GUEST BLOG by FIONNEGAN MURPHY

Lamb by Christopher Moore

First I think I should mention that I love when classics are re-imagined. Remixes of songs, mashers, collage art, and modern day fairy tales are among my favorite things. When it comes to re-imagining the classics, you can't get much more classic than the story of Jesus.

Christopher Moore takes up the arduous task of filling in the HUGE time of Christ's life that is not told in the gospels of the New Testament. His vehicle for the story is Biff, Christ's childhood friend. Biff is the person in Jesus' life that God gives him to watch his back, clean up his messes, and kick a little ass when he has to. Biff lies, cheats, fights, and helps guide the Messiah as he travels to find each of the three wise men who visited him on his birth. Their objective? To teach Jesus how to be the Messiah properly.

While Jesus is learning how to perform his miracles, find peace in his own soul, and heal the world around him Biff is learning how to make explosives, poisons, and fight with the best of the Kung Fu masters of the East. A better bodyguard for the son of God couldn't be found.

The story is funny and touching and written in a very grounded and refreshingly non-poetic manner. Biff swears and fights with Jesus constantly over women, money, food, and just about any other vice that there is. But the two friends are inseparable and it is clear that without him Jesus wouldn't have been more than another murdered Jew in a Roman occupied country.

The book is not meant to be scripture, it is just fun to think about. Despite that, I think that Christopher Moore does a good job creating a very realistic world around the two travelers.

On a scale from 1 to "HOLY CRAP THAT WAS LIFE CHANGING!" I give this one a thumbs up and an "Atta boy. You should check this out."

Special thanks to Leia for supplying the book. You're the best.

I will post another blog as soon as I finish The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I'm 3.7/7 books in.

Keep reading, Leia & Fionn