The Shack – William P. Young
From the back cover -
Mackenzie Allen Philips’ daughter Missy has been abducted during a family vacation and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his Great Sadness, Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend.
Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack’s world forever.
In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant The Shack wrestles with the timeless question, “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him.
My thoughts -
I did not expect to like this book. It was loaned to me by a family member, and even though this is not the typical book I would read, I decided to give it a try anyway. I was truly surprised when I came away very, very happy that I had given The Shack a chance.
I can’t say that I LOVED the book, especially since the so-so quality of the writing turned me off a bit, as well as the fact that the dialogue felt very unnatural. However, the actual content of the story was so true to my actual beliefs that I couldn’t help but be happy with the overall effect. I was going to write this review with spoilers, just to give everyone an idea of what specifically I loved about this story, and what aspects of the ideas in the book I agree with (most of them), but I just at this second decided against doing that. Instead, if you’ve read the book and/or want to read the book and would like to discuss it further, please leave your questions/input in the comments, and I will carry on a conversation through email instead. I think that this book is a worthwile read, no matter what your religious beliefs are, and I do not want to ruin anything for someone that may pick it up in the future.
Also reviewed by:
October 15, 2008 at 1:48 pm
I’d like to read this basically because I’m just soooo curious about it. What would you say is the overall general purpose of the book? What does the writer want us to come away knowing?
October 15, 2008 at 5:06 pm
Not sure why it’s not working…but hopefully this works.
October 20, 2008 at 3:48 pm
This book intrigues me, too, even though it seems to be controversial. Maybe because it IS controversial!
October 21, 2008 at 2:52 pm
I’m glad that you enjoyed “The Shack.” I’ve heard a lot of good and bad comments on it, but overall, everyone that I’ve talked to has come away feeling changed in some way.
If you’d like to talk with William Paul Young himself and ask some of the questions you have concerning his book and the messages he brings out, check out our author chat tomorrow, Oct. 22, at 2 p.m. EST on http://abunga.com/authorsatabunga.
You can submit questions ahead of time and read William Paul Young’s responses as the chat goes along.
Rachel
Abunga.com
Blog.abunga.com