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Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth's Last Days (Left Behind No. 1) |  | Authors: Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
Category: Book
New (126) from $4.15
Rating:  2228 reviews
Sales Rank: 4308
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 320
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0842329129
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
UPC: 031809029121
EAN: 9780842329125
ASIN: 0842329129
Publication Date: January 29, 1996
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Product Description
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
Amazon.com Review
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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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 2228
 Left Behind February 28, 2010
JD (N.J.)
An unusual story that's not for most readers. It's based upon the controversial "rapture of the church" and the "tribulation" that follows. (To learn more about these 2 subjects you can search the web.) I found the story that revolved around the Investigative Newspaper Reporter interesting. However, the story that revolved around the Airline Pilot spent to much time preaching the virtues of religion. Thus the story was dragged out too long. And if you are not deeply religious you are certain to find the preaching overwhelms the story. Lastly, the first book ended in the middle of a climactic scene. This was surely done to interest you in buying the next book, however, I'll pass.
 I REALLY wanted to like this book, but...... February 24, 2010
DeaconBlues1103
Boy, I really wanted to like this book so that I could justify buying and reading the many sequels, but....... I didn't like it. Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate it and I finished it in a few days, but I will NOT read any further. What are the problems? Many. I knew it was a "Christian" book but I didn't expect the writers to thrust their religion and Christianity in my face. Back off a little, guys. Not to mention that 3 of the main characters convert to Christianity and a devout belief in God by the book's end without question, and accept the mysterious disappearances as the rapture. Now, where's the mystery and suspense in that?
And, whereas I'm not a huge fan of 4-letter words (especially the "f" word) I can overlook a few if it's in the character's nature to use such words. In this book, however, there are none. I did count a few "hecks" and "darns" which made the dialogue even more ridiculous. Like other reviewers, I feel that this book was written for a middle school student (to be read after Sunday night youth group, maybe?)
Maybe the other books in the series are a little stronger, plotwise and languagewise. I'll never know since I won't be reading any of them.
Again, I didn't HATE it (hence the 2 stars) but I didn't LOVE it either. Buy and read it at your own risk. Don't say we didn't warn you!
Left Behind: Surprising February 15, 2010
Patrick J. Jones
Title: Left Behind by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins
Pages: 342.
Time spent on the "to read" shelf: I'm guessing at maybe 7 or 8 years. One of the longest time frames for an unread book in my collection.
Days spent reading it: 3 days.
Why I read it: Alright, so I've always been an advocate of "don't knock it until you've read it." I've thought that about Harry Potter (and the Christian overreaction to the series) and other books in my lifetime. Now I've never read Left Behind, but I've been a fan of knocking it since I was in college. I've had it for a long time, just never got around to reading it because I knew that I fundamentally disagreed with the author's view of the end-times. So I finally decided I was going to read it.
Brief review: I'll be honest. I did not have much hope of enjoying this book. I knew that I would fundamentally disagree with the major plot point of this book--the idea that the church would be raptured before the tribulation described in the Bible.
However, I enjoyed this book. No, it wasn't the greatest book I've ever read. It wasn't even a book I thought was particularly well written. There was a lot of cheesy dialogue in it. But I think what this book accomplishes wonderfully is this: It presents a CLEAR gospel presentation, and calls all people to turn to Jesus. You cannot read this book and wonder to yourself, "Gee, I wonder how one becomes a Christian." Its just not possible. You can ignore it. You can mark it down as cheesy dialogue. You can think its forced in some places. But you cannot ignore the gospel message in this book. I like that. And since this series has sold literally millions of books (sure, many of them to Christians), I'm sure millions have gotten into the hands of people who need to hear that clear gospel message.
I also love how this book emphasizes the fact that being good is not the same as getting into heaven. There are plenty of people who profess to have a relationship with God who are faking it or who are flat out lying. This is an important point to make, because it forces me to think about who is a part of the church? Who will get into heaven? The answer is: only those who have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That's it, nothing else will do.
So a few things that I did not like so much. First, I do not think there will be a pre-tribulation rapture of the church. I just do not that its in the Bible. I won't say any more about it here, feel free to write a comment or email if you want to talk about that. Second, the Christians who are taken away in Left Behind are typically described as the kind of good folk who believed in Jesus and lived their lives perfectly. LaHaye and Jenkins never talk about Christians who were flawed humans being raptured. Perfect pastors get raptured (awesome, I'm in!). Tattooed punks don't (sorry tattooed punks). I think LaHaye and Jenkins will be surprised when people who don't "look like Christians" greet them in heaven. The authors did a good job of saying that people who look like Christians, but in their hearts are faking it, are not really Christians. They did not do such a great job of saying that people who don't look like Christians, but in their heart have a real relationship with Jesus, can be true Christians.
Overall, this is a book that has impacted millions. I am glad that I finally got around to reading it. It caused me to think, it caused me to evaluate what I DO believe about the end-times. Left Behind did not change my mind about how the events will play out, but it did surprise me in a good way. I enjoyed reading it. I would be vaguely interested in reading other books in the series (the series is ridiculously long, and I have tons of books on my current reading list, but someday I might consider it). The characters were enjoyable, and the plot was well paced. Definitely worth the time I invested in it. I would recommend it to anyone who would be interested in ONE perspective of the end-times, as long as they realized LaHaye and Jenkins are not the only interpretation of the end-times and they are certainly not writing Scripture.
Favorite quote: "I'm afraid he's gone off naked. He's a religious person and he'll be terribly embarrassed."
One funny thing I remember about this series. When I was in Toccoa, GA, a Christian Bookstore there had a sign advertising "Desecration available here! Only $14.99!" That always made me laugh. (Desecration is one of the later books in the series)
Stars: 4 of 5.
Final Word: Surprising.
 READ THE WHOLE SERIES February 9, 2010
Terra D. Beezel (WV USA)
This is the one that gets you started and you will want to read every single book in the series. I HIGHLY recommend reading this book and I guarantee you will be HOOKED!
It took TWO people to write this drivel! February 6, 2010
Virginia R. Cody
Obviously, this book was written for a particular type of audience: the born-again Christian. And while I'm not counted in their numbers, I was curious to read about the Christian perspective on the "Rapture." The premise of this book is an intriguing one: millions of believers are summoned to heaven in a split second to wait out the "End Times." Now, irrespective of the fact that the Bible doesn't mention any "Rapture" anywhere, and that it says that the "bad guys" are supposed to be ripped away from the earth, I have to say that this might be one of the worst written books I've ever read. The characters are creepily syrupy. The women are depicted as weak and in desperate need of a great man to take care of them. (The flight attendant was actually worthy of a place in "Coffee, Tea or Me.") The men are ridiculous characterizations of everything "macho" and they are, of course, holier-than-thou...even when they are examining their failings (which they do with no depth whatsoever). The dialogue is forced and unrealistic. The scenarios are simply stupid; for instance, Rayford worries about his 21 year old daughter dating a man ten years her senior. I kept asking myself why he would worry when he's already accepted the world is going to end in seven years! The most exciting action involves a reporter having a woman wait for him in a taxi, worrying about her waiting for him in the taxi, having her call him to yell at him that she is waiting in the taxi, having him worry some more, and then FINALLY, tell her to go on without him. The best written parts of the book are actually those written by whoever wrote the Bible. Unfortunately, the passages pulled for the book are those which serve the purpose of the authors. Which, I think, is that there really will be a Rapture -- and I just don't know how they could know that.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 2228
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