Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff
Christ's Childhood Pal Tells the Story of Jesus H. Christ
Feb 27, 2008
Christopher Moore continues his zany storytelling in Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, his 6th novel, chronicling the life of Jesus Christ from childhood to crucifixion through the eyes of his best friend, Biff. Christopher Moore's trend of writing crazy adventure stories can be seen in Island of the Sequined Love Nun and Coyote Blue, the endearing tale of how a trickster, Old Man Coyote, changes the life of one Samson Hunts Alone, who fled the Crow agency after a deadly accident as a teenager. What was Jesus like as a kid? It goes a little something like this ….
The Plot
His name is Joshua. “Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Yeshua, which is Joshua. Christ is not a last name. It’s the Greek for messiah, a Hebrew word meaning anointed. I have no idea what the “H” in Jesus H. Christ stood for. It’s one of the things I should have asked him.” That is Levi. You can call him Biff. Everyone does.
Biff and Josh aren’t alone though. Maggie is with them for a while. They’re hopelessly smitten with Mary of Magdala but leave her on her wedding day to pursue Josh’s destiny. They seek the three Magi that were present at his birth in order for Josh to find out a little more about his responsibilities of being the messiah. On the way they learn kung fu, become one with themselves, and realize that they have to ask for permission in order to shave the yak.
Josh learns that he has to sacrifice himself for the good of the world (was there really any doubt? We all know the ending to this story) and Biff, well, Biff tags along and finds out just how much he admires Josh, how much he misses Maggie, and that trying to teach Josh about sex by having sex with prostitutes just isn’t going to work.
This short summary of Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal doesn’t do the book justice. It is fun, sassy, insightful, inspirational, and the natural extension of the life of Jesus that many of us know.
To quote Gregory Maguire from the back jacket, “Lamb is hysterical, sexy, and really deeply moving: Moore performs a sleight-of-hand, a balancing act, of fiendish exactitude—not an ounce of bathos too much, not a shred of potential heresy for anyone who takes the story too seriously …”
Lamb most certainly outdoes its older brother Island of the Sequined Love Nun in both storytelling and hilariousness and is an enjoyable read for anyone looking for more insight into the king of all kings and the lord of all lords, Jesus H. Chist.
Moore, Christopher. Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. New York: Harper, 2002.
