He's understandably unimpressed with the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and eager to set the record straight. Biff manages to find a Bible in the hotel room where he and Raziel are staying, and he hides it in the bathroom to read where the angel won't interfere. The four canonical gospels tend to omit this part of Christ's life, focusing more on the birth and his 'ministry' from when he was thirty until that whole Crucifixion deal. An angel, Raziel, whom we're given to understand is not all that bright (he wants to be Spider-Man), resurrects Biff on twenty-first-century Earth on the orders of Heaven: Biff is going to write his own gospel, and he's going to tell the story of Jesus' childhood. Biff, our narrator, is a 'forgotten disciple' of Jesus. This book is a great example of where a frame story works well. His dialogue, characterization, and simple storytelling ability all contribute to make Lamb more than just a series of flatulence, sex, and bacon jokes (although there are plenty of all three). As I said in my review of Fool, this is not usually the comedy that impresses me, but once again, Moore manages to persuade me to make an exception. Both books take a tongue-in-cheek, anachronistic approach to chronicling the relationship between humanity and God, and both employ a liberal amount of physical humour.

Lamb also reminds me of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bible!, by Jonathan Goldstein. From the first page, Moore greets me with the snappy dialogue that endeared me to him in Fool.

I love Bible stories and parodies of Bible stories, and Lamb is no exception. As I go to review this, I realize I never got around to putting it on my 'currently reading' shelf.

Christopher moore jesus