Customer Reviews

666

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This book is utterly awful. The narrative changes from first to third person and back again for no apparent reason. None of the characters are believable and their actions make no sense. The plot goes in all sorts of bizarre directions, both to accomodate a clumsy interpretation of Revelation and also a seemingly random collection of photographs (a crowd of people waving brooms, a holiday snapshot near a big bell in Moscow - not terribly apocalyptic). As a novel, it wobbles between tedious and unintentionally funny. As a piece of religious propaganda, it's a complete failure.

Salem Kirban delivers a literal take on the events prophesied in the Biblical Book of Revelation, and creates a multitude of unintentional chuckles while he's at it. I think this was written in the '70's and its science is by now highly out of date. ("Ruby Laser Rings"?) This story about the rise of the antichrist during the Biblical end times begins with all the Christians suddenly vanishing from the face of the earth, and yet those remaining don't quite catch on that it's the Rapture. They wander around puzzled about the disappearances until a charismatic leader appears on the scene to take over the world and usher in a reign of darkness. The main characters here, a trio of dumb-as-post agnostics soon to turn true believers, begin as loyal henchmen of the politically popular antichrist (a sort of '70's smooth operator with fundamentalist-rankling leftist tendencies) but eventually repent and take it on the lam as they work underground against him and his evil administration. There are wars here, execution scenes straight out of A Tale Of Two Cities, political messages wrapped in Christian dogma, and even a resurrection from the dead achieved in a science-meets-arcane-magick stunt that puts the antichrist on a divine plateau. Finally there is the anticipated good v. evil showdown, Jesus ushers in the new world, blahblahblah, and the faithful get their reward, the rest swan dive into eternal pain and suffering, courtesy of an all-loving God.

This well-meaning, sensationalistic book cracks me up.

In the back of the book it states that Mr. Salem has a degree and the book sold a "quarter of a million copies". Wow. If this is all it takes to write a book and make a ton of money, count me in! I was really disapointed that Mr. Kirban's writing style is very amaturish-almost borderline "English as a second language" - no evidence of any kind of intellecutal writing talent. He chose generic names like George, Bill and Faye. I think he's trying too hard to make it a thriller that all you get is "cornyness". He has a diagram of a "laser ring" and talks about "protien cakes" made from dead humans and motor oil. And the black and white pictures are so phony - like he picked out of some photo stock agency and when he couldn't get what he wanted, they tossed in a substitute (Hey, it's much better to have a picture of Chinese waiting in line - probebly during WWII) then no picture at all! And then there is another photograph where people are supposed to be rolling in "mud" to look for any "morsol of food" - but one of the people is smiling! I didn't think starving was so much fun. This is a great book if you're like in the 4th or 5th grade, but for someone that wants a more realistic approach to the end times I believe there are far better books out there.

I hadn't even realized this book was still in print. Leaving any content issues aside, this is an extremely poorly written book. The characters are stilted, the perspective changes for no apparant reason and the prose is somewhat less than enthralling. In fact, to me it is one of those books that you keep reading just to see how bad it can get.

Salem Kirban's first attempt at a fiction novel, 666, fails miserably. The character development is virtually non-existent, the writing style is very poor, the storyline is very corny. 666 is the story of a group of people trying to survive the Tribulation Period and the Antichrist's persecution. The end-times is portrayed in an extremely corny and monotonous manner, and the characters are nothing more than cardboard stereotypes who are not in the least bit realistic. The judgments of God during the Tribulation Period the characters live through are trivialized, a war, a global famine, a worldwide earthquake, and many other global disasters and plagues are portrayed so porly and unrealistically that the judgments seem like nothing. Kirban mainly focuses on the character's struggle to survive the rampant persecution of believers, everything else is trivialized.
If you are looking for an end-times thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, do not read 666 by Salem Kirban. It is a wasre of time and I regret taking the time to read it. 1 star out of five.

Mr. Kirban has written an intersting story, but his writing style is so poor, it is distracting. As one reviewer pointed out, he switches grom first person to third person. What he didn't tell you is Mr. Kirban actually got so confused he began switching back and forth between the two, sometimes in the same paragraph. To his credit, I will say that some of his "prediction" about modern life were dead-on. You see, the book came out in 1970, but takes place in the year 2000. Mr. Kirban has space shuttles, laser weapons, as well as human cloning taking place.

While this book is not as bad as Ernest Angely's RAPTURED, it is nonetheless very dogmatic.

Kirban, like Angely, Hal Lindsey, et al. believes that the dispensational, premillennial view of the Second Coming is the ONLY CORRECT position to take. Kirban is also quite dogmatic on the issue of Christian rock music and Christian rock bands. He sees them as part of the great "End Times" apostasy. That is, anyone who is a contemporary Christian music artist is actually an apostate, according to Kirban.

Another odd thing about this book, the narrative suddenly changes from first person as told by George to third person with George being spoken of along with the other characters.

Finally, the end of the story as Christ returning to Earth riding astride a literal horse along with His disciples, including those "caught up" in the "Rapture" all riding on literal horses! Kirban undoubtedly interprets Revelation 19 quite literally!

Intellectually weak like all the rest of this genre!

I read this book back in the '70's and have been looking for it ever since. I love the way it shows George and his daughter and son-in-law growing closer to the Lord and realizing how important he is in our lives. I also like how it shows how we can mistake evil for good.

Kirban's only attempts at fiction, "666" and "1000" are not as finely polished as the "Left Behind" novels, but still very readable.

"666" covers the same basic period as the entire "Left Behind" book series - and features George and his wife Helen (who is one of the ones taken in the Rapture).

The parallels between this book and the "Left Behind" novels are very striking. The story starts on a airplane. The husband is "left behind" and the wife and children raptured. George is quickly catapulted into direct confrontation with the Anti-Christ and his minions.

But that's not all - if you can find one of the combination books you'll even be able to read about the millennium period and what might happen during that time. Kirban's position as a born-again Arab really shine through in places. Kirban is not a novelist, though ... There are many places where an editor might have caught the fact that Kirban switches between first person and third person perspective without warning. there are other editorial mistakes, but not enough to make me want to put this book down until I had read it through.

But I won't ruin the whole novel here - just recommend that if you like the "Left Behind" books that this is a "must read"!

When I first read this book in 1973, I was 16 years old. It changed my life! While I am not in the habit of reviewing books, I feel this book worthy of a high rating if it is read in HIS spirit. I encourage all to read more of Salem Kirban's works...as I am sure he is a true man of God and a Christian. Also read the series from Tyndale House starting with "Left Behind"!