The Shack

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Some would say I'm a little late to the table at reading the Shack but after seeing the movie trailer I thought I would like to read it before I saw the movie. The Shack is heavily religious based and I did read the entire book without trying to judge it due to that. The first 1/4 of the book was amazing. The story was gripping. Every time I had to put it down I was thinking about what was going to happen next and what the characters might be up to. Then as the book carried on it began to get more and more religious and in my opinion, the story lost its lustre. Throughout the rest of the book it was using three main characters to compile and be God. I found this somewhat troubling because I don't really know a lot about religion so having three characters play the part of a major higher power threw me. It was interesting the questions that Mack presented the God characters with but somehow I didn't find much satisfaction or solace in the answers he received. In the end it had me questioning how a book could have such an amazing first quarter and the rest just be okay. When I had researched the book it had an either “you love it or you hate it” type of disposition in its following. Would I recommend this book? Probably not but I would ask what you are looking to read first. If you are looking to read something religious based that toys with how and why God does things that he does, then this might be the book for you. If you are looking to read it because it was a best seller for a long period of time, I would say sure but I would forewarn you how religious it is.

My honest feeling to this book, disappointment, but I still read it and it wasn't the worst thing I have ever read so I do give it some credit.