The Shack by William Young – Book Review
The Ooze Select Blogger Book Review:
“The Shack”
by William P. Young (Windblown Media, May 2007)
When I received “The Shack” to review, the timing made me a little nervous for William Young. While I had heard many great things about the novel, my recent reading has been almost entirely Pulitzer Prize winners. As Christian fiction is not widely known for its literary quality, this book would have a hard act to follow. With that in mind, I was pleasantly surprised with the book.
“The Shack” tells the story (completely fictional, despite some people being confused) about Mack, a man wounded by a life of loss and suffering who receives an invitation from God to spend the weekend with Him. What follows is a creative conversation between Mack and a uniquely imagined Triune God. I do not want to give away any details (at the request of the publisher), so I will simply say that the conversation is thought provoking, humorous and at times, touching. This book is likely to be on the radar for a while.
It is always tricky (even dangerous) to write a work of fiction where words are being put into the mouth of God. It can only be more complicated when those words center around complex theological discussions about some of the hardest questions that people face. It is not a task I would undertake. While Young does an excellent job in sharing God’s heart, his own ideas, experiences and cultural context inevitably colour the content. At times the dialogue becomes syrupy sweet. As the book deals with some foundational aspects of the faith, I was also concerned by the often individualistic perspective that “God” (aka the author) reveals.
Finally, and this is less critical than the above, the book would clearly have benefited from a quality, experienced literary editor. The quality of writing is excellent, but so much can be said for the skills and experience a seasoned editor brings to a story. As this book launched the success of a small, new publishing house, this is clearly lacking. This in NO way undermines the work that the editors he had contributed to the work. It is better than the vast majority of Christian fiction I’ve come across.
This book will be an inspiration and challenge to many people, pushing me deeper into God and His Word, even when I found myself disagreeing. It would make an excellent gift for fiction readers young and old. It is a very good book.
Any questions?
i wish so bad i could get into fiction books. i know there are some great authors out there, but for whatever reason i just can’t do it. sounds interesting though.
Joe,
If you don’t read much fiction, I’d probably have others I’d recommend before this. Feel free to ask if you ever want to try again (wink)!
Peace,
Jamie
The book is appealing because of the way it enhances God’s forgiveness and goodness, and the story is engaging. I think those are the reasons why it became a best-seller. But when you look at it more carefully, you can see the author misleads its readers into some basic mistakes about Christianity, the divine nature of God, Trinity and the Church. Like in The Da Vinci Code, there are several aspects which are far from being truth and very doubtful interpretations of Christianity. It is good to speak of God, but too risky to speak for Him. The author’s vision, though having a Christian basis, is far from the Christian faith in several aspects. It’s a personal and much too new wave point of view. I still prefer looking for the help of the centenary knowledge of the Church and the Bible when I need to deal with my own doubts than being so enthusiastic about Mr. Young’ personal religion…
Thanks Maria. Check out my new blog at http://www.missional.ca