Left Behind (The Series)by Tim LaHaye & Jerry B. Jenkins.

[«Fickle~Minded»]

Does anyone here read this,I'm planning to buy all the twelve books,so I wanna make it sure that I'm not gonna waste my munny.

 

[Jules]

I do. I've read and own all except the current one "Glorius Appearing". What did you think of "Left Behind"?

 

[Mort]

I've read the first nine books so far and have enjoyed them. There has been enough suspense to keep my interest. It also helps that it doesn't take long to read each book due to the amount of blank space on each page. It looks like the 12th book in the series is going to be ready for me before I'm ready for it. I still need to read the 10th and 11th books. Oh well...

 

[«Fickle~Minded»]

I do. I've read and own all except the current one "Glorius Appearing". What did you think of "Left Behind"?

Haven't read it yet, I bought the first 5 books last night thru literaryguild.com ,it cost me $43.++

 

[Mort]

Well, I finally finished the entire series and I think that although it was pretty good, they could have cut it down to about three books if they had eliminated a lot of the fluff, reduced the font size a little, and used more of the page instead of having so much blank space. I'm glad I read the books from the library instead of buying them, as I had planned to in the beginning.

I don't want to give away anything, so all I will say is that somewhere around The Mark, I began to lose interest a little and finished the series mostly because I was interested to see what would happen in the last book and also because I didn't want to read two thirds of the series and then give up.

 

[avidreader55]

I read the entire series. They are what I would call very easy reads. Each book can easily be read in a couple of hours or so. I must add that I was very frustrated with the way Kenny was treated in this series. He's like a little prop - a teddy bear or something. Real children actually require a little more.

 

[Ell]

I picked up the first book at a used book sale mainly because the cover blurb looked interesting and it only cost 25 cents. I was put off when I found out what the series is about - it's been sitting on my shelf ever since.

If it's as easy a read as you say, guess I'll give it a go - for a couple of hours, I'm game.

Ell

 

[Spineshank]

I was wondering if these books lean more towards the christianity side or the fantasy side. I always se these books and want to pick them up and buy them but im not sure if it is right for me. I guess what im saying is i dont want it to be overloaded with a lot of christianity stuff, i just dont get into those types of books, so could anyone shed some light on them for me, it would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[abecedarian]

I was wondering if these books lean more towards the christianity side or the fantasy side. I always se these books and want to pick them up and buy them but im not sure if it is right for me. I guess what im saying is i dont want it to be overloaded with a lot of christianity stuff, i just dont get into those types of books, so could anyone shed some light on them for me, it would be appreciated. Thanks

I've read or heard the audios for nearly all of the series. They are written from a Christian worldview and are a highly fictionalized "take" on what the end times might be like. Since there are varying views among the many Christian denominations, not all will be happy with the authors' interpretation of Biblical prophecy, but the books are entertaining. Just don't expect great literature, because they aren't that.

 

[G4G]

Just don't expect great literature, because they aren't that.

You can say that again. I think I've read the first three, and while I was into the story and the way the writers worked in Christian beliefs blah blah, the quality of the writing was awful, and finally it was too much for me.

 

[Spineshank]

Hmm... though i see them everytime i go into a book store i've heard so many negative things about them other than they are a good story, and usually only through the first 3 books. Most loose interest after that, on that note i think i will turn my attention elsewhere. Thanks for the insight everyone.

 

[abecedarian]

Jerry B. Jenkins is a much better writer than Tim Lahaye. Lahaye has written lots of nonfiction for the Christian market, while Jenkins is more of a fiction writer. We've read some of his material written alone, and it was much better. His T'was the Night Before is a holiday favorite at my house.

 

[Sell Sword]

I generally don't throw my opinion around much here, but I have to say that I read Left Behind and I thought it was absolute dreck. Quite possibly the worst book I've ever read. But hey, that's just this jamoke's opinion!

 

[Ell]

Completely forgot about this thread. I did give Left Behind a try. I read the first half, skimmed the rest and could not get over the feeling I was being preached to. Being the contrary soul that I am, I did not like it.

 

[abecedarian]

To be honest, a lot of people who LIKE to be preached to (on Sundays anyway) don't like this series. Some don't like the poor writing, and others just dislike the way the authors portray endtime events. A friend who is a pastor's wife hated the books because of the bad writing, for example. What concerned me was the people who were taking the fictional books literally and were looking at current public figures and trying to decide who was "Carpathian."
Thankfully there are some Christian writers beginning to have their work published, who DO write good material. We've come a long way since Janette Oke's Love Comes Softly series began in the early 1980's.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I find Nicolae to be an intriguing character to analyze. I was depressed toward his fate at the end of the last book even though I knew it was to be expected after what he did.

Inconsistencies between the last two installments. Why are dead people suddenly alive again?!

Has anyone read The Rising in the new prequel series?

 

[jaycee]

I read the first 8 or so. Is the series finished now?? If so maybe I will pick them up again. But I will have to re-read everything cause I don't remember most of it.

 

[WoundedThorns]

i've seen the books in stores but never really enticed me enough to buy

 

[alfinge]

Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye

Have somebody read the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye? What do you think about it? If you want to read it just mail me and ill send u the books

 

[Shade]

Without wishing to sound negative, isn't this the series of tendentious Christian propaganda books masquerading as proper novels? Or am I thinking of something else?

EDIT: Yep, I was right. Latest Amazon.co.uk review:

(One star) Dangerous nonsense, March 12, 2006

Reviewer: sthakrar from London United Kingdom

Actually I quite enjoyed the book, mainly because it is a good laugh. However, the paranoia permeating through the book tips it from just some fun nonsense into something much more sinister.
This is clearly part of the right-wing Christian agenda to prejudice people against the UN, against international cooperation, against secularism and against toleration of each others religious differences. Christianity is not the only 'right' religion and certainly, Americans are not the chosen people.

The implication of the plot is that the progress that humanity made during the period of the European Enlightment (17th-18th century) is invalid. The Enlightenment's core belief is that humanity can think through its problems and solve them with rationality and tolerance. This book wants to undermine that by suggesting that the EU and the UN and any kind of attempt to solve our problems on an internationalist rational basis are wrong.

Rolling back the enlightenment is an morally abhorrent and frightening project. The policies which this book seeks to encourage would rapidly lead to an apocalyptic war. That, by any sensible criteria, is not a good thing.

Or how about this?

(one star) Boring, pedestrian, reactionary, prejudiced, April 16, 2004

Reviewer: jitsukat from Sydney, Australia

Well, it's not unreadable. The writing is plodding and pedestrian, and the characterisation wooden and stereotypical, but many popular writers are successful in the same way. These guys are in about the same category as Jeffrey Archer, David Gemmell, etc. They write to tell a story, and rely on their readers' wish to find out what will happen next to carry them along.

The story in this case, of course, is of the Rapture, and of the End Times.

Our hero is tough, manly, loves his daughter, lusts after flight attendants but doesn't act on it, gets angry in a suitable kind of way, and is your basic authorial projection fantasy. His daughter is pretty, independent, clever, but not too clever and clearly not considered an equal to any male character. Other sympathetic characters are all men standing by themselves, bucking the system, and generally similar to our protagonist.

Lots of reactionary positions on everything, and of course lots of paranoia, are both implicit in the basic plot of 'United Nations takes over the world'. Some Jews are good, repent and become Christians, and other Jews are not and are part of the New World Order. Etc.

Non-believers are proud, arrogant, thoughtless, deliberately blinding themselves to the truth, and so on. Some are actively malevolent, or just petty.

Believers are persecuted and misunderstood (one example of persecution is that non-believers are not happy to be preached at all the time). They are constantly the underdog, but consistently successful despite that.

There are several tearful conversion scenes, and gifts of the spirit are real and protect a hero from hypnotic control by the Antichrist.

I'm not surprised the books sell well in the US - they allow Fundies to feel smug, humble, persecuted and successful all at the same time.

But I shouldn't sneer. I was reading the 80s/90s equivalent of this stuff (This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti) when I was a teenager, and I believed every word. Luckily I've moved on since then...

The five-star reviews are even more revealing, particularly of the literacy level the books can imbue you with:

"Exciting brilliantly written if written by a leading author would have broken box offices and there would'nt have been enough Oscars for it what an incite to revelations well done"

Or my favourite:

"in-put-down-able"