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[books] Left Behind

I am going to start two topics on this subject. One here, to discuss the writing, style, etc of the series, and another in the Religion section to discuss the theology contained within them. Keep this in mind when replying.

I recently read a scathing review of these books. While I agreed with many of the points the author brought up, I felt he missed the point. It is an enjoyable series to read.

There are two authors listed for these books. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Tim LaHaye is an evangelical Christian minister. He has many books to his name, all on very fundamentalist Christian subjects. He also has a "Pre-Trib Research Center" devoted to spreading his message.

It appears, however, that Jerry Jenkins did most, if not all, of the writing in these books. Tim LaHaye provided the theology, and some of the situations, while Jerry put them into a readable format.

I love reading the books. They are fast paced, fairly interesting to read, and kind of fun. But they really aren't well written. The characters are not quite "cardboard cutouts", but they certainly aren't well-developed, 3 dimensional characters. In general, the stories are quite predictable.

One thing that is not normal in fiction is to kill off main characters. In this series, it happens on a regular basis. In fact, I think a main character is killed off in almost every book in the series. Of course, this allows other characters to rise to prominence, to be killed off in their own time. A couple of characters make it all the way through, but I certainly won't tell you who they are.

Anyway, as a fantasy series, I quite liked these books. The characters, places, and situations certainly aren't as detailed or elegant as many other stories in fantasy and science fiction, but they are somewhat interesting.

Behind Left books

I have read most of these books. I loved them. Again, I don't personally believe the theology, but I still found them enjoyable to read. I must admit there were one or two books that were really a bit slow.

The last one I read was the one where a central character is guillotined. I can't remember the name of that book. I am not mentioning the character because I don't want to spoil it for others. How many more books were written after that book? What #book was that one? I want to be sure to read any others I have missed and in the proper order.

My favorites so far were the early ones. The first was excellent! Then the one where the airline pilot is married was great. Also the one right after that with the plane crash where a certain spouse dies and it seems like they were really on the other side. I think that might be books 1 2 & 3, but I am not positive.

All in all, I loved this series. Not as much as I enjoyed the Work and the Glory series, but nearly as much.

My research seems to indicate I read up to Book 11 and Book 12 is the final one. Can anyone confirm this for me?

Edited: tenaheff on 23rd Jul, 2004 - 4:35pm

[books] Left Behind UFO & Writing Art Education Sciences

That sounds right. Book 12, The Glorious Appearing came out this last spring. It had a very interesting way of ending.

Now Tim LaHaye is saying that they will be writing two more books in the series, a prequel, and a sequel, coming out over the next two years.

Behind Left books

My biggest problem with the first book -- where the Rapture actually happens and there are plane crashes and train wrecks, etc. -- is this:

With all that transportation and supply line disruption... the characters had no problems getting stuff they needed from the grocery stores, restaurants, furniture stores, etc. There were minor problems with looting and theft, but nothing really serious.

I think if that kind of thing were going to happen, and right around that time the Spirit of God is actually removed from the Earth, well... all HELL would break loose, so to speak. Do you see my point? Not just the calamities from the planes crashing etc, but more akin to the L.A. Riots after the Rodney King trials, compounded by the Mob coming into power, compounded by underground racists deciding now is their chance to go public, compounded by extreme supply shortages, compounded by major crimes like murder, compounded by lack of law enforcement and fire protection and hospital staffing and... Well, you get the idea.

In the book, the only problems were the actual events directly related to the Rapture itself. After a few days, it's all relatively normal.

And as you said, Nighthawk, the characters are not well-developed (except for the journalist fella, he seems a bit more fleshed out than the others... perhaps the author's private dream??). It's kind of like one of those romance novels without all the passion.

In my opinion, of course.
Roz

Behind Left books

I agree with you, Roz. The depiction was very unrealistic. I was particularly bothered by the almost ZERO discussion of a world without kids! Suddenly every child under the age of 12 or 13 is just gone... and it's barely even mentioned. You'd think at least one character would stroll past a playground and notice the empty swings where children once played.

It's been quite a while since I read these. I got through the first one and... I think maybe the second. But in terms of the one-dimensionality of the characters, the one I remember the best is the journalist. I don't recall his name, but he was portrayed as an atheist/agnostic type with a nose for news. I believe he was around 30 years old. And, lo and behold, when he falls in love with the main character's daughter (who has never had sex), we discover that... he TOO is a virgin! I just found it so unbelievable, given the way his character was built up to that point. With his curious nature and interest in the world, you'd think he would have at least TRIED at at some point, if only for the sake of discovery. Besides, he had no religious reason to hold onto his virginity. It was just so convenient, it made me crazy.

Yes, I have to say that I really didn't like these books at all.

[books] Left Behind

Some great point there. I guess that I read them more to see how the scenario would play out, what types of events the authors expect to see, etc, than the details of the world that they were describing.

I admit that I am completely spoiled by sci-fi and fantasy. Some of my absolute favorite books include such things as Robert A. Heinlein's Time Enough for Love and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, as well as Asimov's Foundation books. Those types of books really develop the characters, but there are a lot of improbable things going on in the scenarios.

However, you are completely right about the total chaos that would occur. The authors of the Left Behind books apparently see almost all people in only one diimension - Christian to the far right of the spectrum, everyone else to the far left. I noticed throughout the books that there wasn't any sympathy at all for those people who would be searching for real understanding of what was going on, unless they were being led to Christ. So, the Jews who turned even more to their traditional faith were somewhat denigrated, while those who turned towards Christ were celebrated. There is almost no discussion of what happened to Catholics and Orthodox around the world, except that you get the feeling that most of them were Left Behind, and joined up with the universal religion.

So, once again, support for the idea that the authors were one or two dimensional in their writing.