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

Oh Christopher Moore. I adore you. I didn't always adore you, but I promise, I was wrong. I think I didn't always adore you because I first read Practical Demonkeeping when I was a little too young. Just a little. ok, I was 12 when I picked it up. Maybe wasn't the best call.

I'm sorry. It wasn't until I met my boyfriend and he was BLOWN AWAY I hadn't read Lamb that he pretty much gave me no option but to read it. This was 5, almost 6 years ago. So, hey. Long time coming. Apologies. I feel justified about writing this review now, because I have read Lamb since on almost a yearly basis. Yes, really. I've also since read everything Moore has written and loved it. Even Practical Demonkeeping. In particular, Fluke, A Dirty Job and The Stupidest Angel. But I digress. We're talking about Lamb. Focus.

Lamb is pretty much brilliant. I don't care if you're an Atheist, Jewish, Christian, FSM, you'll probably like it. Moore writes Comic Fantasy - Do not take him seriously. His novels usually involve conflicted everyman characters struggling through extraordinary circumstances - in this case, some poor schmuck who has the good (bad?) fortune of being Chirst's Childhood Best Friend. I know right?!  


The book is the parts of Joshua Bar Joseph's life that didn't make it into the bible. It starts with him constantly bringing a lizard back to life, moves on to his trying to figure out Sin (and hey, lucky Biff is the Guinea Pig) and moves onward and upward to why Jews eat Chinese food for Christmas (my mom was thrilled to finally have a rationalization).


Look, if you take your religion very conservatively, you probably shouldn't read this book. It's speculative fiction, re-interprets the life of Jesus, speculates on the gaps in the gospels and discusses the possibility of other religions being vital to the formation of Christianity.

Moore starts the book with the quote "God is a comedian playing to an audience that is afraid to laugh" (Voltaire). He's not wrong.