The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity by William P. Young
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Book Reviews of The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity
Book Review: Mr. Young is Certainly NOT Putting a "Small" God into a Box!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been a Christian for more than 35 years. I was raised in a conservative Christian home and have adhered to and held onto my "conservative" beliefs.
After reading "The Shack", I would not agree with the nay sayers who accuse William Young of wanting to create a small God. I see it as anything but that! This story helped me see that God is way BIGGER than I've even conceieved Him to be. He can be and is a God who cares enough about us to reach down and touch us in ways we can never even imagine. I thought the fact that He presented Himself to 'Mack' in a way that was Gracious so that Mack could settle into spending time with Him was incredibly eye opening to me. It didn't make God seem small at all...in fact it was kind of mind boggling to try to understand that God can present Himself to us as anyone and anything that He wants to.
As for the human aspect portrayal of each of the Trinity, I felt it symbolizes God's desire for relationship with us. It is, afterall, the reason He created us! We are the ones who've chosen to live independently from Him. But in the end, He will have what He desires...relationship with us, His creation.
I don't believe Mr. Young set out to write something to belittle God or make Him out to be anything less than He is. In fact, I often felt like Mack...my brain would turn to mush. God is so much more than we little human beings can wrap our tiny little brains around, and this book gives us the freedom to just realize our humanity in light of God's deity. We can merely think of God in terms of "creature thoughts" (as A.W. Tozer so aptly termed it). We are His Creation, and we are created to be living in relationship with the God of all Creation. That is an amazing thing that this book does not take lightly, but rather tries to emphasize.
Ok, enough ranting in regard to the negative reviews I just read...take this book the way it is meant to be taken...as a way to just stretch your mind a little in regard to how you think of God and what your relationship is with Him. Mr. Young firmly believes that Jesus is the only way to God (as God Himself says in John 14). This book is a wonderful story that allows you to settle into your relationship with God and challenges your view of life in light of that relationship.
I'm not much of a reader myself, but I'm planning to read this one again...this time with a highligher in hand. I've learned a lot and have been challenged in my relationship with Him. So, whether you love it or hate...God IS using this book to change lives...and mine is one of them.
Thank you Mr. Young for putting yourself out there. I can't imagine how frightening and disheartening it must be to hear all of the negative (even in spite of all of the positive). Lean into Papa...He's especially fond of you...and me!
Book Review: Take a spiritual journey in order to heal the dis-ease within yourself
Summary: 5 Stars
As the author of another spiritually-themed novel,[...] I am always on the lookout for books that feed my spirit. This book accomplished that and it also gave me an opportunity to take a trip to a fantasy land. Perhaps that land was heaven on earth.
What I loved about the book was the depiction of a loving God. I have read some other reviews that have criticized the book because it does not portray the God who judged evil-doers with wrath, death, and damnation. I think that those persons have got the wrong God in mind. Jesus came to teach us that God loves us unconditionally and that none of us is any better or worse than anyone else. This lesson was thoroughly demonstrated within "The Shack."
Of course, it was done in a fantastic way. The depiction of God as an earthy African-American woman was wonderfully refreshing! What was also unique about the book was that the author gave a persona to the Holy Spirit. Of course, it is easier to accept a human depiction of Jesus since he was indeed a man. Yet the Jesus presented in this book was a surprise too. Yes, he was loving and humble. What I liked about him was that the author portrayed him as a physically average and somewhat homely man. That made Jesus more real.
In the trip to the shack, the title character enters something of the equivalent of the land of Oz. Yet there are no wicked witches within this particular fantasy. The author vividly paints word pictures that transported me to something akin to my most fabulous dreams. Out of the cold, stark reality of what had previously been a dark and forbidding place for the character emerged beauty and light.
The tragic aspects of the book provide the backdrop in which to get into the central themes of the human experience. Here we are presented with two of the major themes of Jesus' actual quest upon earth; that is that we are here to love and to forgive. Through the moving spiritual journey of the title character, I was able to relate to those experiences within my own life with which I still need healing. That is the true beauty of this book.
For anyone who opens their minds and souls to the possibility that God can heal what is at dis-ease within oneself, this book presents that opportunity to the reader. In looking back within my own life, I was able to relate to my own yearning to be free of anger, guilt, and grief. It is one thing to read a moving book and that this book certainly was. The challenge for each and every one of us is to take what lessons we may have learned while reading a book such as this and to apply them within our own lives. That takes commitment and work.
Davis Aujourd'hui, author of "The Misadventures of Sister Mary Olga Fortitude"
Book Review: The Great Sadness
Summary: 5 Stars
"THE SHACK"
by: Wm. P. Young
I don't want to talk about the church, or systematic theology, or someone's view of orthodoxy, or enter into the bottomless mire of controversy that always, and inevitably surround any discussion about the scriptures, Biblical, or extra-biblical. I just want to talk about "The Shack".
Oh, what a horrible and terrifying descent into the darkest experience a parent could ever know, "The Great Sadness". Because of the nature of Missy's disappearance and death, this really is "The Greatest Sadness" that could ever overshadow a parents life. A sadness that, unfortunately, appears in the news with frightening regularity, but please don't let that deter you from reading this book. Don't let your emotions regarding the plight of children in this world, or your anger toward those who would abuse children keep you from reading this book. Don't let religious viewpoint or opinion turn you away. Don't let anything deter you from reading this book, the message it contains is too important to pass by.
No one could write with such depth of character and emotion without having experienced such emotion in their own lives. We are cautioned to "write what we know". I don't know anything about William P. Young, but I can tell you from the depth of my own experience that he has most accurately "nailed" the character and the spirit of grief to the very depths of the human soul. In "The Shack", Mr. Young allows the experience of personal loss to unfold in the way that it always does; that is, on the principle that, "you never know what a day will bring." You can never know what, or when tragedy will strike. It always seems to come out of nowhere, to strike unexpectedly, like a bolt from the blue, or "a thief in the night". So it is for Mackenzie Phillips, his wife, Nan, their daughter Kate, and their son, Josh when their youngest daughter, Missy, suddenly goes missing on a family camping trip. The prose are so well written that the panic Mackenzie feels as he comes to the realization, will seep into your own heart.
Although the story revolves around the theme of "The Great Sadness", this is not a story of loss, it is a story of victory. It is not a story of abandonment, it a story of restoration. This book is about God's relationship to us in our time of trouble and of our relationship to him in any circumstance of life. Mr. Young has plotted and written the story with an understanding of that relationship which few people reach in their lives. It is an understanding that can only come from the source, carefully wrapped in His love for us. For it is a love that enfolds an understanding that surpasses even knowledge. "THE SHACK" is a Must Read! The message of this story bears life and death consequences for us all.
Book Review: Excellent book!
Summary: 5 Stars
A Book Review Of A Revealing Story Written Just For You: The Shack
"A revelation is not a revelation until it is a revelation to me." (Anon.)
The above is a quote I often use in church and around the other people I know. The idea behind the quote is this: There are lots of so-called revelations, new things and ideas thrown at us everyday of our lives. So, we tend to become jaded, dulled and bored by simply having too much information. But, when a truly new revelation or idea comes along - and I hear it - I sit up and take notice! It gets my immediate attention!
That's what happened to me when my wife handed this new book to me and said: "Terry you have to read this book!" I say all of this because I want to have your undivided attention when I tell you about the new ideas revealed to all of us in this book.
I don't usually write book reviews but, I'm so excited about this book and the impact it can have on all who read it, I just have to urge you to drop whatever you are doing and get a copy to read for yourself.
I'll try to tell you a little about the book - but not too much. This is because I don't want to spoil it for you by giving away the idea - the plot of this remarkable book. In short, it is best for you to read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. The title of the book I'm talking about here is:
The Shack, written by William P. Young.
Young tells the story of his long-time friend Mack and some of the details about Mack, his wife Nan and their five children. He explains how a great sadness came upon Mack after a pervert abducted Mack's youngest daughter, Missy. While still in the midst of struggling with this almost overwhelming tragedy Mack gets a typewritten note from God in his mailbox, it says:
" Mackenzie, It's been a while. I've missed you. I'll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. Papa."
"Papa" is the name Mack's family always uses when then referring to God during discussions and prayers.
So now the grief stricken Mack has to decide if this is a hoax or if it is truly a message to him from Papa (God), or is it some kind of trick the pervert may have made up to lure him -alone- to the wilderness shack. Eventually, he decides to see for himself by making the trip all alone, to the shack.
The rest of the story is what I call an "eye opener" because, through Mack's eyes we are able to see and actually visit in person with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit during a whole weekend of conversation, instruction and healing love. It is a weekend of unsurpassed revelation.
By Terry Weber
http://www.originalsbyweber.com
Book Review: The Shack- A Good Message for ALL
Summary: 5 Stars
After much arm-twisting, a friend of mine finally convinced me to read William Paul Young's The Shack. My passion for reading having been on hold for well over a decade now, I'm quite surprised that I not only finished the book, but that I did so in just four days. What may be even more important to note is that I am not at all a religious person, which is why I find myself in disbelief at the fact that I have been all-but-completely consumed in a #1 New York Times Bestseller that owes its great success chiefly to a devoutly religious audience.
The Shack tells the story of a man who, after experiencing a life-shattering tragedy, spends a weekend with God in a shack, the same shack where his whole life had come crashing down around him. Upon arriving at the shack, the main character sees God in three forms: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In his brilliance, Young paints a very different -and wonderfully refreshing- picture of God as the Holy Trinity. Much controversy has been stirred by God the Father appearing as a very large, very African American woman. Moreover, Jesus is portrayed as an unattractive middle-eastern man in blue jeans. Oh, and the Holy Spirit is an Asian woman.
I'll be honest, the atheist in me delights in the thought of so many stubbornly religious folk thumbing their indignant noses at these off-the-wall characterizations, but I'll not limit myself to gloating here. What I truly admire about Young's ideas is that he penned them with an admirable purpose -to force his readers to cast aside their religious indoctrination and free their minds to focus on the deeper, more intimate aspects of a relationship with God. The God of The Shack is not judgmental or vengeful; he loves every single being in Creation without condition or expectation. Young presents a God that, despite popular belief, does not condemn the evil because, believe it or not, evil is a relative term. Now that's the kind of God I would like to see represented by the faithful masses.
While I personally take from this book a fresh, new outlook on relationships of all kinds, I can only hope that reading The Shack will open the eyes of the self-righteous and lead them to conduct their faith with a more personal approach, leaving others to make their own decision to build or reject a relationship with God. While I'm certainly not the "why can't we all just get along" type, I'd like to believe that something like a well-written and altruistically intentioned literary work can effect a positive change in its audience; and I do believe that The Shack is one such work. Kudos, Mr. Young, for spreading a message of cooperation and understanding that can appeal to people of all beliefs.