Improving on Left behind?

I'm sure their are plenty of ways people would improve these books and plenty of others. I didn't write it though so I just have to take what they give me and like it or not. Opinions don't really matter unless they are the authors.

 

First, a writer of fiction, and preferably somebody who had done a series, should have been the author. A writer of a series doesn't waste pages recapping previous events like Jenkins does. Tom Clancy once said, "The difference between reality and fiction? Fiction has to make sense." Jenkins doesn't understand this because he's a non-fiction writer. Non-fiction and fiction are entirely different worlds. Now, on to my list.

1. A basic understanding of technology. If an earthquake destroys everything, where is the infrastructure coming from to run a website getting billions of hits a day? Besides that, how is the Trib Force connecting to the Net without the GC knowing?

2. The people who are left behind are not stupid. There are intelligent people who are not saved and will be left behind. Jenkins wants us to believe that the Christians are the only ones who have a functioning brain, and I just don't believe that. The people left behind may be fools, but that doesn't mean they're as dumb as a brick.

3. This will sound strange, but a better portrayal of Satan. After the "indwelling" of book 7, Satan is portrayed as a bellowing buffoon. Ridiculous. Evil is smarmy and slimy. Satan talks to Eve in a soothing, mellifluous tone, convincing her that she needs to eat the fruit, not as the LB bully who would force the fruit down her throat. In LB, Satan blusters and bellows, and you have to wonder why anybody would follow him.

4. A better understanding of math. According to a government census web site, the estimate world population today is over 6 billion. If you start with 6 billion, and reduce it by the Rapture, then by 1/4, then by 1/3, you don't have billions and billions accessing a website during the last half of the series.

It's really too bad that a non-fiction writer was asked to write a series of fiction books. I'd like to have seen this series in the hands of somebody who really knew what they were doing with a fiction series.

 

If these books are so bad then why are they so popular? I can understand to some extent what you are saying but I still think these books are really good. I might not agree with every part of them but I think they are entertaining and find them enjoyable.

 

I wouldn't change them. It's a fiction book based on what their view of the rapture is to be like. They wrote it, not me. If I changed it, it wouldn't be Left Behind now would it. I know you are just saying if you COULD change it, this is what you would have done. I just don't think of things like that unless it is something I created. Not trying to be harsh here. I'm just sticking up for the authors who worked really hard on this series and are probably very proud of their works. You could always write a book the way you would like. You just can't please them all though.

 

mioque, Yeah, I read them fully through book 9, and finally had enough. I was able to set aside my criticisms of terrible dialogue, cliched characters, and poor storytelling, but finally said enough is enough. In order to finish what I started, I did skim through books 10, 11 and 12, which are worse than the first 9, if you can believe it.

By the time Jenkins got to book 6 and beyond, the publisher had taken to using a larger font, and had bigger margins on each page, so they could stretch it out into an entire book. There just wasn't enough text to fill it up otherwise. Plus, when you consider the tricks Jenkins used to fill up the pages, there was precious little actual story being told.

Left Behind was actually intended to be a 6 book series, but when they saw how much money there were making, it was stretched out to 12 books. Last I knew, they were going to publish a "prequel" to the whole series.

I actually started reading them at the insistence of a friend, who thought they were great. Fortunately, I was able to borrow her books. I would have been pretty mad if I had spent good money on them!

 

Well, I read them all. All were bad, bad, bad. Bad writing, bad science, bad theology. But hey, I'm a librarian, so didnt cost me anything but 18 hours of my life I could have spent on better things. At any rate, I read them because they were so popular and so many patrons had questions about them.

A coherent story could have been made into a book or two, assuming you buy LaHayes theology, which, BTW, I don't.

Hal Lindsay (whose theology I don;t buy either), did a much better job in the 70s with these subject matters.

But it would have been better if the story were told by a story teller.

I have written quite a bit of non-fiction on military history, and know from personal experience that I am not capable of writing decent fiction. I have had friends who have tried, and so far all have failed. Likewise, it is difficult for those who write fiction to write and honest non-fiction piece as well. It can be done, but it is the exceedingly rare author who can do it well.

 

I've read them all. No they are not theologically deep, but I did find them entertaining, particularly when reading them next to the pool or on the beach.

 

I haven't read a one of the LEFT BEHIND them.

I have 'heard' all 12.
I listened to the dramatic audio series.
That isn't the same as the 'audio series' where somebody
reads the book. It is more like old fashioned radio, different
people saying different parts, background sounds, etc.

I listened to them while riding to work with the music man from
another church.

I used to like LaHaye when he was writing Christian Psyco-analyzation
books and 'How to Study the Bible' books, even Eschatology.
Until LEFT BEHIND series, that is. ALB (after left behind) I took
his advise and studied Eschatology on my own

What is real funny is when people accuse me of being a Darby-ite
I never heard of Darby till some postie (post-tribulation only rapturist)
told me about him - tee hee!

Anyway, LaHaye has a weak Antichrist and his sidekick, the Beast
from the Land. They remind me of Bud Abbot and Lou Costello
Come on, Leon isn't a serious False Prophet at all.

 

Those are good ideas, mioque.

I've got some myself.

Rather than gloss over the 144,000, how about a character who is a Jew and one of them?

How about a character who isn't a Christian witnessing the disappearances and resulting carnage? This same person would buy into everything that Carpathia is selling. Rather than just telling us how evil he is, the author could show us instead.

I've got one word for the Antichrist: horrendous. After book 7, the Antichrist becomes a bellowing, blustering fool, which is the antithesis of what anybody would follow. Instead of huffing and puffing and blowing down the front door, doesn't Evil come slithering in through the backdoor, unseen and unheard?

The means of controlling the world needs to be more thought out. Mass hypnosis? Did anybody else think deux ex machina, or was that just me? I suppose mass hypnosis was needed to control everybody once the antichrist became a blustering fool.

Also, btw, if you want evidence that Jenkins dragged out the series, look to book 10. I skimmed book 10 while standing at the bookshelf at Walmart and if you made it that far, you know that Jenkins wasted the entire book on Chloe's beheading. Milking the series much?

 

Yep, and driving a dump truck to the bank--after they wrote several more books than they started out with. They sold so well they started dragging the stories out and draggggggggginnnnnngggggggg the stories outtttttttttt. After the first two they started getting BORING.

 

Awesome. I lost track of these columns a year ago after reading everything Clark had written up to that point. Glad to see he's back on track with the demolition.

 

I went searching for the thread and am bumping it because Mr. Clark is still demolishing the first book of the series. Even if you don't agree with some of Mr. Clark's theology, I think you'll find him to be thought-provoking.

 

Interesting but overblown, I think.
The June 25 entry takes a loooong time to say the authors should have given more detail about what Rayford specifically read, questions he had about it, and that reading till he fell asleep shows some sort of evangelical malaise. That a reaaaally spiritual person would not just have gone to sleep like that.
Sure, I can agree that it is not the most profoundly written book. But deconstructionists such as this blogger are grasping a little too hard, in my opinion.

Karen

 

Improve it? Yeah, use the pages to line a bird cage. :laugh: