Summary: Check out my review of Lamb by Christopher Moore.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
By Christopher Moore
The birth of Jesus has been well chronicled, as have his glorious teachings, acts, and divine sacrifice after his thirtieth birthday. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years – except Biff, the Messiah’s best bud, who has been resurrected to tell the story in the divinely hilarious yet heartfelt work “reminiscent of Vonnegut and Douglas Adams” (Philadelphia Inquirer).
Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior’s pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there’s no one who loves Josh more – except maybe “Maggie,” Mary of Magdala – and Biff isn’t about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.
I have to start by saying I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading this book. I’d never heard of Christopher Moore, I didn’t read any online reviews, and even the back told me very little of what to expect. I thought, oh cute – a story about Jesus as a child (and yes, I realized it would be fictional).
Several friends recommended this book to me, so I felt like I had to give it a try. I knew very little of what it was about, other than a fictional story of Jesus’s life as a child. About two chapters in I started to get really confused … What I should have known is that Christopher Moore is a comic writer, meaning his book was humorous, including many dirty jokes as well. Once I got over my initial shock, I spent a great deal of the story laughing and shaking my head. I ended up really enjoying the humor and the story itself. Moore was incredibly creative and clearly did a lot of research into cultures during the time of Jesus’s childhood.
The best part about the book, however, was also the most surprising part for me. Once I finished the book, I realized I had actually grown closer to Jesus. Say WHAT? Yes. Although most of the book was entirely fictional, the underlying storyline is Joshua (Jesus) trying to find out his purpose as the Messiah and what that means. Joshua’s growth as a person, his realization of what it means to gain freedom through religion, and what he must do to show his Father his love for all of mankind is what made this a really meaningful story. I closed the book feeling like I understood more fully what Christ did for me – He wasn’t just a perfect figurehead sent to earth to save us all, He LIVED. He lived life just as we do, but He set an example to be something greater and He sacrificed His own life and future for us.