living outside of known laws, ethics, morality. They only live for carnage and chaos. A final parade with Dio at the head and his followers close behind is as terrifying as it gets.

A huge misstep that the book has is in the character of Zibby. She is the usual modern exposition character who is supposed to be the one who has to have the weirdness explained to her. She is our normal eyes and ears but when the action turns to her, she's kind of boring. Her presence especially in the middle of Dionysus' gathering of followers brings things to a near halt. When a god is creating a cult of vampire-like beings right in front  of you, now is not the time to be stressing about your law exams or in despair for getting a rejection letter. 

At first I thought Zibby was going to be a love interest for Dionysus, but when that didn't happen she seemed more unnecessary. While we need the point of view of the average New Orleans resident to respond to all the crazy, it might have been more interesting to have more than one person so we can have many different people either excited to join Dionysus,  skeptical of the happenings, or appalled by his behavior. One character just makes the situation rather flat.

Ben D'Alessio clearly had a lot of fun plunking Dionysus in the middle of modern day New Orleans. It would be a great journey to see what other possibilities that this idea takes him.