The Shack - by William P Young

This was not an easy book to read, nor is it an easy book to really think about reviewing. It's one of those books that I really feel like I'm going to have to read again to really absorb it fully (if even one more reading would be enough). I've talked to many people about this book both before reading it and since and I find it interesting just how polarizing this book is, not just in theme but in the actual writing.

I did not find the book to extremely well written and I've heard from many people that they found the first 4 chapters the hardest to read. Those were the chapters where I felt the writing lacked the most. That part of the book read the most like any other book you might read with a little bit of a family story and mystery to it. The book opens with a foreword, that along with the after words, left many confused as to whether this was a true story. It is not, it is a work of fiction that tries to use a story many can relate to to express some ideas about God that are controversial to many.

The story begins by telling us about Mack and his family and the loss that they have recently endured. While not well-written the story does pull you in and you feel the heartbreak they have felt. You can also understand how due to not only this circumstance but to many others in his life, Mack has lost his faith; not just his faith in God, but his faith in life and in people, and even in himself. He blames himself for a tragedy that he could not control and in turn he also blames God.

One day, while getting the mail, Mack finds a note in his mailbox. The note is either a sick joke or it is a note from God himself. Mack decides to find out which and the note leads him to the place of his greatest misery, the shack where his daughter was most likely murdered. As he heads there, he does not know who he will meet, if it will be the murderer or God himself, or no one at all. When he discovers who is occupying the shack, Mack is quite surprised, to say the least. God is waiting at the shack, along with Jesus and the Holy Ghost.

When Mack first meets God the book begins to feel very preachy, much like a sermon as God attempts to explain the holy Trinity to Mack. An explanation that I'm not quite sure was successful.

I have to say that after the feeling of that chapter, I wanted to put the book down. It was DEEP, very DEEP and like I said, preachy. I didn't want to read a sermon. But, I'd committed to reading this book, both to those who had suggested it to me, and for a book club. So after taking a break and reading another book or two, I did go back to it and finish it. In going back to the book I found it to be not nearly as preachy as it had initially seemed. Perhaps it was just the attempted explanation of the Trinity, that turned me off.

As the book continues, Mack has many discussions with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit which are all rather interesting and take the time to attempt to explain many things about God. I found that some of the themes paralleled those found in Eat, Pray, Love: which I read recently; mainly the idea that God is not a Christian. Go figure. If the word "Christian" means "Christ Like", how can God be a Christian when he is actually Christ. But it's not just about the terms, it's the idea that God is not committed to any one religion and that he (or she) has children in all religions. This is just one of the many controversial ideas presented in this book. Another is the idea that God does not want us to be his sub-ordinates, but rather his friends. He wants the same relationship with us that we give our friends. The same eagerness that we have to spend time with our friends is what he wants us to have towards him. There are many other big ideas presented in this book, including the attempt to explain why God allows bad things to happen.

One of the most polarizing things in this book is probably the way that God presents to Mack. To many it makes perfect sense, to others it is blasphemy on many levels. It made sense to me. Not only did it make sense but I could immediately picture the person who would (or at least in my mind should) play God in the movie version of this book. This book isn't going to change my life or anything, but it did make some sense of a few things and I liked the ideas that were presented.