Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Tribulation Force by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins

"The Red Horse of the Apocalypse was on the rampage."

This is a horribly boring book. It made me feel as if I had brain rot. The first 400 pages are a complete reiteration of the first book, Left Behind. Because the first book and the first 400 of this one as well, are about what happens in the first few weeks after the tribulation, there is very little plot and it moves along at less than a snail's pace.

All of the characters are incredibly shallow. They don't evoke any emotion or concern for themselves, the lost world around them, or the tragic events that rip their lives apart. No main character in the story resists God or salvation, and Buck, yeah, Buck has long hair that he blow dries.

OK, so what do the authors take 450 pages to tell us? Buck gets to meet the wall wailers and moves to NY to be a publisher of the Anti-Christ's newspaper, Rayford becomes the pilot for the Anti-Christ and inexplicably gets married, a leading Rabbi gets saved and announces on TV that Jesus is the Messiah, Bruce dies, Chloe finally marries the world renown and virgin journalist Buck and last but not least the treaty signaling the beginning if the tribulation is signed in Jerusalem. All of which would easily have fit on the back of this massive volume. It might also be worth noting that both marriages including Rayford and Amanda's entire relationship and Bruce's death all happen in the last 50 pages, and yes, the wedding IS a double ceremony.

7 comments:

Brent Waggoner said...

Hey! Thanks for spoiling Bruce's death, jerk. Guess I can skip ahead to Nicolae now.

Liz Waggoner said...

I think skipping is the most profitable option.

Carlton Farmer said...

I think this is one of Sarah Palin's favorite books.

Brooke said...

I love Jesus but I am pretty sure that Jesus cries when people read this series... Even if it is relevant to Christianity.

Can we please discuss this? Why is it so hard to find good Christian music/literature/ect? I can get down with someone making a joyful noise without it sounding like something I can listen to on repeat all day, I'm all about it, but Christian art... Where is the earth shaking Christian art?

Brooke said...

Also, I remember in late middle school/early high school if my mom was irritated at me and didn't want to talk for whatever reason she would turn on one of these audio books.

Brent Waggoner said...

I think there's still good art being made by Christians. it's just that mainstream Christians have pushed it under the radar. Sufjan Stevens, Starflyer 59, Danielson, they all make great music but most people, Christian or otherwise have never even heard of them. As far as Christian literature goes, I think most modern Christian themed literature fails because t's very shallow. Even books that purport to ask difficult questions often only do so in a framework that allows a pat answer at the end. In my opinion, most of the great Christian-themed works of literature are either old (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy) or written by authors who are not pigeonholed as Christian authors and therefore can explore very meaningful themes in a larger, more relevant context (Graham Green, for example).

So there's my contribution.

Sarko Sightings said...

I think there is a real life Nicolae on the seen in France!