What an amazing book! I had resisted reading it initially, seeing that it was religious. I finally broke down and read it based on my mother's recommendation, actually. Neither of us is what anyone would consider religious, but I suppose we both have a spiritual side.
The book is one man's view of God, though it is presented through a fictional story, and I have never read anything like it.
The story is that of Mack, whose youngest child, Missy, is abducted on a family vacation. In a shack in the Oregon wilderness, there is evidence that she was brutally murdered. The four years that follow are time of great torment for Mack. He blames himself for what happened, and the killer was never found and brought to justice, nor was Missy's body found so they could give it a proper burial at least.
Then one day he receives a note in his mailbox that is supposedly from God. He is highly suspicious. The note asks him to meet at the shack. What if it's a cruel joke? But even though he is suspicious, he goes to the shack, where he has an unbelievable religious experience.
I don't want to give away too much of the plot, and it's hard to say more without doing that. I will say that I really liked Young's view of God. It's not like any other Christian writing I've seen. God appeared to Mack as a female for part of the time, because, as it was explained, God is a spirit and has no gender, but could take any form. Race lines were also crossed--the "father", son, and holy spirit all appeared as non-white individuals. God (whom Mac called "Papa" even when she appeared as a female) explained how relationships between men and women should be equal. Probably the best thing, though, was how absolutely nonjudgmental and loving Papa was. It's just a very comforting view of God, which is pretty much in exact opposition to a fire-and brimstone view. It's a book that people of all religions could get something out of, because it doesn't demand that you believe certain things. I didn't agree with all the beliefs in it, but that didn't matter.
It made me think that instead of worrying about Judgment Day, which I think many of us do on some level even if we aren't religious, we should have a Non-Judgment Day on earth. Well, more than a day, but we could start with a day. Instead of judging each other, we would try to understand each other and work on improving our relationships.
If everyone read this, I think at the very least we would be a more peaceful, accepting people. It's also a great book for people going through hard times or who have suffered a great loss.
There's a possibility that this book will be made into a movie. At the end of the book, there was a note that said that this would be pursued after a sufficient number of these books were in circulation. I got my copy at Target, so I don't think that will be a problem. Anyway, for more information, or to order a copy, visit
http://www.theshackbook.com.
