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Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal
by Christopher Moore

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28881.Lamb_The_Gospel_According_to_Biff_Christ_s_Childhood_Pal?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1167957757m/28881.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28881.Lamb_The_Gospel_According_to_Biff_Christ_s_Childhood_Pal?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16218.Christopher_Moore">Christopher Moore</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/14146302?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 5 of 5 stars Knowing my friends, I don't see any reason why I should have to put a caution into this, but here it is: if you're not open to the reinterpretation of the life of Jesus, speculation on the gaps in the gospels and the possibility of pan-religious values, then you should probably not read this book. Nor should you really be using the internet - there's just too much nasty "Free Thinking" out there.
 Okay, that'll weed out the wusses.
 
 Each time I read this, I love it more. It's Moore's best work, without question, and so far my favorite interpretation of the life of Jesus. It is the Gospel According to Biff, the best friend of Joshua bar Joseph, the man who would one day be called Jesus Christ. Of course, when Biff met him, the young Son of God was occupying himself by resurrecting lizards after his brother smashed their heads in.
 
 The best way to describe Biff would be Jesus' Sidekick. He's a troublemaker, sarcastic, and far too prone to succumb to temptations of the flesh. But he's young Joshua's best friend, so when Josh goes searching for the three Magi who attended his birth, Biff knows he has to go with him.
 
 The main part of the book has to do with Biff and Josh's search for the Magi, to learn from them how Josh can be the Messiah. On their way they face demons, death and certain temptation, but also wisdom and experience from the wisest men in Asia. More or less.
 
 As he admits in his afterward, Moore has tackled a very tough subject here, one that he knows is likely to rile people up. Jesus is one of those characters that is very set in peoples' minds - he is the tall, beatific figure with a gentle voice and blue eyes who glides around in robes followed by insightful and worshipful men.
 
 He certainly never ate Chinese food on his birthday, nor did he get hopped up on coffee or learn kung-fu. He's never had a sarcastic best friend who was willing to risk damnation to describe what sex was like to the young Messiah, who was pretty sure that he wasn't allowed to Know women.
 
 More importantly, the life of Jesus hasn't been this funny before. This is the kind of book that will piss off your family or co-workers, because you'll want to read out passages from the book every five minutes, but you won't get it out right because you'll be laughing too hard. To wit:
 
 "Being a shepherd seems easy. I went with Kaliel last week to tend his flock. The Law says that two must go with the flock to keep an Abomination from happening. I can spot an abomination from fifty paces."
 
 Maggie smiled. "And did you prevent any abominations?"
 
 "Oh yes. I kept all of the abominations at bay while Kaliel played with his favorite sheep behind the bushes."
 
 "Biff," Joshua said gravely, "that was the abomination you were supposed to prevent."
 
 "It was?"
 
 "Yes."
 
 "Whoops...."
 
 Or this, regarding the life of Biff's father, a stonemason:
 
 "Your lungs grow thick with stone dust and your eyes bleary from the sun and fragments thrown up by the chisel. You pour your lifeblood into works of stone for Romans who will take your money in taxes to feed soldiers who will nail your people to crosses for wanting to be free. Your back breaks, your bones creak, your wife screeches at you, and your children torment you with open, begging mouths, like greedy baby birds in the nest. You go to bed every night so tired and beaten that you pray to the Lord to send the angel of death to take you in your sleep so you don't have to face another morning. It also has its downside."
 
 Just one more:
 
 Then I said one of those things that as a boy growing up in Galilee, you never think you'll hear yourself say: "Okay, Untouchables, bring me the sheep bladders!"
 
 It really is best if you just buy the book.
 
 The best thing, though, is that Moore treats his characters with the utmost respect. Nothing that Jesus does in the book is out of character for him, insofar as we know his character. And Biff is more than just a goofy friend of the Messiah - he is the reminder and the anchor of Jesus' humanity.
 
 It's a brilliant book, in my top ten....
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/858949?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Chris's review
rating:
bookshelves: fantasy, humor, top-shelf

Knowing my friends, I don't see any reason why I should have to put a caution into this, but here it is: if you're not open to the reinterpretation of the life of Jesus, speculation on the gaps in the gospels and the possibility of pan-religious values, then you should probably not read this book. Nor should you really be using the internet - there's just too much nasty "Free Thinking" out there.
Okay, that'll weed out the wusses.

Each time I read this, I love it more. It's Moore's best work, without question, and so far my favorite interpretation of the life of Jesus. It is the Gospel According to Biff, the best friend of Joshua bar Joseph, the man who would one day be called Jesus Christ. Of course, when Biff met him, the young Son of God was occupying himself by resurrecting lizards after his brother smashed their heads in.

The best way to describe Biff would be Jesus' Sidekick. He's a troublemaker, sarcastic, and far too prone to succumb to temptations of the flesh...more

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