Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind No. 1)

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Summary: Leave this one Behind! It Stinks!
Review: While some people may consider this book to be an expression of their religious views (people have said as much to me), I feel that it is little more than an anti-UN, anti-East European, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic rant. So far, I have only read the first 100 or so pages and I am completely amazed by the lack of research for this book. While it seems that the authors have the religious part down fine, their simplistic view of world politics makes me sick. For example, early in the book, there is a discussion of events that occurred in Israel prior to the beginning of the book. Supposedly, the Russians carry out a nuclear attack on Israel because the Israeli's have a fertilizer that made them rich and they will not give it to the Russians. However, the attack is deflected by an act of God with very few casualties. The shocking part is that there is no response by the US and NATO against Russia. This is explained away by saying that it was a surprise attack. What the authors fail to note is that the US and NATO spent the last 50 years building up resources to combat a nuclear attack by the USSR and now Russia. Consequently, before the missiles even reached the Middle East, massive retaliation by NATO would already be in the air. The resulting fallout would have an extremely serious effect upon Eastern Europe, thus preventing the Antichrist, who just happens to be Romanian, from rising to international power, as he would, if he were still alive, have to focus all of his efforts on cleaning up his home country. Another note to be made about this is that due to the current condition of the Russian armed forces, a visible effort would have been needed to prepare Russian forces for such an attack, and this would have been detected. In addition, no person, much less a government in their right mind would carry out such an attack, especially for something as trivial as the good fortune of another country. Another odd and disturbing feature of the book is that it seems to cast the Jews in an unpleasant light. This is shown by the fact that one of the characters comments that the Israelis hate Jesus, which is, simply put, wrong. An additional thing in this book is that it seems to be very much anti-UN. There is supposedly a group of power brokers who are said to, in effect run the world, albeit in secret. This seems to me to be awfully close to the New World Order rumors, and it seems to me that it ought to be tossed into the same heap, as opposed to being put in a book that purports to be about the Bible. Does this mean that the people who read and greatly enjoy these books while claiming that they are accurate interpretations of the book of Revelations really believe these right-wing conspiracy theories? An additional shocker was that the authors have dropped in a subplot concerning the conversion of the whole planet to three currencies, with North and South America converted to the dollar, Europe and Russia converted to the Mark, and Africa and the rest of Asia converted to the Yen. What amazed me was the apparent lack of research concerning this. To start, Europe and Russia are already well on the way to having one currency, the Euro, as opposed to the German Mark. In addition, the authors failed to consider the effects such conversions might have. For example, under the system that is in action in the book, if there were an economic crash in Peru, the value of the dollar in the US would crash. However, from what I can tell, this whole thing is going to be cast as another evil UN plot. After reading for a while and noting that the book seemed to cast the anti-Christ as a Catholic, I read biographies of the authors at the back of the book. It was there that I learned that the man who conceived the series was a graduate of Bob Jones University, which is widely regarded as being anti- Catholic. This made clear to me that these books are merely an expression of the authors' hatred of anyone that is different than themselves. In addition, this can also explain the casting of Russia, as well as Eastern Europe as a whole as a violent antagonist. To sum everything up, I would have to say that the biggest problem with the book is its racist views, as well as the simplistic understanding of world politics as well as NATO policies regarding a nuclear attack by Russia against any nation in the world.

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Summary: Fundamentalist claptrap aside, this is God-awful writing
Review: As absurd as a literal-translation occurance of the book of Revalations is, this is a work of fiction and writers regularly put their characters into unlikely and/or absurd situations. The trick is to have the talent to make it interesting (or at least professional) -- which, unfortunately, the writers of this series are woefully unable to do. Paper-thin, virtually interchangable characters, illogical circumstances (gee, nobody in the whole world except Ray and his pals can put 2 and 2 together about Nicky before it's too late), brutally affected dialouge sequences (makes you wonder if these guys ever witnessed an actual conversation between two or more intelligent human beings), no desire to *show* the reader anything rather than simply tell them, and color-by-numbers adherence to their source material (confusing this product with literature is like confusing a person who can build a bookcase purchased at IKEA with a master carpenter)... it's truly a wonder that this stuff was ever published, let alone that it became best-seller. I remember some quote about never going broke and underestimating the intelligence of the public. BTW, though hardly a masterpiece of literature, Stehpen King covered much the same ground with his 'The Stand,' and did so in an infinitely more interesting, touching and original manner. Anybody interested in tribulation-themed fiction should check that one out before wasting a penny on this stuff.

Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!
Review: I had vaguely heard of this series of books, but I didn't give it much thought untill I stumbled across them one day as I was browsing through the bookstore. I decided to give the first one a try and I am hooked! It was wonderful. The writing is excellent and the subject matter is extreamly thought provoking. I have a grandfather who is a Pentecostal minister and I went to a Catholic Highschool. So I have been surronded by those with a strong faith my whole life. I however had not given much thought to my own other than just trying to be "good". If you're looking for something that is just a "good read", then this book will definately satisfy. If you're stumbling along the road of faith in God and Christ, this is a wonderful book with many insights. It made me think long and hard about who I was and what I was giving up without exploring my faith.

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Summary: A good book to put you to sleep...
Review: I had heard a lot of praise for this series for about a year before Ifinally broke down and purchased this book. Now, bear in mind thatI've read this from a Roman Catholic viewpoint. That having beensaid...this is a "Join Our Church" pamphlet thinly disguisedas fiction. Though, I can't really tell what branch of Christianitythe authors want you to join. But it wasn't this that caused me toreally revile this book. The work is written on about a third gradereading level (maybe this is so they can rope in kids too). I knewthat I couldn't take this work seriously after finishing the FIRSTCHAPTER! It has lines to the affect of "Buck (his friends calledhim Buck because of his habit of bucking autority andtradition)..." or something like that. I'm not even going to getinto the completely ludicrous and absurd abandonment of common senseprincipals of government and science (Look! The Middle East is a lushparadise and all it took was fertilizer!!!) My advice:do yourself afavor and take this one out of the library before you buy it and DON'Tbuy more than the first book until you finish "Left Behind".

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Summary: Too many books in the series
Review: How many books are in this series? I think its 10--maybe more if we keep buying them. This is an exciting read for the first few books, then one adventure sounds much like the ones in the previous books. The Christian aspect of the story did not offend me. I can appreciate the value of a good story line, and the rapture certainly lends itself to exciting fiction.I was home for a few weeks and read every book up to "The Mark". However, I am disappointed that the story is dragging out so long. I feel these "Christian" authors are taking advantage of the buying public and milking the success of their first few books by dragging it out. I resent this kind of marketing ploy. At this point, I don't care what happens, I won't read another one.

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Summary: The rapture explained
Review: i bought this book on friday and began reading it on saturday, later that night around 2:30am,i realized i was about half way through it and i just couldnt put it down. Not only is the plot intriguing and mysterious but it also explains alot of biblical quotes and happenings. Any questions you might have about the rapture of the church and the coming of god will probably be answered somewhere amongst the pages of this fantastically written, well achieved novel. I have complete faith that if you bought this book, you would share my same feelings on it. I highly reccomend it . Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: You either love it or hate it.
Review: You're either going to enjoy the suspense or you're going to hate the simplicity of this book. As for me, I had to force myself to keep reading because it was too late to do a report on another book. I(being a Christian for almost 9 years now, with my basic bible knowledge plus) think the author has left a few important things out. No trumpet, nothing to make us want to read the other books in the series, and the author strays off the subject a little too often to name a few things that the author did. Some of the plot is too easily predicted, but personally, this book doesn't come close to satisfying me. Keep in mind though that this is my opinion and you may completely disagree with me and love this book.END

Rating:
Summary: Almost good enough for the juevenile category.
Review: Biblical prophecy is a fascinating and controversial topic. There is nothing more exciting to the believer than speculation about the endtimes and the advent of Christ's return. And that is the only reason I can think of that explains the success of the Left Behind Series. If you are a fan of great literature, be prepared to be disappointed with the weak characterization, corny dialogue, and juevenile sentence structure. If you are a student of eschatology, be prepared to be disappointed in the total lack of scriptural backing. If you just love to read an interesting story, are able to overlook any intellectual aversions, and don't mind the fact that the conclusion of the series with book 12 is only "speculated", you might enjoy this. Otherwise, save your money.

Rating:
Summary: Easy to put down.
Review: This book does a poor job of keeping the reader entertained. The book is slow, dull and drawn out. I choose to read this book for fun but now it only becomes a chore. Instead of reading this book read Revelations in the bible, it does a much better job of telling the strory of the end of the world than Left Behind does.

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Summary: Pre-millenialist propaganda
Review: First of all, this book was horribly written. The narrative voice reminded me of someone who'd taken a formula writing class. Secondly, the view of the "end times" represented therein is a view of dispensationalist pre-millenialism which surfaced at the end of the 19th century; the theologians of that time found it heretical. Not only does dispensationalism take an extremely dogmatic approach to Biblical prophecy, but it also tends to reflect a Western Imperialist mindset. The Bible was a Middle-Eastern text, and Middle-Eastern Christians do not agree with dispensationalism. Especially since it tends to support the fascist state of Israel and the Zionist conquest which dispossesed millions of Palestinians and was responsible for great massacres. Ask a Palestinian Christian what s/he thinks about "Left Behind" and you'll probably receive an earful. This book's view supports an oppressive philosophy....