A Truly Hilarious, Witty, Sometimes Irreverent Novel

Christopher Moore introduces the reader to the boy Jesus- "Joshua" according to his best friend Biff- who is discovered repeatedly resurrecting a lizard, by sticking it in his mouth; and all of this just to entertain his little brother James. Thus begins a hilarious and sometimes irreverent novel which will offend orthodox Christians, but certainly entertain the rest of us.

Moore argues tongue-in-cheek, early in his narrative, that the birth of Jesus has been well-chronicled, as have his works and teachings AFTER the age of thirty. But no one knows about the early life of the Son of God, the missing years; except Biff, the Messiah's best friend, who has been resurrected by an angel to write another gospel. The story Biff tells is miraculous: filled with extraordinary journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse re-animations, demons, and, oddly enough, hot women.

Moore's writing style is a bizarre mix of serious and sometimes brutal historical fiction laced with dark humor, wordplay, in-jokes that only a person acquainted with the gospels is liable to get, and sparkling one-liners worthy of any stand-up comedian.

Lamb is laugh-out-loud funny. It teeters on the edge of being sacreligious, but somehow manages to keep from falling off the razor's edge, into the abyss. If you want a wild ride into the wilderness between the shepherds at the manger and the baptism in the Jordan, this is the perfect comedic vehicle for you.

Funny, witty look at Christ becoming the Messiah

If you take your bible with a grain a salt or can find humor in yourself and the world, then this book is right up your alley.

Moore looks to fill in the 30 year biblical gap of Jesus' life between birth and death. Levi who is called Biff, Joshua's (Jesus in Greek tradition) best friend, accompanies Josh through his travels to become the Messiah. This heartfelt and comedic look at what transformed Jesus from child of Nazareth to Savior is audacious and irreverant and not as offensive as the title or subject matter might lead one to believe.

The journey takes Joshua and Biff from Nazareth to Afghanistan, to a Busshist monestary in China to India while tracking the three wise men to learn the lessons they have to offer and ending with a return to Isreal and an alternative hypothesis of the resurrection. The travels are wild and extravagent as you imagine would necessarily be to transform the child of God to the Savior of Man and touching through the end of Christ's life. Biff as is necessary to protect and save Josh is ever good at getting out of trouble with wit, sarcasm, lying and cheating and faithfully resolves to take part in sin for the benefit of Josh.

If you notice little things and can put them together you will notice Jesus and Biff should be credited for creating cappucino. Just one enticing and witty mark in this very entertaining book.

Now that I am done this one, I'm off ot get the rest of Christopher Moore's works.

"must-read" life of Jesus!

Christopher Moore's great book on the "in-between" years of Jesus (his adventures with his best friend 'Biff')will have even the most die-hard believer laughing until the tears come...and then elbowing strangers in the ribs and quoting paragraphs and pages! The only folks who might not like this are the most humorless fundamentalists who can't imagine that God might have a sense of humor.

Imagine Jesus standing at the newly-opened grave of Lazarus, dead for four days: (paraphrase) "Lazarus, come out!"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm all yucky."

"We're going to need some soap and water...and bandages. Get me some bandages...lots of bandages!"

As a Lutheran minister, I've dared to share some excerpts from this book with folks in some of my Bible studies...but to get the full punch, you've got to read the book.

I haven't laughed this much since reading Michael Malone's "Handling Sin" (copyright 1986), which doesn't purport to be a biblical epic, but is downright hilarious. "Lamb" is over the top.

So maybe you don't know much about the life of Jesus (the biblical account, anyway). That's okay; "Lamb" assumes some familiarity with the basic story, but you'll still find a whole lot to chuckle about. And you might just discover a curiosity to go back and compare Moore's story with the biblical record. Hey, go for it!

Great read; share it with a friend!

Rev. Richard Rentner

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff

This book was recommended to me by three different people, and when I finally read it, I could see why. It is a hilarious account of the story of Jesus Christ, particularly during the period before he started preaching and gathering disciples. It combines aspects of Eastern religions to explain the difference in Jesus's teachings as opposed to those of the Old Testament, as well as a lot of simply funny (some might say sacriligious) material. As someone who was raised in the church and knows the Bible well (but am a liberal Presbyterian, not a fundamentalist), I felt that I enjoyed it more than someone who was not familiar with Christianity might. As it states in the epilogue, "Lamb is peppered with biblical references, both real and made-up.... if the reader knows the Bible well enough to recognize the real references, theres a good chance that he or she has decided not to read this book." I've read several of Christopher Moore's books, and this one is the best by far.

neighbor Jesus could have been my bud as well

I have read this book two and a half times, this half time I have spent for the original English release.. pls. see also my more detailed German report about 'die Bibel nach Biff'.

As usual, I am not giving a resume of the story. You can find this on Amazon market or other web sites..

Have you got a christian education? Have you ever asked what Jesus did before he got so famous? Have you any idea about what he have learned, from whom he had learned, where he had actually been during his first about 30 years of life, how he had handled his special skills, how his family and friends had handled this? Have you already got any answer to those questions?

Not? Than this book is a must for you, cause you'll find all these answers, storied in a gorgeous humorous way. The new gospel, written by Jesus' best friend Biff, resurged from deaths after 2000 years, under archangels' control, in a middle class hotel suite... this alone is one reason to read this book.

You'll find out, that miracles does not simply happen, but they mus be learned and trained, and Jesus was not perfect from beginning. Not at all. He had friends, and teachers. He discovered the world, various cultures, came from Persia across India to China, and he found out what important is for human beings, and what he need to be a good god's son, how to raise people from dead (and keep them alive afterwards, which is really not easy at the beginning), how to make wine from water, how to multiply bread ... The reader will learn everything about Jesus' early life, his intentions, his motivations, his way to become the Jesus we are knowing.

One of the best books I ever read, extremely recommended!

regards, skai from Germany