Kiss My Left Behind [Paperback]

Earl Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2003

Kiss My Left Behind is a parody of the popular genre of "End Times" novels written by many Christian authors, including Tim LaHaye, Jean Grant, Mel Odom, and Jonathan R. Cash. In this book the characters struggle with their own obsessions and desires, and don't have much time left over to fight the Antichrist: Nickelay Dubyah, ruler of the former Soviet Republik of Texrectumstan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 236 pages
• Publisher: Aventine Press (November 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593301065
• ISBN-13: 978-1593301064
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,566,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Earl Lee was born in Rockford, Illinois (just west of Chicago) in 1955 and has lived in Arkansas (Little Rock, Fayetteville, Calamine); Tennessee (Memphis); Wisconsin (Appleton, Green Bay, Madison, Rice Lake); Oklahoma (Enid), and Kansas. He is currently a librarian at Pittsburg State University. He was recently promoted to the honorary rank of University Professor.

He has been interested in Freethought and social issues for many years. His work includes both fiction and some poetry. Samples can be found at Goodreads and on his blogg "Passion & Parody"

Earl Lee has written several popular parodies, including Raptured: The Final Daze of the Late, Great Planet Earth_, which is a parody of Tim LaHaye's evangelical End-of-the-World novel _Left Behind_.

Lee has attended Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas (B.A. in Literature); the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (M.A. in English); Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin (teaching certification); and the University of Wisconsin--Madison (M.A.L.I.S).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Funny writing in its own right, November 16, 2005

By 

david martin (ottawa, canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss My Left Behind (Paperback)

I haven't read any of the books in the "Left Behind" series so I was doubtful that I would enjoy this satirical take on the genre. But it turns out that the author's writing in "Kiss My Left Behind" is good enough on its own to hold the reader's interest. Lee has a deft touch with humorous writing and a strong narrative style. Even without prior knowledge of the details of the "Left Behind" books, I found that characters (caricatures?) like airline pilot Ramrod Steel and flight attendant Hadshe Dunhim were funny enough to hold my interest and keep me laughing.

Lee's satirical take manages to skewer both fundamentalist Christianity and George W. Bush in a fast-paced, entertaining read. Since I haven't read the satirical target, I've only given this book four stars. If I had, however, I suspect it may well deserve five.

43 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Too serious, too subtle, too many cliches, June 11, 2004

By 

Bradford Daniels (Redmond, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kiss My Left Behind (Paperback)

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.

34 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A little bit of "right back at ya!", November 9, 2004

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Kiss My Left Behind (Paperback)

"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."--someone who should be president

ROTFLMAO!!! That's awesome!

Since evangelicals get that familiar surge of pride every time a new book in that worn-out-its-welcome "Left Behind" series comes out, it's about time the other half of the world gets treated to a similarly rewarding experience.

Just as the late night talk show hosts parody and humorously criticize famous figures, this sort of situation is no different and shouldn't be treated with the vehemence that it does. The right wingers are of course clueless about their "I can hurt you but you can't hurt me" attitudes, which makes this sort of parody even more welcome to those of us with minds.

If you liked the representation of the president on the "That's My Bush" tv show, or parodies of anything considered sacred by those who'd rather preach than have sex, then you'll enjoy this series.