Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind No. 1)
by Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jerry B. Jenkins, Tim LaHayeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1996-01-29
ISBN: 0842329129
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Book Reviews of Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind No. 1)
Book Review: Simplistic
Summary: 1 Stars
This is genre fiction at its most generic. Serious readers will have serious problems with this book. It started out interesting--describing the unexplained disappearance of people from all over the earth and the havoc which resulted. Unfortunately, the book very early devolves into the story of several characters and their attitudes, and completely departs from the description of global implications of such an event.
Very interesting, relevant, and unanswered questions: How many people disappeared? What effect did the disappearances have on primarily non-Christian countries? How did the infrastructure begin to right itself? (This apparently happens in a matter of days in the book, but it is never addressed at all.) Why were the media apparently unaffected? (Or were the authors just making a rather nasty point about the religious beliefs of CNN and other media outlets...?)
There is no suspense and no subtlety in the story. You know who the bad guys and good guys are without having to guess. Hattie (Hattie?) the flight attendant is treated very cavalierly as an unpleasant stereotype. Read: dumb, superficial.
There is no sense of the real world as a backdrop for what is happening to the characters. They go about their business as if everything is functioning the same way it was before the disappearances. The only thing that's different is the meteoric rise of the Antichrist--going from President of Romania to UN Secretary-general in a matter of a few days, and effecting sweeping global changes along the way. Huh? Are you kidding me? The events in the meeting prior to the press conference announcing his appointment as Secretary-General and his subsequent behavior require much too much suspension of disbelief. He shouldn't have needed drastic tactics to achieve his ends; a real Antichrist-type figurehead would be able to get what he wanted by much more subtle means. And never in a million years would he have been universally accepted so readily by those outside his circle of power.
I guess this is an attempt to overlay the prophecies in Revelation onto the modern world, but it is not an effective description of the beginning of the End Times, as far as I can tell. It's only a story saying you'd better get your act together before it's too late--and there are many of those kinds of stories, most better told. I for one would like to read a really good novel about the End Times and would welcome recommendations.
Summary of Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind No. 1)
This fictional account of life after the Rapture delivers an urgent call to today's readers to prepare their own heart and minister to others.320 pagesSpanish available
Piloting his 747, Rayford Steele is musing about his wife Irene's irritating religiosity and contemplating the charms of his "drop-dead gorgeous" flight attendant, Hattie. First Irene was into Amway, then Tupperware, and now it's the Rapture of the Saints--the scary last story in the Bible in which Christians are swept to heaven and unbelievers are left behind to endure the Antichrist's Tribulation. Steele believes he'll put the plane on autopilot and go visit Hattie. But Hattie's in a panic: some of the passengers have disappeared! The Rapture has happened, abruptly driverless cars are crashing all over, and the slick, sinister Romanian Nicolae Carpathia plans to use the UN to establish one world government and religion. Resembling "a young Robert Redford" and silver-tongued in nine languages, Carpathia is named People's "Sexiest Man Alive." (This reviewer, a former People writer, finds this plot twist plausible.) Meanwhile, Steele teams up with Buck Williams, a buck-the-system newshound, to form the Tribulation Force, an underground of left-behind penitents battling the Antichrist.
Ex-presidential candidate Pat Robertson briefly outsold Michael Crichton with his apocalypse novel The End of the Age (now available on audiocassette), and the similar The Third Millennium sells well, but the Left Behind series is the absolute champion in the race to make the Book of Revelation into racy thriller reading. --Tim Appelo
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