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!

Customer Rating:
Summary: The Shack
Comment: This review will be in two folds. First, from being a reviewer and second, based on my opinion (which I never try to do - but, in this case, I feel I must).

From a reviewing perspective:
The book is poorly written and does not meet the "writing standards" of a novel. First, there is way too much dialogue and second, the author does not perform the task of making you feel there. It's just words written about. It starts out well, but then you lose focus. Or, at least I did. If it showed more emotions with Mack seeing God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, it could have been better written.

I thought I could fly through this book and at least get the feeling of what the author was trying to portray that Mack felt. There just was not enough emotion. The book stated how much Mack cried. Okay, maybe he did, but why not show more emotion with his crying. I just didn't feel it. Was there snot, was he heaving from crying so much. I think you all get my drift. Near the end, the author told us Mack was crying and slid down on a rock, shuffled dirt between his feet, yada, yada. This doesn't show me his emotions. Do not tell me, show me. That is why I read. To get away from the world and presume that I am inside a story, there along with the characters. My review of 1 star does not reflect the fact that I disagree with most everything in this book. It truly is poorly written.

My opinion:

I now see why so many others are fussing about this novel. It does go against what God has given us to learn about him - THE BIBLE. I am never one to go against anything relating to God and sure, this may cause me many enemies. But, I am okay with that, because God will be on my side. First off, the only way to God is through Jesus. With that being said, once you accept JESUS CHRIST as your personal saviour, you will then know GOD. The only way to God is through me, states Jesus. Pick up your Bible and read it. I promise, it is there. Next, the TEN COMMANDMENTS were written for us believers to follow it. It was not written for no reason. How dare anyone ever try to rewrite GODS COMMANDMENTS for us to go by and follow to be better christians. Next, the novel states that Jesus was not a christian. HUH???????????? Yes, he was!!!!!! He believed in GOD - (OUR FATHER) and himself, WHICH WOULD MAKE HIM A CHRISTIAN.

I can tell you this. If you are not a christian and are looking for God to be in your life, please, do not go by what is written in this book. It is wrong. Sure, it was right to the point that you must forgive and be good. However, it was wrong by saying that God automatically forgives you of your sins. WRONG! You must repent and ask for forgiveness, but first you must be saved. Never once did this book mention anything about being saved. That is the most important thing anyone in this world can do for you. Jesus died for all of us, for our sins so that we can endure Heaven with him. AND....the author's perspective about Heaven. Are you kidding me? I am not sure if there is a pearly gate or not, but I know that this earth will not be HEAVEN because when the rapture occurs it will be horrible to be here and then when the anti-christ takes over the world, the locusts bite and eat the people stuck here who haven't accepted Christ and if you don't accept the mark of the beast (Satan) you will be killed immediately. I am not sure of the time that the anti-christ will rule the world, but I do intend to look it up. After he reigns, GOD will come back and reign over this land, making it Heaven. I am not trying to preach here because you know, I honestly make mistakes too. Everyone does and that is why we have a forgiving GOD. But, you will never, ever hear of me trying to change God's word and the scriptures that he left for us to try to teach us what he expects out of us. I understand this book is solely based on fictionality, however, it will ruin many lives. I will start praying now that this book does not affect anyone's lives in believing that being good will get them to HEAVEN.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shack Up With This One!
Comment: I have to admit I wasn't sure what I was getting into when this book was recommended to me. At first I thought it was from either one of two genres both of which I am not prone to enjoy: sappy Christian sentimentality or easily solved murder mystery. But instead I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book, I found it to be both unique and inspiring.

The book begins oddly with a normal family experiencing an all too familiar disaster in today's society, a missing child and the family that emerges from the outcome. But it's the majority of the book that wrapped my mind up in a world of possibilities. What if we had the chance to have a conversation with the Holy Trinity? Isn't this something anyone might contemplate especially during times of our greatest needs? I though the concept was brilliant and that Wm. Paul Young has an obvious knowledge and grounding in the Biblical teachings of Christ. While it might not be a serious religious text it does go beyond that and inspire a reader to find the truth for themselves in whatever path they find the most comfort in. This little book is inventive, amusing, thought provoking and filled with wise reflection.

I believe in divine inspiration, after all aren't religious texts ultimately written by it? While I can't say this book qualifies as a religious text I do see a spiritual significance within its bright message. I did not find the hint at the Gospels at all offensive but rather a compliment to ancient writing. In fact after reading this book one might even be inspired to re-read the wisdom of Jesus and have a discussion with the Holy Trinity yourself.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: You have to actually READ the book to appreciate it!
Comment: This book is a wonderful piece of literature to help bring you closer to God and spirituality. I wouldn't characterize it as a "Christian" book, but rather a book for all who believe (or want to believe) in God. I noticed that almost all of the negative reviews included the statement that they didn't finish the book. How on earth do you review a book that you haven't finished??? That is not fair to the author. Yes, the beginning is tough to read, but if you continue to the end, you will see the genius of the author. Please, read this book if you are looking for a refreshing view of God and religion.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: i am amazed
Comment: i read "the shack" after several requests from my sister to do so. she is reading it for the third time.
first let me say that i am overwhelmed by all the religious folks who have condemned the "harry potter" books. i am a fan of harry. i am a christian. i understand a work of fiction.
i have read "the shack". it is a work of fiction. mack has a dream and awakes with healing of his pain and sorrow. hey, whatever works for you.
my problem:
i am a member of a book club of which "the shack" is our subject. we are taking 3 months to totally discuss every "revolutionary" (they say) statement in the book. they are using it as a guide to reinventing their religious life.
wow, there is too much wrong in the book to go there.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Worthwhile Evening's Read
Comment: The Shack (2007). Wm. Paul Young. Los Angeles, CA: Windblown Media, 248 pp.
Reviewed by Dr. Em Cummins, retired Professor of Counseling and practicing Student of Life.

This novel is a page-turner that I read in a single evening. The story line is compelling, and the author played my emotions as a concert violinist might, moving me to tears at several points throughout the book. Indeed, it was reminiscent of Robert James Waller's The Bridges of Madison County, one of the most popular books in the 20th century that swept the country in the early 1990s. Slim in substance, its appeal to the romantic imagination was surprisingly widespread as more than 50 million copies were purchased around the world. The Shack has already sold more than two million copies.
Despite the book's lack of literary merit, I applaud Mr. Young's attempt to expand the parameters of our own limited imagination regarding the nature of God and the mystery of the Trinity. It brought to light just how hidebound our narrow conception of the Divine has become, and how we have both masculinized and regimented the entire Godhead, taming it to fit our purposes. The use of masculine pronouns permeates prayers and sermons to the point where the feminine nature of our Creator is virtually nonexistent. The author invites his readers to set aside their preconceived notions about the traditional patriarchal God and imagine a God who transcends our stunted view of the Divine. Since "God is spirit" (John 4:24), we may imagine God in multifarious ways, even as the writers of scripture did, i.e., as a watchful eagle, a roaring lion, or a mother hen. God is not circumscribed by gender, and Mr. Young has expanded our appreciation for the Divine presence by presenting God as a loving black woman.
A major subtext of the novel is its focus on forgiveness as an essential ingredient to wholeness. Indeed, this emphasis alone makes the book a potential source for healing broken relationships, which was one of the author's intentions in writing it.
I commend The Shack to serious Christian readers everywhere who seek to escape the fixed boundaries of their acculturated imaginations and consider a God who transcends the finitude of human imagining.

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