Review of The Shack

The Shack is a book about a man and his relationship with God. That is the deceptively simple premise to this book. It begins with an in-character forward, which helps draw the reader in and treat the following story as reality rather than fiction. Feeling like the encounters in the book were real events makes the spiritual and emotional impact of the book much greater, and I applaud the author's simple way of doing this.

Mackenzie Allen Phillips is a man from a broken family who has a dutiful, if somewhat distant relationship with God. He has deeply buried the shadows of his past in himself, and managed to create a happy, loving, and religious family. His wife, Nan, has a much deeper and closer relationship with God than he does. She is so close to God, in fact, that she refers to him as Papa. But when Mackenzie's young daughter Missy is kidnapped on a family vacation and all that can be found is her blood soaked sundress, his life - and faith-break down. He is burdened by what he calls The Great Sadness, and struggles to forgive himself for not being able to protect his little girl. Four years after The Great Sadness occurs, Mack finds a note in his mailbox inviting him out to the shack where Missy died, and the note is signed by Papa. And when he accepts the invitation, he actually finds God in the broken down shack in the woods.

This book balances telling a story and theology, while both embracing and reinventing traditional views of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Young's plot and way of writing can speak to almost anyone, from the most devoted of Christians to agnostics, without being too pushy or even offensive to most. The book has a graceful way of addressing some of the deepest and hardest questions of religion and faith - why did a man like Mack, who believed in and worshiped God, have to endure The Great Sadness? Or, in a broader sense, why does God allow disease, death, and violence to fill the world he (or she) created? The book is spiritual without being preachy, and thought-evoking without being heavy handed or too vicious in attacking established beliefs.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The philosophy and religious commentary is interesting, and I appreciate Young's view of God and the Trinity. The writing is polished, and both the tone and the style are very befitting for the person Mackenzie Allen Phillips is. I enjoyed it, when I was afraid that it would be the new "deep" book read by the masses that wasn't even really that deep at all. I was wrong. The Shack gave me many thoughts to consider, and I love a book that can make me think. I will say that sometimes the book strays into "telling not showing" mode, and sometimes I feel like perhaps a too much information is revealed in the very beginning of the story, but neither one of these problems are huge or distracting. Mack is a well-written everyman, a vessel for the readers to pour their own histories, issues, and tragedies into. I felt very keenly the crumbling of Mack's faith after Missy's death, because it was a crumbling I myself had experienced. Mackenzie easily becomes the reader, but isn't so bland or sketchy that he is uninteresting, either.

There is a good reason this book is a best-seller, and if you have the time to read it and the open mind to consider its theories, points and ideas, this book is definitely worth a couple hours of your time. It reads easy, rather than densely, as so many novels that are meant to be thought provoking often do. This book has spread quickly through social groups, because it is the kind of book that you can't merely read and be done with. It inspires thought and conversation, and that is never a bad thing. In the words of my Aunt, who gave the book to me, "This is the most profound book I've read this decade."