I do love me a good post-modern comedy.
Someday I’ll get around to reading the rest of Christopher Moore’s books. But in the meantime, and with the full disclosure that Lamb is the only one of his works I’ve read, and could, therefore, conceivably be a fluke, I’ll go out on a limb and say that what Tom Stoppard did for Hamlet in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” Moore has done for the New Testament.
Okay, that’s quite a limb. Maybe it’s not that good, but it’s definitely worth a read. Especially if you, like me, are left a bit underwhelmed by the storytelling abilities of Mark, John, Luke and Matthew. This is where I shold probably mention Lamb’s subtitle: “The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.” Basically, Moore has created a snarky, sarcastic, smart-ass named Biff and dropped him right in the middle of Nazareth circa, oh, the year 0.
Biff proceeds to tell us the “real” story of Jesus (or Joshua, as he’s known in the book): his childhood (playing with younger brother James by bringing dead lizards back to life), his adolescence (both boys love the lovely Maggie, but in very different ways), and his life up until age 30. The lost time is spent, according to Biff, traveling the known (and unknown) world– Afghanistan, China, and India– and learning things like zen Buddhism, explosives making, yoga, and kung fu.
Fun stuff, huh?
The best part, though, is that in the midst of these comedic delights, Moore manages to sneak a few real lessons. Oh, they’re not overt, and the book is by NO MEANS a moralistic one, but still. Things like the importance of the Golden Rule, the value of loyalty and friendship, and the hazards of living in a pit.
Seriously. Unless you’re a die-hard Bible-beater who reads the New Testament literally and is going to be vastly offended by the Son of God dropping an F-bomb, give this book a read.
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Plot: ****
Characters: *****
Vividness: ****
Readability: *****
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