Thursday, November 19, 2009

Lamb, or the Gospel According to Biff

Staff Review

Lamb
by Christopher Moore

I’m an older guy, and sophomoric, antiestablishment humor like National Lampoon or Saturday Night Live is just plain boring. Been there, done that in the 60’s. So, when I picked up Lamb, an attempt to recreate the first 30 years of Christ’s life (about which little is known) and saw the subtitle, “the Gospel according to Biff, Christ’s childhood pal,” I almost put it back.

I’m glad that I didn’t. While Jesus (Joshua), Biff, and Mary Magdalene are interesting, loving Jewish children who outwit the occupying Romans, they do a lot of funny, laugh out loud antics. Imagine that you are twelve years old and were told that you were the Messiah. The novel is about Joshua’s efforts - with Biff's help - to grow into the job. They head for the Orient (some biblical scholars believe that Jesus was in the Orient during the time that there is no record of his whereabouts) to get information from the Three Wise Men. They have interesting, hilarious adventures. Lamb is special because the author has written humor without sacrilege or snark. Lamb is a nicely written, funny, and heart-warming read.
- Lou Miller

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