A Book Review of The Shack

Summarizing:

• Review of The Shack, currently ranked 4th on Amazon, by Wiliam Young.
• Challenging story on forgiveness, and the nature of God.
• Enthusiastically recommended by the J-Wild blog, gets really good after 80 pages.

I was given this book to read by one of my closest friends Coach Bundy. I made him read Cormac McCarthy's book, "The Road" so I owed him one. I was not excited to read this book. It's very hard for me to get enthused about Christian literature. Also I am not a big book reader so the books I do take time to read better be really good.

The Shack is a story about an encounter Mack Phillips has with God while revisiting the scene of his young daughters horrific kidnapping and subsequent murder. Five year old Missy was taken by the Little Ladykiller while Mack was on a camping trip with his two other children, and though her body was never found, irrefutable evidence of her grizzly killing was discovered at an abandonded shack in the wilderness.

"The Great Sadness" descends onto Mack, and for the next three years he is a shell of his former self. Until one day when he receives a mysterious message signed by someone named "Papa" asking Mack to meet him at the shack. Papa is how God is referred to by Mack's wife Nan.

As I said I was very skeptical about this book. I was not looking forward to reading it, and I was about to tear my hair out 89 pages into the book. But then something happened on page 90 that turned the whole thing around for me in dramatic fashion. Mack, having returned to "The Shack" as the note requested is experiencing some sort of time and space shifting that allows him to be in the presence of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. He is sitting in the kitchen talking with God in the now Eden like shack. God is manifested as a large African American woman and it's this exchange that Mack has with God in the kitchen which completely changed my feelings about this book.

"May I ask what you are listening to?"
"You really wanna know?"
"Sure." Mack was curious.
"West Coast Juice. Group called Diatribe and an album that isn't even out yet called "Heart Trips". Actually," she winked at Mack, "these kids aren't even born yet."
"Right," Mack responded, more than a little incredulous. "West Coast Juice, huh? It doesn't sound very religious."
"Oh trust me it's not. More like Eurasian funk and blues with a message and a great beat."
"So God listens to funk?" Mack had never heard "funk" talked about in any properly religious terms. "I thought you would be listening to George Beverly Shea or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir - you know, something churchier."
"Now see here, Mackenzie. You don't have to be lookin' out for me. I listen to everything - and not just to the music itself, but the hearts behind it. These kids ain't saying anything I haven't heard before; they're just full of vinegar and fizz. Lots of anger and, I must say, with some good reason too. They're just some of my kids, showin' and spoutin' off. I am especially fond of those boys, you know. Yup, I'll be keeping my eye on 'em."

When William Young first presented God as an African American woman (stopping just short of calling her mammy) it made me cringe. I feared this characterization would be just an empty at best, stereotyped at worst, literary device that was meant to be provocative because of peoples standard assumption God is male. It wasn't until this section of the book on page 90 that I began to see Young was really going to be sincere, authentic, and deliberate in using God in this sort of image. It proved to serve the story for Mack in a very personal and powerful way.

The writing is OK, Young gets a bit wordy. But the content of his book is very deep and could have a profound impact on how people see forgiveness, the Trinity, and the nature of God's love for us. This is a powerful story, in fact so powerful that if a preacher were to present God in the light that Young has, I am not sure he would have a job in most Evangelical or Conservative churches for very long. I find it interesting that this book is being so well received considering how radical a picture Young presents of God, Jesus, and the Spirit.

Make no mistake this book is a tough read especially if you have kids. The loss of Mack's daughter is handled with PG details, but packs a wallop of an emotional punch. It is both tragic and profoundly beautiful in the same breath. But if you can hang with the book for the first 80 pages, you will be richly rewarded with an intimate and powerful story. It's a quick read and one that will stay with you long after you put the book back down.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Hello, my name is Jason Isbell and I am not a book reader. I hope to become one someday, but keeping that admission in mind deciding to 'review' a book like The Road has the potential to be a fairly embarrassing endeavor. However this book is too incredible for me not to comment on. This book is one of the most compelling, audacious, and deeply moving pieces of literature I have ever read. Almost all of the many facets that make up who I am (father, human being, spouse, believer, etc) were challenged as I read The Road. Here's an excerpt:

"They squatted in the road and ate cold rice and cold beans that they'd cooked days ago. Already beginning to ferment. No place to make a fire that would not be seen. They slept huddled together in the rank quilts in the dark and the cold. He held the boy close to him. So thin. My heart, he said. My heart. But he knew that if he were a good father still it might well be as she had said. That the boy was all that stood between him and death."

The Road, by Cormac McCarthy, pg. 29

There are so many things to takeaway from this book, but ultimately in my mind the book deals with two fundamental questions:

1. In a world saturated with evil and darkness, does being good matter?
2. In the midst of such evil what are the lengths a parent will (or should) go through in order to ensure a child's protection, survival, and moral education?

If you are looking for a good, albeit slightly off kilter, Father's day 'side gift' (from a spouse, parent, or other non-child relative) this book would be a great one. However you should know that after getting thirty pages into the book I seriously thought about putting it down and not picking it up again. McCarthy's ability to articulate the danger, isolation, violence, and panic inducing fear that would accompany living in an apocalyptic world with a child is unmatched. I thought at one point, "I have a two year old son, I can't read this...it's too close to home." But I pressed on, and have been richly rewarded for it ever since. It impacted me in a deep and profound way.

The quote above was my favorite from the book, and is a perfect example of Cormac's style. In these few sentences you see into the deepest thoughts of a father who is wrestling with the fear, guilt, and love he has for his son. The book is a short read, but it's sparse prose should not be underestimated. Cormac can convey complex emotions and heart thumping 'stakes' on one page that other writers would take an entire chapter to illuminate.

I highly recommend this book for both book and non-book readers alike. If you have any thoughts please comment, but no spoilers.