May 20, 2008

"Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" - Book Review -Jeremiah

When I first saw Christopher Moore's book and read the title, I grinned inwardly. “This has to be good”, I thought. The book, it turns out was, a special printing, an edition that looked like a leather-bound Bible, complete with a red ribbon bookmark and golden-edged pages. Yet even with the title and the tongue-in-cheek packaging, I still had no idea what to expect.

Is it going to be a comedy? An adventure? A buddy/road story? The journey from childhood to adulthood? Would there be magic, miracles and love? Turns out, all of the above. If Moore's “Lamb” is the missing Gospel, then apparently the church left out the best one -- the one with the most humanity.

In the beginning, an angel is ordered by The Son to resurrect Biff and have him recount his version of the life of Christ, as all the Gospels differ both in content and chronological order of events. “Lamb” is a light-hearted shot at unifying the Gospels, as well as a sly attempt to remove some of the anger from one of most supposedly loving beings to walk the Earth.

So basically, Biff sits in an airport motel writing the memoirs of his life with Christ. He and the angel marvel at humanity's achievements and bemoan their setbacks since he last walked the earth, all of which they learn of from the television. At one point Biff writes:

The angel has confided in me that he is going to ask the Lord if he can become Spider–Man. He watches the television constantly, even when I sleep, and he has become obsessed with the story of the hero who fights demons from the rooftops. The angel says that evil looms larger now than it did in my time, and that calls for greater heroes. The children need heroes, he says, I think he just wants to swing from buildings in tight red jammies.

Unlike the other Gospels, Biff chronicles his first meeting with the savior, as well as their friendship, and focuses on the missing years of Christ's life: the years where Christ becomes a man and learns how to be a savior. How do do they do this? Road Trip! Christ (or Joshua, as was his real name) decides to seek out each of the three wise men, or magi, and ask them for guidance.

On their travels they learn magic, kung fu and Kama Sutra, they fight bandits and demons and meet the Abominable Snow Man.

I loved typing that last sentence.

It's the like a Hardy Boys adventure at times, yet there is a sincerity and a deep undercurrent of faith that creeps out in the most miraculous places.

If you think you know the story of Christ, then you definitely need to pick up this wonderfully bizarre re-telling of it. I found myself maniacally laughing out in public places as I was reading it. Then there were times where I was caught up in the drama of the love triangle between Biff, Joshua and Mary Magdelene.

Bottom Line: I loved this book. I have to agree with Moore himself when he commented on the possible offensiveness of this book, “...if one's faith can be shaken by stories in a humorous novel, one may have a bit more praying to do.”

So read it. You'll thank me.

I leave you with this passage, after a roman guard has witnessed one of many resurrections performed by Joshua:

Justus let his sword fall to his side with a sigh. "Go home. All of you. By order of Gaius Justus Gallicus, under-commander of the Sixth Legion, commander of the Third and Fourth Centuries, under authority of Emperor Tiberius and the Roman Empire, you are all commanded to go home and perpetrate no weird shit until I have gotten well drunk and had several days to sleep it off."

As for the rating, I have decided to throw off the confining yoke of our previous system and instate the one I've been talking about since I saw “Across the Universe”:

/ 5

(Long story, but ask and I'll tell.)

Yours Until Hell freezes Over,
Jeremiah

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