The Shack by William P Young

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Week of Prayer 2009

Book Review

The Shack

by William P Young

Reviewer: John-Mark Cullen (Manager, Wesley Owen)

We all have times in our lives as Christians when we doubt God’s goodness to us, or question how He can be guiding us through difficult circumstances we find ourselves in. “The Shack”, William P Young’s first novel, brings
these issues to the fore in a dramatic way, as the protagonist’s (Mack) life is shattered when his daughter Missy is abducted whilst on a family holiday.

Investigations by police hint that Missy was in fact murdered, as blood stains are discovered in an abandoned Shack, close to where the family were staying. Trying to cope with the devastation of this event, Mack enters a “Deep Sadness” from which he seemingly cannot escape.

Years later, Mack receives a postcard in the mail purporting to be from God, asking Mack to meet Him at the exact place Missy is thought to have been killed.

Thought-provoking and subversive, “The Shack” has attracted a lot of controversy in the Christian media, mainly because of the way the author has chosen to portray the Trinity. The central issues of the book however, are ones that author is not afraid to raise in a provocative way: Is God really Good? Is God bigger than our suffering?

The author writes from a personal standpoint of suffering himself, and originally wrote the story for his children, to express how he came through his “Deep Sadness” to discover the amazing goodness and love of God.

I personally recommend this book. Whilst being a daunting read, it has proved life changing for me as I discovered more of who “Papa” (God) was in the story and God’s incredible, powerful love for each of us.

ISBN number 9780340979495