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Jun 23, 2009

Brad rated it:

It has been a long time since I read Left Behind, but I have one interesting memory of reading it that remains clear and is, I think, worthy of discussion. I'll get to that memory in a second, but first I must digress.

I read this book for a student of mine. She was a very nice lady who came into my English classes worried for everyone's souls (and I say this with all honesty). Left Behind was her favourite novel (her favourite book was The Bible, obviously), and she asked me to read More...

34 comments like (33 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Greg rated it:

Most people do now know that I have read 7 of the 13 Left Behind books (12 actually, but then they threw on that extra one, and this is not counting the prequels, the kids versions and the horrendous graphic novels: Armageddon can pay off nicely as long as it's delayed). I don't hide the fact, it just doesn't come up that often. I would have read all of them, but when I went through my Left Behind phase these were the only ones out. The phase lasted I think 2 weeks. The books read quickly. More...

42 comments like (26 people liked it)

Dec 06, 2010

Nick rated it:

My mother demanded I read this in my senior year of high school (I was no slouch reader or anything, I assure; this was indeed punishment for a handful of books the parents had found, and thrown away -- Henry Miller, The Story of O, Beyond Good and Evil, and for some incomprehensible reason Invisible Man, which all ought indicate the parents as not particularly illiterate people themselves (aside from the Ellison, their Index Librorum Prohibitorum at least evidenced a self-coherent ethos), and g More...

24 comments like (28 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2008

Summer rated it:

I felt left out of the Bad Books Club because I completely failed to get past the first chapter of The DaVinci Code, so I read this to keep up. And boy, is this one horrible book! And there's at least 11 more of them! (N.B. - I will not be reading the rest of the series)

The writing is beyond terrible. In a story that presents so many interesting narrative possibilities - the grief of those "left behind" after The Rapture, the breakdown of society after a massive tragedy, th More...

7 comments like (29 people liked it)

Aug 30, 2009

Jon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

18 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2008

Robert rated it:

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, Left Behind (Tyndale, 1995)

So I figured after nine years, it was time for me to get around to reading the first book in the bestselling Christian fiction series in history, Left Behind. I had always avoided it, not because of the subject matter, but by and large books that break records tend to be writ large by those with the wit, talent, and grammatical skill of overly enthusiastic six-year-olds. Dame Barbara Cartland, Danielle Steel, Tom Clancy, John More...

0 comments like (17 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Matt rated it:

I thought at first that I wouldn't be who this book was aimed at, but instead, I found the opposite. Since all the devout Christians have been taken by the Rapture, the protagonists are a mix of atheists, agnostics, Christmas Christians, even seemingly devout Christians who could have been truer. This means that no matter where you fall on the devout scale you have someone to follow through the tribulations fo teh Rapture. There's fun semi apocalyptic planes falling from sky disaster movie after More...

5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 06, 2008

Allen rated it:

I usually have students fill out a card at the start of the semester with information like their major, where they went to high school, etc. One thing I always ask is what book they read most recently. The Left Behind series started showing up on those cards a lot a few years ago, so I decided to read the first one to see what they were like.

This is absolutely the worst-written book that I've ever picked up. The dialogue is painful, the characters are wooden, the descriptions are More...

0 comments like (19 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2011

Ancient rated it:

Left Behind is one of the most wretched, awful books that I have ever forced myself to read.

If possible, I would give this book zero stars. Only by listening to short installments of the audio book version over a couple weeks time and though sheer willpower was I able to finish it at all. Whole essays/rants could be written on how much this book sucks, but I'll limit myself to just a couple observations.

The worst thing about LB isn't LaHaye's crazy religious b More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2008

Lisa added it

In a fit of desperation at my father and notstepmother's house, having finished Susan Sontag's Volcano Lover (see? desperate) and having to ration The World to Come for the flight home in case I didn't have time for a bookstore (should there be one at the Tampa airport), I didn't reread any of the books I've sent the two of them over the years or try any of my father's westerns or spy thrillers (I hate pulp paperbacks as a format) but opened this (part of a complete set, in hardcover).

More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 18, 2007

Lori rated it:

i read this entire series.....almost non stop...
they came out with a prequel series, but i figured how many times can you beat a dead horse....

This series was really really good.
I didnt know how i was going to like it, not being a practicing catholic and all, but even if it doesnt keep to scripture 100%, it gives you enough of an eye-opener....

I remember thinking, wow. If this really happened, i would be one of the ones suffering through all this. And what w More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Julia rated it:

The concept is great: what would the Biblical end times prophecies really look like if they happened today? How could the ancient words of Isaiah and Revelation actually play out in today's world? What if the rapture occurred right now?!!

While some elements are admittedly intriguing (the anti-Christ's rise to power, the underground believers' economy, the covert operations) one frustration for me is the characters' glaring lack of depth. With maybe a few exceptions, these are flat More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Aug 16, 2007

Rachel rated it:

I read the whole series but I can't remember which book was which at this point. So I'm rating the series overall as a 4.

The story begins the day after the rapture. Everyone who was "left behind" has to figure out what happened. Was it aliens or a terrorist attack? The story unfolds over the books and you get to watch people come to terms with the reality of the situation. You get to see the rise of the antichrist and how so may people don't understnad what's really going o More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2008

Kelly rated it:

I gave it a go, I really really did. The series is so popular and my ex really enjoys the books (ok, they're the only books he ever read, so maybe that should have told me something) so I thought I'd be open-minded and try it. After all, I did like the movie The Rapture and I love religious science fiction.

This, however, is thinly disguised right-wing propaganda. I can respect people who think differently than I do as long as they respect me back. This book does no such thing. They m More...

5 comments like (15 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2008

Rachel rated it:

I'll use this one review for all the books of this series I've read (just to save time)and that's inclusive of 1-10. I truly enjoyed them, some a little more than others, but that's probably more of a reaction to my over indulgence than anything on the authors part (I was averaging three or four a week around school, yeah too much, kind of like a kid having too much candy and getting ill) These books are creative, action packed, display the gospel credibly and made me care about the characters. More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 01, 2007

Terence rated it:

One of my managers at work actually reccomended this book to me after I told I had read 'The Road'. I have to admit that I was skeptical going into this book only because I knew some of the background due to publicity surrounding the movies. I didn't feel much like reading a bunch of quoted Bible scripture - but I was happy to discover that there wasn't much of that in the book.

The story focuses primarily around a core group of characters all tied together following a mysterious worl More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Sep 09, 2007

Amanda rated it:

I read this book in college but never got around to reading the rest of the series past book three. Re-visiting it, I found that I looked at certain things alot different than I had previously. More of it actually made sense this time around.

After the strange disappearance of thousands of people across the world, those left behind try to make sense of the phenomena through theories of religion, aliens, and government conspiracies. After remembering his wife talking about the Rapture More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

NumberLord rated it:

I read this book (and the rest of the series) back before it hit any best-seller lists. I've always been a fan of apocalyptic literature (Salem Kirban anyone?), so this interested me right away.

The series is decent. It's easy reading, with a good mixture of adventure and drama. I give the authors extra points for some of the extra-scriptural additions (the cross markings on the foreheads of the believers--nice touch). But I have to deduct a few dozen points for their portrayal of More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 09, 2009

Trent rated it:

I think whether or not you enjoy this book depends on what you consider a "good" book. If you think all good books are well written, then this is probably isn't for you. If you think good books have to be 100% accurate, then this book probably isn't for you. However, if, like me much of the time, you think good fiction books should make you WANT to keep reading (even to the point of staying up late), then you may enjoy this book.

I remember when this book came out and i More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Mykle rated it:

I'm not going to finish this. I thought it would be good research, but it moves so painfully slow, and not a page passes without either a really hackneyed sentence or a totally implausible geopolitical plot twist.

(For example: Russia, at the outset of the story, attacks Israel, attempting to carpet-bomb them back to pre-biblical times. Why would Russia's leaders do such a thing? In order to steal Israel's fertilizer, of course! Even more implausible: Russia is unable to underta More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 13, 2007

Lauren rated it:

if you grew up in church like i did, this first book of the series will terrify you. the rest will keep you spell bound.

i would recommend these books to anyone though, they are fantastic and very well written.

they reference scripture a lot and i like to book mark those places and go back and read the scripture later. its amazing.

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

A rated it:

This...should not be considered literature....
This...is eschatological pornography...

The narrative and dialogue within this series is simply pedestrian.

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2009

Joshua Nomen-Mutatio rated it:

I'd totally forgot that my mom actually paid me 50 dollars to read this book when I was about 11 or 12. Yeah, she's pretty religious. She wanted me to read the second and third books of the series as well. I think I may have lied about reading the second one in order to get another payment. The memory's a bit fuzzy on this. The whole thing is actually kind of unsettling the more I think about it. It's a bit of a drag having parents that really believe in Jesus and heaven and hell.

More...

36 comments like (12 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2008

Rachel rated it:

Left Behind is a book based biblically on the interpretation of what the end times could be like. It begins with the calling of all the Christians to join Christ in Heaven. All of the people that are "Left Behind" have to go through the tribulation. Buck Williams experiences what happend when he is flying on an airplane and people disappear only leaving their clothes. The pilot is also a main character who has to try and calm people down when their loved ones have simply disappeare More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 04, 2008

Jason rated it:

It would be unfortunate enough were the prose this book's lone problem. But as knuckle-headedly indelicate (Jenkins describing Carpathia as "not unlike a young Robert Redford" on 114 and later Jenkins's character describing Carpathia as "a young Robert Redford" on 232) and heavy-handed ("you might be asking Carpathia to turn against his own angels" on 231) and weirdly unfunny when attempting to be funny (the entire flirtatious cookie exchange between Buck and Chloe: More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2008

Kate rated it:

My major problem with this novel has nothing to do with the preachiness of it. It actually was somewhat convincing in that way. I find that stories involving the Book of Revelations or the Apocalypse are very interesting (for example, "The Omen" movies, The Stand by Stephen King). I like the idea of a clear cut battle between good and evil.

No, my major problem with this book is that it begins with exactly the same scenario as Stephen King's novella turned TV miniseries, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2007

Brian rated it:

I ran across a Snopes item the other day that I thought was extremely appropriate for this book review. The claim: Airlines will not pair Christian pilots and co-pilots out of fear that the Rapture will snatch away both crewmembers capable of landing the flight.
The claim is, of course, false. But if you think that is something that airlines might want to think about, then this book is for you. Otherwise, you'll probably want to skip it. The word that kept coming to my mind while reading More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2007

Mont'ster rated it:

First thing (this is very important) This book is a novel. LaHaye has very premillenial viewpoints in all of his writing and he doesn't apologize for that. Read this book for what it is - entertainment, not an eschatology textbook. LaHaye has written many books explaining his views on the end times - if you want the "why" on this subject, almost anything by Tim LaHaye will do; here he is just having fun.
This is a fast paced novel so if you read this book expecting a lesso More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

Julie rated it:

some of the worst books, ever, god bless them!

i derive a sort of masochistic pleasure in reading them. i actually didn't read them, i listened to them. i couldn't actually spend that time simply reading....i was reading and doing yardwork, or knitting, or something productive.

these books suck! oh god, do they suck.
they had potential for excellent apocalyptic death, disaster and destruction...but they were too heavy on the finding-jesus part, and too light on the de More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2009

Lavonne rated it:

Wow. This book and this series really takes biblical prophecy and puts it in a very real life form. It has made me really see life differently. It is a cliffhanger and I had to continue to see what happens to my favorite characters.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

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