Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore

2 reviews

thehmkane's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.25

Funny. Early-2000s-typical homophobia, sexism, and ableism, but a worthwhile read. Definitely some dark parts.
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bluejayreads's review against another edition

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Despite being an ex-christian and no longer believing in Jesus as savior, the existence of the Christian god, etc., I am fascinated by religion. And probably because of being an ex-christian, I enjoy a bit of sacrilege and blasphemy on occasion. Plus, this book came recommended by my favorite ex-christian blogger. So I had high hopes. 

However, I had forgotten two things: 

  1. I am not a huge fan of the comedy genre.
  2. I know WAY too much about the Bible and Jesus' supposed life to be able to suspend my disbelief very well.
 
I'm also a nerd and expect people to have done extensive research especially if it's something I know a lot about, but this is unambiguously fiction so I hope I could be forgiving of that one.
 
Most of the comedy fell completely flat for me. Some of what happened was definitely creative, but I don't think I cracked a smile once. This, admittedly, might be me and not the book. The main reason I don't like comedies as a genre is because I rarely find them funny. And at least in the part I read, most of the humor seemed to be based on little boys being little boys, written in such a way that I think it would be more amusing to people who had actually been little boys at some point.
 
My fundamentalist upbringing balked at young Jesus being portrayed as an imperfect child who was struggling to learn to be human, but the rest of me acknowledged that was a really creative way to portray him. What I couldn't get past, though, was the insistence that Jesus was in fact the Jewish messiah and fulfilling all the prophecies and whatnot. I know that's the Christian version of the tale and it takes a lot of digging to get past that in the Christian-dominated West, but that's not at all accurate. If Jesus existed, which I think he probably did, he likely never claimed to be messiah or son of god. And the Jewish qualifications for the role of Messiah are way different than Christianity would have you believe and Jesus fits almost none of them.
 
I realize that for most people this wouldn't be a deal-breaker, or probably even on their radar, but it was an issue for me. (Yes, I have been accused of being pedantic before.) I read books to enjoy them, and I just was not enjoying this one.
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