Christopher Moore: Lamb

[Scottishduffy]

I just finished this book today and thoroughly enjoyed. The author's writing style is very entertaining and I found the story itself to be interesting. This is the story of Biff, Jesus Christ's childhood pal, who takes it upno himself to tell the whole story of Jesus' life.

I found it to be funny, well written, and even touching. Has anyone else read this book and enjoyed? It is somewhat blasphemous from a religous point of view, but very good.

Duff

 

[KristoCat]

I too really enjoyed it. It had the appeal of being totally off the wall yet somehow, sort of, believable. I mean, it is interesting that a lot of Christ's teachings have relationships to Eastern philosophies/religions, doesn't it? And Biff kicking ass and getting laid was just funny The way he told the story was good too.

"'Whoops,' said the Savior."

lol!

 

[Scottishduffy]

I just found the entire book hilarious! Really funny the whole way through. I found the most amusing parts to be when Josh was trying to learn about sex and bought Biff all the harlots. Then when biff learned to use his powers of meditation for.. uumm.... other purposes.

 

[mehastings]

I'm glad to see this thread here, but I need a little more detail. It would seem that some bizarre astronomical event has caused the three readers in my company to be working at once tonight. The interesting thing is that although we are three very different people (they're both twice my age) we've all got very similar "social outlooks" so we tend to enjoy reading a lot of the same stuff. Anyway, this book was one of the suggestions that just came up.

The premise sounds intriguing. There's nothing like a little religious satire to knock me out of my non-fiction induced slump. However, after taking a look at Amazon there seem to be quite a few people who thought this book was full of Adam Sandler-esq adolescent humor. I'm unwilling to base any kind of decision on opinions from Amazon so I'm looking for a second opinion on what those folks had to say. While I was warned that the book does start off at a slow pace, the story I was told was that it gets better, more mature and more intelligent after the first few chapters. Can anyone substantiate?

It is more than OK if this isn't going to be the most intellectually stimulating read I complete this year. I'm just looking to make sure that this isn't going to be something better suited to someone who understands what is so funny about the movie Tommy Boy.

 

[Ronny]

Well the humour does start out on the juvenile side as it goes through Biff's & Joshua's (aka Jesus) childhood & adolescence, it reflects their ages and really adds to the story. I found it hilarious, familiar and not overdone in anyway. There are a few spots where some of it got a bit to slapstick but it was enjoyable.

I think I mentioned in another thread, that this book reminded me a bit of Tom Robbins, not quite as good, but similiar style I think. It is a fun book and it is more of a light read.

I liked all the bits about the angels the best.

 

[mehastings]

I think I mentioned in another thread, that this book reminded me a bit of Tom Robbins, not quite as good, but similiar style I think. It is a fun book and it is more of a light read.

I think this was exactly what I was looking to hear. I'm looking for a light read right now that can spark my interest. It's been a while since I've read any of Tom Robbins, but I do remember really enjoying what I read. So, I got this book today. I'm about twenty pages in and I think I'm going to enjoy it. There have been a few slow bits, but for the most part it is quite funny. I'll report back in a few days when I've finished it.

 

[Ronny]

I aim to please , I hope you enjoy it, I giggled through quite a bit of it.

 

[mehastings]

I've just finished Lamb. Since I love comparing books to food I'm going to give this one a new ranking. I think Lamb is like the Girl Scout Cookie of the literary world. It didn't have a tremendous ammount of substance and is never going to win any awards for literary value. Reading books like this constantly wouldn't do much for me as a reader, but as an every once in a while treat, it was perfect. Like a fresh box of Samoas, I just couldn't put it down. For those of you who have already read it and enjoyed it, I'm going to suggest Christopher Buckley's No Way to Treat a First Lady. I think the writing and humor are fairly similar. Anyway, I'm in a rush, so here's my half assed review:

Lamb will never win a literary award, and portions of it would certainly appeal to teenage boys, but it is still worth reading. While Christopher Moore isn't the first person to write about Jesus' thirty or so missing years, his approach is truly novel. The story starts with the angel Raziel resurrecting Levi, Jesus' best friend to write a new gospel of the bible in honor of the anniversary of Christ's birth. The tale he tells follows Joshua (Jesus) and Biff (Levi) from to age of six until Joshua's death. The majority of the book focuses on their seventeen year journey through Iraq, China and India to study with each of the three Magi.

The writing isn't complicated and is certainly aimed at the "average reader", but that simply made for a quick and easy read. I have to agree that the parts where we hear about Raziel and his unhealthy addiction to daytime television were the best part of the book. I also enjoyed the places where Moore credits Joshua and Biff for ordinary bits of modern life such as the invention of sarcasm, the custom of putting milk in coffee, the correlation between Easter and bunnies and the creation of Judo.