Rating:  -
Have you ever wondered what happened to Jesus in the years between 3 and 33? Here's your chance to find out! Straight from his best friends hand you will read what went on in those years that the bible omits. How is this possible? Well, an angel named Raziel goes and resurrects Biff after 2,000 years of being dead an tells him he is to write what happened as far as he knows. So read this and you'll learn the origins of words, you'll learn that Jesus was actually called Joshua and Jesus is just a Greek Translation of the Hebrew Yeshua(Joshua). This shows the struggle Josh had to endure while putting up with his best friend Biff along with some other dimwits, and how he went on tho become the messiah he always knew he was.
I love Christopher Moore. His books have a clever humor in them and I just love it. This book was great because he did a lot of research and so it really rings true. Biff and Joseph end up seeking out the three wise men in this, because Joshua feels each of them have something to teach him. So they leave home one day and over the next seventeen years, they learn all they can(not with out a bit of complaining, if not mostly from Biff). This book shows Josh and Biff as just two normal guys one who just happens to be the savior, but they act like normal people (save for a few miracles here and there) and they still have feelings and yell a lot. This book is very fun and realistic and I think a lot of people can enjoy it. It's a good book for those on the 16+ side of the YA spectrum, even though it's an adult book I really do think older teens and up will love it.
Rating:  -
First a disclosure: I am a Christian and have been my whole life. (I've read a hundred scientific journals trying to persuade me into not believing what I've read in the Bible, mostly because I enjoy them trying to explain DNA-protein translation just "happening". I LOL @ Stanley Miller.)
I tell you that because, of course, there will be controversy with a novel about the Jesus portrayed in this book. Many who are offended (after reading a few of the Amazon reviews) seem to all be similar: this book is way off, not good for Christians, burn it, and so forth. I really think these people started off reading Lamb with a bone to pick.
This book was recommended to me by a friend who studied Theology in undergraduate classes, and is now in graduate school for the same thing. Her father is a pastor, and she is obviously religious. I wouldn't be surprised if she had had the book as mandatory reading for school.
I think using the name Joshua instead of Jesus helps one create a different person while reading, which was probably Moore's intent. The historical aspects of the book fascinate me entirely; the relationship portrayed between Romans and Jews during that time is both entertaining and interesting. Hearing about how people traveled and about how they lived during that time was always something I wanted to know more about, even if in a fictional novel. Even though the nickname "Biff" makes sense in the book (struck often as a child, that was the sound hitting Levi in the head made), I thought it was a bit annoying. Even still, I found this book, like, totally entertaining or whatever.
Rating:  -
First third was hilarious. Middle dragged and was not all that funny. Last 88 pages was work.
Rating: -
Engaging, funny and just irreverant enough... one gets the sense that Christopher Moore had as much fun writing it and I did reading it. So where exactly was Jesus and what was he doing those "missing teen years" that the bible doesn't account for? Well, according to his childhood pal, Biff, they were having some pretty amazing adventures. This is storytelling at its most entertaining - and, frankly, I would be surprised if even the most devout would find anything offensive about it.
Rating: -
Reading Lamb is like watching a diver climb the ladder to the highest diving board, flex his limbs, bounce a couple of times, prepare for the dive, and then turn around and climb back down. There is lots of build-up and then...nothing.
The wonderful parts of Lamb are well worth the anticipation of a climactic ending. The encounters between Christ's childhood friend, Biff (who has been resurrected to write his version of the Gospel), and the soap-opera addicted angel, Raziel, are truly hilarious. And Joshua's (Christ's) quest to discover how to become the Messiah through tracking down the three wise men was positively inspired. I followed Biff's and Joshua's discovery of the ancient Eastern philosophies--Confucianism, Zen, Yoga--with delight.
But (and there is always a "but" in Moore's books), Lamb seemed to lose steam in the last third. The adolescent humor (and language) appropriate to 14-year-olds did not suit a thirty-year-old Messiah. Most disappointing of all, those many years of mastering Zen, yoga, and Chinese philosophy were not utilized. Instead, Moore suddenly, and illogically, follows a strictly conventional interpretation of the New Testament. After coming to expect a truly unique approach to the years of Christ's ministry, the last third was a real let-down. Moore could have done so much more with the "Gospels according to Biff." Instead, he turned an interesting novel into drudgery, which reflects poorly on the author's commitment to his own project.
The last third of the book also reflects poorly on Moore's research. The point of contention between the Romans and the rebellious inhabitants of the Levant was taxes. The Jews had already mounted a massive insurrection against Roman authority, and, during the time of Christ, were mounting another. Christ was the spearhead of a rebellion which would have undermined Roman authority in the region. ("Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's") The punishment for rebels was, of course, crucifixion. The idea that the Roman authorities would have crucified anybody at the behest (even via supposed manipulation) of their subjects is absurd. Crucifixion was intended to be a political lesson, not a moral one. And a popular leader who did not acknowledge Roman hegemony was as much a threat to imperial rule in Christ's time as Islamic leaders are now. (Ironically, but predictably, religion is still being used as a smokescreen for purely political ends.)
Taken as a whole, I'd have to say that I would not recommend Lamb to discriminating readers. Nor would I recommend any of Moore's books. Moore is a writer who occasionally shows considerable talent but seems to have no ability to focus. He has good ideas, but the execution is so spotty and uneven (snappy dialogue on one page can become an empty exchange of "yeahs" on the next), that you never see them come to fruition. The end product becomes such a hodge-podge of didactic exposition (which, in Lamb, Moore actually considered entering as footnotes), adolescent humor (only effective if endless repetitions of the "f" word and constant references to male anatomy make you snigger), and lost plot lines that, if you are waiting for that swan dive, you'd better not hold your breath.
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