12. The Shack by William Paul Young
Topic/Prompt: book that's becoming a movie in 2017
Synopsis:
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.
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.
My Review:
I read this book several years ago, but wanted to read it again since the movie was coming out this year. I can honestly say that I really enjoyed it both times. When I read it the first time, I was left feeling confused after I finished it. This time around, I had a better understanding of what the book was truly about.
Mack's daughter was abducted and murdered in a shack in the wilderness. Several years later, Mack receives a letter from God inviting him back there for a couple days. He's basically given a choice and decides to take Him up on the offer. While Mack doesn't want to revisit that nightmare, he figures he has nothing to lose. In the several years since his daughter died, Mack had doubted and questioned his faith. During the weekend, he has conversations with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. These conversations are meant to answer his questions about why it happened and how he can overcome this dark time in his life and any other questions he has to help him re-discover God and his faith.
Controversial at best for its theological viewpoints, I wrote this review not from the theology view, but about the story itself. When we go through hard times in our lives, we often question God and everything we believe in. While this book and the God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit presented in the story are not a substitute for the Bible and God's Word, it does help provide answers to some questions you may have like why did God let this happen? The book is about the relationship between Mack and God and what God means to him. It provides some thought provoking and life changing (for some people) conversations that you may ask yourself. If you ever find yourself doubting or questioning God, you should first and foremost seek out God's Word in the Bible, but this book can be a start. It was a story filled with moments of happiness, as well as sadness, and pretty much every emotion people go through when they lose a loved one.
I enjoyed the story and the concept. When a book is fiction, you should be able to distinguish between what's real and not when it comes to a spiritual subject like God and religion.
Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!
~Meg~
Mack's daughter was abducted and murdered in a shack in the wilderness. Several years later, Mack receives a letter from God inviting him back there for a couple days. He's basically given a choice and decides to take Him up on the offer. While Mack doesn't want to revisit that nightmare, he figures he has nothing to lose. In the several years since his daughter died, Mack had doubted and questioned his faith. During the weekend, he has conversations with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. These conversations are meant to answer his questions about why it happened and how he can overcome this dark time in his life and any other questions he has to help him re-discover God and his faith.
Controversial at best for its theological viewpoints, I wrote this review not from the theology view, but about the story itself. When we go through hard times in our lives, we often question God and everything we believe in. While this book and the God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit presented in the story are not a substitute for the Bible and God's Word, it does help provide answers to some questions you may have like why did God let this happen? The book is about the relationship between Mack and God and what God means to him. It provides some thought provoking and life changing (for some people) conversations that you may ask yourself. If you ever find yourself doubting or questioning God, you should first and foremost seek out God's Word in the Bible, but this book can be a start. It was a story filled with moments of happiness, as well as sadness, and pretty much every emotion people go through when they lose a loved one.
I enjoyed the story and the concept. When a book is fiction, you should be able to distinguish between what's real and not when it comes to a spiritual subject like God and religion.
Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!
~Meg~
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