Left Behind (Left Behind #1)

Rating:
Summary: Total waste of time and money
Review: Poorly written, OMFG! That this book is so popular does not say much for the American education system when supposedly educated adults find this less than mediocre BS entertaining. They should have published this in comic book form, the dialogue is already written for it! If you have not read this book yet, don't waste your time or your money. I think most people were "guilted" into reading and confessing to enjoy it by their christian bothers and sisters. What better way to sell a book but by using guilt? Mel Gibson is having success with the Passion for the same reason. People are made to feel like they are letting god down if they don't see this movie or read this book. They are like sheep, blindly led to empty their wallets into the pockets of their leaders.

AMEN!

Rating:
Summary: Left Me Behind
Review: The best selling Christian fiction series in history... is mediocre. The first book, Left Behind, left me completely behind, and underwhelmed. I've read the entire series so far and it doesn't get much better. If you don't know, the series takes place after the rapture of the church. Those left behind must choose between Christ and the anti-Christ. A group of survivors realizes that Jesus is the way and they dedicate themselves to taking a stand for Him, calling themselves the Tribulation Force.

The problem I have with the series is simply that it is not well written. It feels as if it's written at a 6th grade level, has unconvincing dialogue, and a plot which I've seen done much better. And done in only one book (there's no excuse for stretching this series out over twelve books). The authors also talk down to the reader, assuming they are not smart enough to follow the storyline without constant reminders of major plot points. That gets old really fast. Quit patronizing me and give me a little bit of credit, thank you. The phenomenal sales figures are impressive, but due in no way to the quality of the writing. I recognize that there still may be ministerial value in these books, but that doesn't excuse the above points. Two stars, and a hope that the final books in the series pick up the slack.

Rating:
Summary: At best guilty pleasure fiction.
Review: Obviously whether or not you're a Christian will influence whether or not you enjoy this book (and series). Most of the reviews others have left for the most part are accurate in their assessment. My complaints centrally revolve around two points:

1) In an effort to make the prophetic events palatable as popular fiction, the story centers around a "cast" of characters. One has to suspend disbelief to swallow a story where events of such magnitude revolve only around a handful of people. You can almost see the Hollywood movie-like casting, obligatory racial stereotypes included.

2) For readers who happen to be Christian, the fact that the book is fiction (though based on prophesied events) seems to be somewhat insulting to faith. That is, if one believes the prophesies that form the basis of the story, reading about them in a book peddled to the masses alongside other fiction offerings like Star Trek may seem to denigrate their importance.

IMHO, it's best for the Christian and non-Christian alike to see this book as a piece of fiction based on prophesy, and nothing more.

Rating:
Summary: Convicting
Review: Left Behind discusses the Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to a chaotic earth, destroying what we now know of it, taking all believing Christians with him to heaven, and leaving all unbelievers despairing on earth. This is the first compelling book in the series by Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins attempting to give perception of earth's last days.
Rayford Steele, a very prideful plane captain, always looking out for himself in life, comes to the realization that he needs to change when his wife and son are amongst the ones taken to heaven. His determination throughout the novel is inspiring once he realizes his wrongs. Taking his daughter under his wing, he vows to change his fate.
Likewise, another character, Buck Williams, a journalist for a well-known magazine, is amid those left behind on earth. Much like Rayford, Buck had never given religion much thought. He had always been too busy with what he comes to realize were trivial things.
If you enjoy fast paced fiction, I recommend this book. Convicting as it is, it will leave you yearning to look deeper into your own faith, and read further into the series.

Rating:
Summary: worst written book ever
Review: This has got to be the worst written book ever. But then what do you expect, anyone who actually belives this garbage isnt smart enough to know the difference.

Rating:
Summary: Left Behind by Isaac
Review: The Rapture. Christ had come to take all the Christian believers and left the non-believers behind. Among these people were Rayford Steele, Chloe Steele, Bruce Barnes, and Buck Williams. Rayford Steele was an analytic pilot. He never was a true Christian inside. His wife, Irene, and his son, Rayford Jr., had become "fanatic" believers in Christ, and had tried to push Ray to come to church regularly. He always mad excuses and naturally slipped away to work. Chloe Steele had taken after her father, Rayford, to the unfortunate fate of a "phony" Christian. She grew up in the church, but never fully commited herself to God. Bruce Barnes was an assistant pastor. He felt the guilt of being a leader in the church, and then missing the big deal. The instant the Rapture occured, he was overwhelmed with the tragedy. He knew exactly what had happened. Buck Williams was the senior writer for the world-famous magazine, The Global Weekly. He was on the plane that Rayford Steele piloted at the time of the disappearances.
Rayford went to the church that Irene attended and found Bruce Barnes. They both became fast believers and faithfully started to follow in God's footsteps. After many weeks, Chloe was finally persuaded in the Christian life. Rayford had become an aquaintance with Buck Williams and led him to the church, and after much work became a believer. In the midst of all this, the Antichrist, Nicolae Carpathia, swiftly rose to power. His menacing strength caused Buck to be downgraded in his job to move to Chicago, where Bruce Barnes and the Steeles lived. Soon they banded together to form the Tribulation Force, a team of the church to speak out against the Antichrist. They will strive to survive through seven years of Tribulation and hardships before Christ arrives to reign for a 1,000 years. One third of the population of the world will die Christians or not.
Will the Tribulation Force survive? Find out by reading the Left Behind series.

Rating:
Summary: Troubling...
Review: Left Behind, as you know, chronicles the end of times. The question that came to my mind is: Who's interpretation of the end of times? Most of what this book uses as it's biblical reference comes from the book of Revelations. Revelations is the most debated and the least understandable book of The Bible. Most of it is written in cryptic metaphor that seems to be, for the most part, lost in translation and open to any interpretation you want it to be.
Central to the plot is the separation, the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats to good from the wicked. Yet, I found it too easy for God to simply pick out the goodies and the baddies. Indeed, if Jesus died for *some* of our sins, why do we worship him at all. Last I checked Christianity wasn't a elite club that only some qualify for. God's grace seems not to enter into this novel.
The book itself was fairly uninteresting, it seemed written by a novice author with subject matter that distracted readers from a pretty poorly written story (see DaVinci Code). Overall, I thought that this book only succeeded in dualizing humanity into good and bad-yet, this metaphor is outdated in today's world. Good and bad no longer cut it, and this writing only succeeds at the over simplification of a religion that is anything but simple.

Rating:
Summary: I'M NOT GONNA ARGUE AGAINST THIS BOOK!
Review: The "Left Behind" series has not become one of the most successful best sellers in history because Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins are great writers, or even because it has a superb plot. They would probably be the first to admit that they just managed to tap into the fact that Christianity is what billions of people throughout history have thirsted for, and because those of us who believe (as I freely choose to do) that God makes all things possible. Apocalypse may happen, it may or may not happen in my lifetime. I am not going to argue against the concept. I choose to believe and to hope that my belief and my soul, despite my numerous sins, will be rewarded by Christ's salvation.

There is good and evil in this world, and they are constantly battling each other. These battles manifest themselves through wars, politics, the media, hi-jacked religions, slavery, terrorism and the very essence of Satan's method, which is to get good people to do bad things.

It is amazing to me how many people refuse to acknowledge the Truth about God, Christ, Satan and the universe, despite what is presented to us every day. The way Nicolae mesmerizes people in the book hits home, and reminds me of my theory that many successful people in Hollywood, rock music, or other endeavors of fame and fortune very possibly made deals with the devil, and their achievements are a result of their Faustian bargains.

STEVEN TRAVERS
Author of "Barry Bonds: Baseball's Superman"

[e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Thanks, but I prefer to hang out with the unsaved
Review: This novel basically tells the story of how if you are part of the in-crowd (i.e. you have the same silly mythological beliefs and superstitions as them), then you get to go to everlasting paradise, but if you aren't, well then you hang around and are part of total annihilation. If this sounds like a bad movie script written by a 4th grader after being bullied on the playground, it gets scarier when you realize people make life decisions based on this drivel.

Rating:
Summary: Soooo bad
Review: I won't include a synopsis of the plot line in this review. For one thing, plenty of other reviewers have already done that. For another, in all honesty, I only read half the book. I couldn't take any more than that. The writing in this book is sooooo bad, I am stunned that any publisher would actually put their name on it. It is filled with thousands upon thousands of simplistic sentences that seem to average about four words each. Though, in all fairness, it does throw in the odd ultra-run-on sentence that rambles for a paragraph before coming to a pointless close. To make matters worse, even after only reading half the book, I was spoon fed the same story points over and over again by the authors. It seems to show that either the authors can't write, or they have such contempt for the intelligence of their readers that they feel it necessary to cover the same ground repeatedly. One wonders what happened that any editor, agent, or publisher ever gave the original manuscript (presumably in worse shape than it's final publication version) a second look.

Definitely skip over this book in your reading. Even if someone gives it to you for free, it isn't worth the time invested, when you could be reading something (anything!) else. If you are looking for good, Christian reading, by authors who can actually write, try anything by: GK Chesterton, Graham Greene, Tolkien, or CS Lewis.