The Shack: A Book Review

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical about reading The Shack by William Young. A book about an "encounter" with God (representative in three human forms including an African-American female and an Asian female) just sounded a bit "kooky" to me. However, it was recommended to me by a couple of good friends who I greatly respect, so I had to check it out. (Plus, all the controversy surrounding it piqued my interest a bit!)

I actually read the book a few months ago. (It was originally on my Fall Into Reading 2008 list, but I didn't get to it until December.) I failed to get the review done in the midst of all the holiday madness (then the New Year madness, which seems to have led right into the February madness....when will it end?!). Now I am finally getting around to the review.

From the back cover:

Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, had 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 receives will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him.

I found the book surprisingly interesting and even challenging. It's extremely well-written in my opinion, and I found myself devouring entire chapters without realizing how much time had passed. At the same time, I came across spiritual concepts that required me to stop and "chew" for a bit, making sure I thoroughly digested them.

Mr. Young has done a wonderful job of weaving spiritual and even theological allegory throughout his novel. His demonstration of God's loving and nurturing nature is a refreshing change from how we sometimes see God characterized, especially in fiction. I feared that Young's portrayal of God would, at very least, border on the absurd. Instead, I found his representation of God in the three characters a stark reminder of God's amazing uniqueness and a refreshing demonstration of His unconditional love for each of us.

For those who have suffered tragic loss, Young's novel will bring a fresh perspective on God's sovereignty and purpose through all things. For everyone else it is, at the very least, a vivid reminder of God's amazing love...even in the midst of our darkest pain.

To read more about the book visit The Shack web site.