The Shack: A Book Review

A couple I know gave me this book to read a few months ago. I don't read novels often and Christian novels even less often. I find them too contrived and irritating to read.

So I finally decided to give The Shack a go after other friends of mine encouraged me to crack it open.

Let's start with a summary. The Shack is a story about an Oregon man whose young daughter is kidnapped. Her bloody dress is found in a shack in the forest, but not her body. God then invites Mack, the father in the story, to meet Him in the shack. The story takes on a fairy-tale-like fantasy turn as Mack spends several days with the Trinity who show up in various human forms, including an African-woman who goes by the name, Papa. The Shack, as the cover of the book promises, is "where tragedy confronts eternity."

There are things I adore about this book, foremost the theology. After Janene and Abigail were killed well-meaning people tried to comfort me with trite phrases like, "God is in control," or
"God has a plan," or even, "God had his reasons." This is Christian fatalism at it's worst.

While reading The Shack I was attentive to what perspective the author would provide in interpreting the terrible tragedy of the girl's murder. It wasn't hard to pick out. In this scene between Papa and Mack, Papa is explaining how evil goes unchecked in the world without his orchestration:

"...Mack, just because I work incredible good out unspeakable tragedies doesn't mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don't ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I need it to accomplish my purposes. That will only lead you to false notions about me. Grace doesn't depend on suffering to exist..."

Ok, so the author and I are on the same page when it comes to interpreting life's tragedies. Or rather, not interpreting them.

I loved the theology of this book. The author, William Young, uses the power of story to explain the nature and character of God without becoming too heady or scholarly. My favorite example of this is found in the last paragraphs of chapter 12. Jesus is talking with Mack about how seekers find him and that he is not trying to make anyone a Christian. "I am not a Christian," Jesus says. Mack asks him if this means that all roads lead to God. Listen to this brilliant response:

Most roads don't lead to anywhere. What it does mean is that I will travel any road to find you.

This is my favorite passage in the book. With these few phrases Young manages to explain my theology about the supremacy of Jesus without arrogance or exclusivity, which is what usually happens when I try to present Jesus as The Way, the Truth and the Life. This is brilliant and I'm sure I'll use it in future spiritual conversations.

So that's the good news. I love the theology and picture of God that is painted in the book. The story is ok, a bit contrived, a bit preachy at times, but nonetheless it flows very well and provides a powerful takeaway message.

My biggest problem with this book is the writing. It's ordinary. At times I was bored by the monotonous rhythm of the dialog. Some of the sentence structure is clunky. This may reflect my snobbery as a word smith more than anything else. The story seemed too contrived, predictable, like a network television movie. But, like a good made-for-tv movie, it was entertaining enough and done well enough to get it's point across.

My new writer friend, Bill Dahl from The Porpoise Diving Life, gave The Shack a glowing review calling it, "the best work of fiction I have read in years."

Bill, who knows the author and has spent time with him, wrote this in a recent email to me:

The Shack has now sold over 100,000 copies and is now on its 5^th (or something) print run, is being translated into 9 different languages and has had blank check offers (rejected) from several Hollywood studios…all on a marketing budget of $200-$300 bucks. The entire movement behind this book is word of mouth, friend to relationship...I have the distinct sense that God is using this book to free
people --- from a variety of cells and boxes they have come to define their relationship with Jesus

This astounds me. God is using this book that was written by an unknown writer with fairly ordinary story crafting to free people from distortions about what he is like. This thrills me. And for this reason, I can highly endorse and recommend The Shack.

If I were giving it an Amazon-styled star review I 'd give it three.
Amazing portrait of God as the gracious, merciful compassionate Being that he is as revealed in the Triune Godhead. I'd have given it four or five if the writing had wowed me a bit more.

I'm very interested in meeting the author who lives in a suburb outside of Portland. Bill has emailed me and urged me to contact him. Maybe when my blog buddy and real-life friend Erin is done reading the book we can do just that. I'd love to hear his journey as a writer of how this book project came to be and how it is changing him as a follower of Christ and also as a writer. Does he have any other book projects?

If you've read the book I'd love to hear your thoughts. Were you affected by the story like so many already have been? Just reading the Amazon reviews is like going to a Sunday night Testimony meeting. Many people are being deeply impacted by this humble little book. And that, in my opinion, is a five-star move on God's part.


**edit addition: I am getting an increasing number of hits for this review. I want readers to know that there is an additional post I wrote in continuation of the discussion about The Shack. You can click HERE to read it if you're interested...

***one more edit addition (Aug 2, 08): Here is a LINK to a podcast of an interview I participated in on Oregon Public Radio's Talk Out Loud program. Author William P. Young is the featured guest and he shares some intimate details about his life and how his own shack, which he describes as "a metaphor for places where we get stuck," came from childhood abuse and later on, loss and betrayal in his adult life. He is compelling to listen to. Portland pastor Bob Hyatt is also featured in the broadcast, and then myself, I get my five minutes of radio fame about halfway through the program. Theologian and author, James Wellman from the University of Washington was also a featured guest.

****you can click HERE for an easy-to-navigate page of all my Shack related posts...

(special thanks to Fran and Len for giving me a copy of The Shack. And also props to Jane and Tony who encouraged me to finish reading it. And of course, a very special thank you to Bill Dahl who helped me see the beauty of Jesus more clearly in the words on the pages.)