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

Christopher Moore

Harper Paperbacks

2003

444 páginas

14h 48m

ISBN-10: 0380813815

While the Bible may be the word of God, transcribed by divinely inspired men, it does not provide a full (or even partial) account of the life of Jesus Christ. Lucky for us that Christopher Moore presents a funny, lighthearted satire of the life of Christ--from his childhood days up to his crucifixion--in Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal. This clever novel is surely blasphemy to some, but to others it's a coming-of-age story of the highest order.

Joshua (a.k.a. Jesus) knows he is unique and quite alone in his calling, but what exactly does his Father want of him? Taking liberties with ancient history, Moore works up an adventure tale as Biff and Joshua seek out the three wise men so that Joshua can better understand what he is supposed to do as Messiah. Biff, a capable sinner, tags along and gives Joshua ample opportunities to know the failings and weaknesses of being truly human. With a wit similar to Douglas Adams, Moore pulls no punches: a young Biff has the hots for Joshua's mom, Mary, which doesn't amuse Josh much: "Don't let anyone ever tell you that the Prince of Peace never struck anyone." And the origin of the Easter Bunny is explained as a drunken Jesus gushes his affection for bunnies, declaring, "Henceforth and from now on, I decree that whenever something bad happens to me, there shall be bunnies around."

One small problem with the narrative is that Biff and Joshua often do not have distinct voices. A larger difficulty is that as the tone becomes more somber with Joshua's life drawing to its inevitable close, the one-liners, though not as numerous, seem forced. True to form, Lamb keeps the story of Joshua light, even after its darkest moments.

Resenhas (1)

4 (Muito bom)

The Funniest Story Ever Told! HAHAHA!

Having read Live from Golgotha, by Gore Vidal, also a satire of the story of Jesus, I found this to be rather refreshing! While Vidal is acid and not very funny in his satire (more of a criticism of Christianity in general), Moore is actually extremely funny. He manages to create a lighter version of Jesus, mainly because of his wisecracking best friend and adventure buddy, "Levi who is called Biff," inventor of "sarkasmo" (Greek for sarcasm). You could say Moore seeks to "fill the historical gap" between Jesus' birth and the three years of his life we do know about. (And, just in case someone really has no sense of humor, I should say he is not really trying to do that!)

Also, I don't know much about the Buddhist or Hindu beliefs, but the little I did know (e.g. The 3 Jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation, and humility) always hit me as very similar to the main ideas propagated by Christianity (read Jesus). That and the answer to the question "What if Jesus knew kung-fu?" Moore explores very well, implying that Jesus got those ideas from travelling to and spending many years in the East. Anachronisms are readily forgiven when you have to stop reading to actually L O L !!!

You know the story, so the implication that a quite unusual situation was the trigger for phrases such as "turn the other cheek," or seeing Jesus in a new light (no pun intended), as a practical joker (very funny "walking on water" scene), or Biff using fake Bible references to try to win an argument (Dalmatians 2:15, or Amphibians 5:24), becomes very entertaining, and, I must stress, VERY, VERY FUNNY!

Some might believe that treating the story of Jesus with humor is heresy or blasphemy. I, however, would point out that Jesus, who was tried, convicted, and executed for a spurious blasphemy charge, would probably very much enjoy a little humor in his life. I highly recommend the book, especially if you are feeling down and out!