Rating:  Summary: Satan is alive and well and living in the White House Review: I disagree with "Proud Texan" about this book,primarily because it is obvious that his Fuhrer Complex has blinded him to the fact that George W. Bush is an idiot. This book should be read by everyone in Texas who knows how to read, and once this occurs, I'm confident that both of them will enjoy it.
Rating:  Summary: Too serious, too subtle, too many cliches Review: If I had read the Left Behind series, I might find this work to be a hysterically funny twist on the details of those books. I haven't read the series, though, and I suspect most of those who have read the series would find this work more offensive than funny. As a result, the "in jokes" for people who've read "Left Behind" are largely wasted, leaving a work that is far too much like my doubtless twisted notion of the thing it's parodying to be funny.It also far too often descends (ascends?) into explicit rational criticism of fundamentalist theology (heck, all Christianity) and the American right in general. Even when I mostly agree with it, rational discourse is not funny. If you want to preach, write some nonfiction. If you want to make a parody, let the reader supply the commentary from the situations. Far too many characters were simple illustrations of various stereotypes of hypocritical religious figures, and the anti-religous arguments were too overworked to justify the book's existence as anything other than the parody it wanted to be. Really, when you think about it, the "Left Behind" series itself could be viewed (in a "Mommy Dearest" sort of way) as an unintentional satire of the Book of Revelations. A common technique in satire is to take as an ironic premise the concept that everything in the source material is absolutely true, then show the absurdity of that concept by following it to its ridiculous extreme. For those who don't believe that the Book of Revelations is literally true, the actual Left Behind series could fit those criteria handily. All of this means that for those who won't find this work too offensive to be funny, it's essentially a parody of a satire, and as such, really needs to be absurdly over the top. "Kiss My Left Behind" does not deliver comedy at that level. Overall, though, the book is not terrible as plain old fiction, and is much shorter than "Left Behind", so I can't say I regret buying it. I just wish it had been funnier, or at least less preachy.
Rating:  Summary: A variation on toilet humour Review: Read the sample pages and you'll know right away whether this book is for you.
Rating:  Summary: Trash Review: This book is a prime example of what happens when a heart is hardened beyond redemption.
Do not waste your time reading this trash because any decent person would feel highly guilty of reading a book of this nature.
This book was written by someone who detests our leader.
Quite pitiful actually.
Rating:  Summary: An Excellent Parody Review: This book is an enjoyable, useful corrective for the religious lunacy fueling sales of the "Left Behind" behind series. Lee does a very good job of parodying Lindsay's books, down to the fine details. As an example, Lee emulates Lindsay's writing style so well that someone picking up this book and one of Lindsay's might well have trouble telling the difference between the writers -- at least initially. While some might consider this book "crude" and "offensive," it's also a very funny poke-in-the-eye for the arrogant religious nuts think that they're so much better than the rest of us that they'll be among "God's chosen" in "the rapture."
Rating:  Summary: An Excellent Parody Review: This book is an enjoyable, useful corrective for the religious lunacy fueling sales of the "Left Behind" behind series. Lee does a very good job of parodying Lindsay's books, down to the fine details. As an example, Lee emulates Lindsay's writing style so well that someone picking up this book and one of Lindsay's might well have trouble telling the difference between the writers -- at least initially. While some might consider this book "crude" and "offensive," it's also a very funny poke-in-the-eye for the arrogant religious nuts think that they're so much better than the rest of us that they'll be among "God's chosen" in "the rapture."
Rating:  Summary: A little bit of "right back at ya!" Review: This book is fun to read, and it tells the truth about the many lies told to the public by people we have been taught to trust. It's more than just a parody of the fundamentalist "Left Behind" series; it criticizes the hypocrisy and greed of the leaders of some of our major American institutions--in government, education, and organized religion. Beneath the raucous humor that makes the book a delight to read lies a serious purpose: to expose those who prey on the gullible, especially on the lost souls in America whose need for the spiritual certainty makes them willing victims. In addition, the book is good fiction--the characters can be endearing even with all their flaws.
WARNING! -- This book is definitely *not* for fans of Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" books. This book follows "Left Behind" pretty closely and the author is without mercy in the way he parodies specific events in that book. Even LaHaye himself is slammed--Hard! So don't expect a kindly "nice" or "gentle" parody of LaHaye's book. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Rating:  Summary: Wild, Weird and truly Bizarre! Review: This book jumps from weird, to bizarre, to funny and then back again. And the scene where the two of them are going at it on the white leather couch, with the hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers" playing in the background--just too much! I'll never hear "Come All Ye Faithful" again without thinking about this bizarre comedy.
Rating:  Summary: A funny satire on George W. Review: This book made me laugh out loud. It is a hilarious parody of Tim LaHaye's "Left Behind" and other right-wing fundamentalist nonsense. I especially enjoyed the satiric attack on George W. Bush as "Nickelay Dubyah, the Antichrist." Dubyah is the so-called "Fearless Leader" of Texrectumstan. Dubyah represents everything that is wrong with Christian fundamentalism: the ignorance, the hypocrisy, and the self-righteousness. I think it's interesting that this book was published at least six months before the Iraqi prison scandal, yet it predicts the abuse of Islamic prisoners by the "Christian" Dubyah. I also have to say something about the review by Linda Weinmunson. This is one of my pet peeves. I really hate it when someone "reviews" a book without actually bothering to read it. Her review is obviously an attack on R. Magon's review, not a review of this book. She disagrees with Magon's views, so she gives this book a low rating-pretty much proving his charge of "arrogance." And of course there is her not-so-subtle threat of Hellfire. It's so typical. Although some Christians may not like this book, it is a necessary tonic to the phoniness of most fundamentalists. So what if Magon confuses LaHaye with the author of "The Late, Great Planet Earth"? Hal Lindsey or Tim LaHaye, who cares? It's all the same arrogant phoniness. This book is ten times better than anything written by Lindsey or LaHaye.
Rating:  Summary: Parodies and a paradoze Review: This is the second parody I've read on the "Left Behind" series--and I've never read the actual Left Behind books, mainly because I disagree with the dispensationalist theology underlying them. The previous parody, "Right Behind" was written from a Christian perspective, and in some ways was funnier than this book. "Kiss My--Left Behind" is definitely not written from a Christian perspective, and even contains some language and situations that may be offensive to some. While there is indeed much hypocrisy, shallowness, and plain bad theology in the Christian world that is suitable for ridicule, the basis of Christianity remains true, so the reader should not go overboard in condemning all Christians because of some bad apples which are characterized in books such as these. In addition, if one is going to write a parody on the "Left Behind" books, it should be focused on that series. Instead, this books tries to include a parody of the Bush administration as well, to the point where some may be confused as to the main point of the actual parody, as a previous reviewer apparently was. In an election year as polarizing as this one, I suppose playing the "hate card" against the current administration may pick up a few Michael Moore-types that otherwise would avoid a book such as this.
All in all, it was a mildly amusing read, so I give it a very mild recommendation to those who are not easily offended.
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