Left Behind

Left Behind. What to say? I'd heard of it, of course. My opinion was as yet unformed when I picked up the book, which is for the best. My only concrete thought was 'Why is there a Christian book about all the people who failed at being Christians? Why do we want to hear their story?'

But it turns out the whole idea of the book is that the people who missed their chance to follow Jesus before the Rapture begin to search for answers. Many of them become devout Christians after seeing Biblical prophecy come to life. So, the story itself if intriguing and well thought out.

However, the writing itself leaves something to be desired. The authors seem to have no idea how college students talk, leaving one of the main characters (college student Chloe) sounding stilted and even ridiculous at times. Most of the characters aren't terribly interesting. The aforementioned Chloe is probably the most compelling and charming, but the strange dialogue she's given drains some of her credibility as a character.

Some characters are completely one-dimensional, almost painfully so. Flight attendant Hattie Durham is depicted as a morally inept girl whose shallowness is pointed out so many times, readers may begin to suspect the authors aren't sure we've gotten it.

Overall, Left Behind turned out to be a decent read. The plot became fairly interesting in the last quarter of the book and I don't regret having read it. Not exactly great praise, but more than I can say for some books. I may read more of the series at some point, but I don't feel any great need to find out what happens to these people.