8. Left Behind (Left Behind #1) Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. 1995. 470 pages. [Source: Library] [christian fiction, 2 stars, contemporary fiction]
First sentence: Rayford Steele's mind was on a woman he had never touched.
When I was in my late teen years, there were two book series that were being talked about--Left Behind and Harry Potter. I was slow to read them both, though I did read the first books in both series around the same time--when I was in college. Both books I considered slow, slow, slow, super slow. I recently read the Harry Potter series and appreciated it for the most part (though it's not for everyone). I decided I'd give this series a go. Or at least attempt to do so.
The premise is simple: The rapture occurs in the first chapter of the book and everyone else has been....drumroll please....left behind. The story follows three or four main characters as they try to piece together what happened and why. Rayford Steele and Buck Williams are the two male leads of the story. (Chloe, Rayford's daughter, and Hattie, Rayford's flight attendant, round out the cast.) Rayford is almost certain right from the get go that it is the rapture, that this was a supernatural occurrence, that Christ has returned for the saints, that these are the last days. Everyone else takes more convincing---for the most part.
I am a Christian.
I am a Christian who genuinely believes in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
I believe the Bible to be the Word of God, inerrant, infallible, God-breathed--the whole works.
I mention all of the above so that you know where I am coming from in my review. I am not mocking the Bible. I am not mocking the second coming. I am not questioning the existence of God. I am not doubting God's promises.
But this book suffers from two or three issues.
1) The writing is bad especially in terms of characterization and dialogue. Nails on a chalkboard bad.
2) The writing comes across as cocky and condescending. I think this has to do with being a little too confident in their particular interpretation of the end times than perhaps anyone should be.
3) The book has an obvious point and becomes repetitive in trying to reiterate the point. Now the point itself--believe in Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, turn to him, have faith, all of it--none of these are bad points. But they don't make for the absolute best fiction. That is when you are crafting a novel, crafting characters and dialogue, it might be a good idea to go a little deeper and broader.
I can't say that the book is theologically awesome. Because while I am sure that Jesus Christ *is* returning, the way everything is laid out in the novel makes a lot of assumptions, presumptions, goes way above and beyond what can be clearly supported by Scripture. I am reminded of old cartoons where a character is running and happens to run off a cliff. The character keeps on running--on air itself--until that moment when they look down and there is nothing below.
I think it is easy to mock the writing--just read some reviews on GoodReads and the like--and somehow turn it into a mockery of the end times itself. Or to turn it into a mockery of those who do believe. But the two shouldn't have to be linked together. You can believe in God and also not enjoy a book.
I will say this in the book's defense. IF THE PACING OF THE LAST HUNDRED PAGES had been the pacing from the start, then the book might not be so bad. The book is just so incredibly dull until it isn't.
© Becky Laney of
Operation Actually Read Bible
