I feel quite inadequate to write a review for William P. Young’s debut novel “The Shack.” This is a book that affects not only your head, but your heart…through conviction, through questioning what you think you know about God, and through an easy path to “What would I do in that situation?” kind of thinking. I feel inadequate because it also touches on some theological points that were so deep to me, that I couldn’t grasp it, even with the author’s excellent skill of explaining issues in stripped-down, everyday conversation. While reading this book, sometimes my head hurt, but the story of Mack’s journey compelled me to keep reading.
Mack Philips is married with five children, living a nice life in Oregon. While on a camping trip with just his three youngest, his daughter, six-year-old Missy, is abducted and gone forever in an instant. The investigation runs cold at a remote shack where there is evidence of Missy’s murder but not who did it or where they took her body. This is every adult’s worst nightmare, losing a child you love to a senseless crime, and it plunges Mack into The Great Sadness.
“The Shack” begins four years later when Mack receives a note in his mailbox from God asking Mack to meet Him at the shack. Against his better judgment, but with something greater pulling him toward the place his daughter’s life ended, Mack decides to see what awaits him at the shack, even if it’s Missy’s murderer luring him back.
When he arrives he breaks out into a fit of rage when all of the pain of losing his daughter becomes too much to stand up against. With too much anger to bear, Mack decides it was all a cruel trick and begins to leave. But as he walks back to his car the snow and ice around him instantly melt, spring appears within 30 seconds, and the shack is replaced by a beautiful log cabin right before his unbelieving eyes. When he goes back to the porch, he meets God face to face, and that’s when things really get interesting. Mack spends two days at the shack with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
Through conversations around the meal table, working in a garden, gazing at the stars, walking across a lake, and sitting on the back porch, Mack gets the opportunity to spend time with the Trinity and get many of his questions answered. Mack takes quite the personal journey that forces him to take an honest look at himself, his beliefs, his emotions, and his love relationship with God. Reading this book will do the same for you. Keep the tissues handy because reading “The Shack” is like looking into a mirror. The issues that Mack struggles with are issues that we all come up against as we navigate our way through life, tragedy or no tragedy. If you have ever wondered the age-old question, “Why does God allow hurt in our world?” this book is for you.
-Melissa Paulson
