Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Matthew, Mark, Luke, John... and Biff?

11:15 p.m. / 23:15

I have read a Christopher Moore novel for the first time. I decided to start with Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, although I hope to eventually read all of Moore's books. He has an excellent imagination.

I loved this book, but as you might be able to guess, it has the potential to offend some readers. It's not exactly the same thing, but if you've ever watched the movie Dogma beginning to end without being too terribly offended, you can probably handle this book. If you're still wondering, maybe try reading the very, very end first. At the very end of the book, there is an afterword type piece that is sort of a letter from the author explaining his intentions (or lack of intentions), why he included certain things and why he excluded others. I don't think there are too many, if any, real spoilers in there.

This was a laugh-out-loud funny book, but it could also be very touching, sometimes very sad. I will say that this book would probably be best enjoyed by guys, but I'm not a guy, and as I believe I've already said, I love this book.

Biff grew up with Joshua (this is the name Jesus is called by in the book), and he was Joshua's first disciple. Biff is a pretty zany guy; not exactly the pillar of morality you might expect to be Christ's best buddy, but ultimately he's a good guy and loves Joshua deeply. This is his story of Joshua's life, and his effect on himself (Biff) and the people of their time.

This is, of course, a novel; a work of fiction. The thing is, we really don't know a lot about Jesus' life inbetween his birth and... oh, about age 30. It's always interesting to think about what might have gone on in those years. Moore has just given us a very amusing take on what might have happened. Although, um, it's really, really unlikely it happened just like that.

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Comments:
I can recommend Christopher Moore's "A Dirty Job". It was really entertaining, although I listened to it as an audiobook, I didn't read-read it.
 
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