Lamb by Christopher Moore

The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal
Published 2004 by HarperCollins
444 pages
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Genre: Adult Humor
Source: Purchased
Rating: Liked It

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. (Source: Goodreads)

I am a huge Moore fan, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. Moore + Jesus = Can this turn out well? Well, set your mind at ease. This is probably the tamest of the Moore books I’ve read. Because the book is so grounded in the factual, it limits the over-the-top absurdity that usually flows from Moore’s mind. It is very obvious that he did a tremendous amount of research and took great care to create a journey of life and spiritual lessons for Jesus for the missing years. He doesn’t leave his fans hanging. Biff does provide comedic relief along with trying to provide context for actual events.

I really enjoyed it, but I enjoy his imagined worlds that allow his mind free range to roam and create more.

Moore is successful at providing a human element to the miraculous events of the Bible.