The Shack: A New York Times #1 Bestseller Review

With over 5 million copies in print, Wm. Paul Young's The Shack first appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list on June 8, 2008, just a little more than a year after it's publication, where it has held the #1 slot for the 49 weeks since. I believe, however, that an even better suggested reading list can be found by scanning the crowd at an airport. After having seen The Shack in the hands of so many passengers and colleagues, I finally decided to join the craze.

As the story begins, we meet Mackenzie, and learn about The Great Sadness that has been consuming his life. It quickly becomes a page turner as we are taken on a dramatic journey wherein Mack's youngest daughter, Missy, is kidnapped. Evidence leads to a shack in the woods where police believe Missy was murdered, though she was never found. Despite this gripping beginning that reads like a mystery novel, the real story begins on page 80 where reality is left behind as Mack returns to The Shack years later upon receiving a mysterious letter and finds himself face to face with God.

"Take it easy on those greens, young man. Those things can give you the trots if you ain't careful." Probably not the sort of advice that you would expect to hear from the mouth of God. Enter Papa, which is the friendly name that his wife uses to refer to God the Father. For Mack, Papa has chosen to appear to him as a large, congenial black woman who is the housekeeper and cook of the shack, accompanied by Jesus playing the more traditional role of Hebrew carpenter, and Sarayu, who is the Holy Spirit in the form of an incandescent Asian woman that moves with fluidity and grace and spends her time gardening. These three, forming an unlikely representation of the Holy Trinity, spend the weekend changing the way Mack views God so that he can finally release The Great Sadness he bears for the loss of his daughter.

Mack embodies many of the common misconceptions people have about God, Christianity and organized religion. Mack also holds Him responsible for his suffering and so harbors great anger towards God. As Papa, Jesus and Sarayu all spend time teaching Mack lessons in their unique and often comedic ways, the author exposes a God who is tangible and accessible as a friend, someone with whom you can have a real relationship. Young has tried to find a balance in language between God's explanations, which can lean towards the complex, coupled with Mack's responses, which try to clarify in simpler terms. If the reader feels that they've missed the point, often times Mack has too, and comfort can usually be found in Papa's response that it's OK to not fully grasp everything in one day. Although the literary quality isn't always brilliant, particularly in Mack's dialogue, the purpose and sentiment of the scene outweighs this minor lack of genius.

One of the joys of this book that has made it so celebrated is that the message is moving for Christians, enlightening for non-believers and healing for people in all stages in between. For someone who already knows God, this book will be like falling in love with your spouse all over again - you may always love them, but sometimes you forget to acknowledge the power of that love and how it came to be in the first place. This may be the kindling to reignite that connection. For a person who does not believe in God, whether it's due to lack of exposure or a distaste because of it, this book taps into the emotional reasoning that is rarely explained so poignantly. It may be that this personal aspect will change the way you feel, or it may simply help you to better understand why others do believe in God.

Notwithstanding it's underdog success, not all press has been uplifting of this story, as some Christians have come down on the side of criticism. The Shack may not always be spot on theologically, but Young never intended his book to replace the Bible. What it does have is the power to make God personal, which is an aspect of belief that is often misunderstood, particularly by non-believers. If a person has no desire to or lacks the understanding that they can have a relationship with God, then an infinite amount of facts would mean nothing. If this story lights a fire in the soul, then a persons journey will not end with the last page.

The Shack is full of humorous interactions with God, heartbreaking scenes of confrontation and a compelling story of a man who's lost his way, but most of all it is about what it means to be in relationship with God as He desires. Papa explains it best when she says, "Mack, I don' want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you." It is this exposure to a loving, living God that is the moral of this story. How many other mainstream fiction books can boast the same?

Source: Paperback Trade Fiction The New York Times Best Sellers