When do I leave? I was almost finished here. What do you think? Stephan held out the scroll so Raziel could see the Burning Bush seal. Really? Raziel checked his watch, then tapped the crystal. The archangel Stephan was standing over him, brandishing a scroll like a rolled-up magazine over a piddling puppy. Raziel, what in heaven’s name are you doing? Each time he turned the cloth a muted chorus rang from the closet, as if he’d clamped the lid down on a pickle jar full of Hallelujah Chorus. A wineskin of glory had leaked in the corner and the angel blotted it with a wad of fabric. Halos and moonbeams were sorted into piles according to brightness, satchels of wrath and scabbards of lightning hung on hooks waiting to be dusted. The angel was cleaning out his closets when the call came.

The middle is more slapstick and contain more stories that the author carefully and blatantly describes as speculation for the sake of a fun story.Īs a novel, I loved this book and haven't laughed harder reading anything in a long, long time.

The first third and last third are the strongest parts of the book. Yet underneath the story, the reader is invited to consider, perhaps for the first time, the humanity of Jesus, the truly normal portion of who Jesus was, as a pre-teen, a teenager, a young adult who was on a mission that was extremely difficult and confusing. It's madcap, goofy, and both respectful and well-researched as well as being a fun speculation that sticks-in-the-mud will find sacrilegious. Many times over, laugh-out-loud funny stuff. What if Jesus of Nazareth had grown up with a wisecracking buddy named Biff? And what if Biff were commissioned to write his own Gospel story and bring some levity to the Jesus story?Ĭhristopher Moore writes very, very funny stuff.

Lamb biff jesus childhood friend