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

Christopher Moore

I read a few of Christopher Moore's earlier books back in the day, and found them amusing, if somewhat high-school in their humor. It's obvious to me that in the intervening years, Christopher Moore grew up big time. Lamb is something special.

With Lamb, Moore sought to answer a question that has plagued the minds of Christians (and non-Christians who are familiar with the Bible) for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. No, I'm not talking about "what if Jesus knew kung fu?" (Though he answers that one, too.) I'm talking about "what happened during the thirty years of Jesus' life not covered by the Bible?" In doing so, he interprets various things in a number of interesting ways (his portrayal of Mary Magdalene, especially, is intriguing, and at the risk of seeming blasphemous, rings far more true than most), offers plausible, if far-fetched, ideas about why it is that Christian doctrine resembles older faiths in many ways, and serves it all up with a wry, understated kind of humor I didn't find in his earlier works. (Not that he's above throwing in fart jokes now and again.)

The book has a few minor shortcomings, most having less to do with the text than with the presentation. For example, the left-indenting on the present-day frame pieces is extremely annoying at first, but you'll get used to it. Also, it seems that while Moore has come a long way in his mastery of more dramatic passages, there are still some times (the book's climax being one of them) where the humor serves to undercut the tension rather than heighten it.

Other than that, though, I can unreservedly say that Lamb is the best Moore novel I've read to date.