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The Shack
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Windblown Media (2007-07-01)
ISBN: 0964729237
EAN: 9780964729230
Dewey Decimal #: 813.6
Paperback: 256 pages
Edition: 1st
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has 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 gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!
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Customer Reviews
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a different approach to experiencing God !
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-02-08
i really enjoyed this book. at first the depiction of God threw me ,but i eventually became comfortable with the portrayal . the characters were very intriguing and the story was well-written . a moving tale of the love of God for us !
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Not Convincing
Rating  (2)
Date: 2010-02-08
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
Strangely enough, I find that I agree with those reviewers who seem to be most orthodox in their religious beliefs. Many of their interpretations of what is meant by the book and their disagreements with Mr. Young's (or Mackenzie's) lessons to be learned are insightful. Yes, if one considers the Bible as the inerrant word of God, one has the right to label The Shack as subversive. Aside from its intentions, it doesn't begin to be convincing about the Holy Trinity, the miracles of Jesus, God's majesty, His omnipresence, His loving forgiveness, His righteousness, His treatment of suffering, etc. Perhaps, Young/Mackenzie never intended to be consistent with scripture, but sought instead, to describe a middle ground that gives credence to the symbolism of Church doctrine without a strict adherence to creed and dogma. If so, let him write as many modern theologians have done. He doesn't need to resort to clichés.
Within the book I find the wonders of living in this world grossly oversimplified. Young's attempt to describe the different aspects of God and to render such concepts remotely meaningful to the suffering of individuals or of humanity, fall far short of my expectations.
I keep asking myself, "Why?" Much of what I think is intended as the foundation of his (or his protagonist's) beliefs as illustrated in the book, I also believe. I would expect, however, that there is another avenue of creativity that might say it better. The story of the lost and murdered daughter is heartrending. The father's angst and anger are truly believable. What I would hope would emerge from this is something that transcends ordinary understanding. The use of "pop" personification is not the way to grasp even a portion of the mystery.
Surely, God can be defined as all that we do not know, yet render this complexity to the author's (or Mackenzie's) "visionary" incarnation, albeit respectfully, and yet attempt to illustrate the awe and majesty of our universe seems an impossible task, even in such a natural setting, one the book barely attempts.
If the task of the book is merely to describe what the protagonist has remembered before and after a terrible car wreck, one has to give the author credit. However, I suspect another objective: one that places these "visions" artificially within the context of modern Christian thought, especially as human experiences relate to suffering. If so, this is a formidable endeavor. The clarity to which we all but, especially, Mackenzie, are searching, but to which we may never acquire.
Hugh Ector
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The Shack
Rating  (3)
Date: 2010-02-07
The Shack was somewhat interesting. I was a little disappointed because I had heard so much about it. It did not live up to the hype. The most I can give this book is three stars. The time spent at the shack became boring after awhile.
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two great themes
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-02-07
1 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
The Shack has two great themes, forgiveness and what it means to have a relationship with Christ. What most people don't understand is that "forgiveness" doesn't mean when you forgive someone that it makes everything okay and now you have to be that person's friend. It means you forgive that someone, personally move past that "mental block" in your life that has hendered you in some way, and move on with your life; a lot of times the "block" keeps you rooted in place instead of moving forward and growing in life. I love the fact this book expresses that having a relationship with Christ doesn't mean you have to be "religious"; Christ doesn't care about religion. This book also expresses an interesting concept that I've never heard of or thought about before; there is a difference between independence and freedom. I bought this book in great hopes that it will help get the message across to my dad what it means to accept Christ and have Him in his life, as well as help my mom and sister see what true forgiveness means and how it would greatly benefit both of them.
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The Shack
Rating (3)
Date: 2010-02-06
0 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This was a selection from my book club. Although the consensus was not a well written book, the themes made for a very lively discussion.
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Retail Price: $14.99
Amazon.com's Price:$0.72
That's 95% Off!
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