I just finished reading Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore. Lou Ann mentioned this book as her current reading for a book club she’s in, and I was intrigued. Lamb is an irreverent look at Christ’s life from his pal Biff. Devout Christians, and more specifically, devout Catholics will have plenty of problems with the book. But I thought that it was an interesting and entertaining tale of what some of the more mundane aspects of Christ’s life could have been like. What kind of conversations would he have? How would he relate to other people in everyday situations?

The most interesting part of Lamb was the way in which Moore balanced Christ’s humanity and divinity. The humanity of Christ was very much in the forefront of his interactions in the book, but when push came to shove, his divinity always had the final word. I should point out that this is not a novel intended for children. Moore seems to be preoccupied with sex throughout the book, and it is very much a focal point of Biff’s throughout the narrative.

The biggest problem that I had with the book is that I felt like the death and resurrection were diminished by Moore’s handling of them. Moore went out of his way to state clearly that Jesus was the son of God, and yet the sacrifice of the cross was diminished (I thought) by Biff’s participation in the events as they unfold. I found the final scenes to be anticlimactic and ultimately unfulfilling. That being said, I definitely would recommend this book as an interesting read. If nothing else, it should spark some good discussions in various book clubs!