The Shack

Title: The Shack/La Cabaña
Author: William P. Young
Pages:266
Genre: fiction, faith
Yearly Count: 2

The Shack is a fiction story that, after a devastating event, takes Mack, the main character into a fantasy-like dream place where he meets God, (or "Papa") the Holy Spirit (or "Sarayu" and Jesus. There he heals, learns from them about the way the world should be and about how he should see the things that happen to him. It is filled with theology, mostly about how to live and his attitudes towards what comes his way.

I went back and forth between listening to this in Spanish and reading it in English. In Spanish it is called La Cabaña. I wish I could say strongly one way or another if I loved or hated it, but to me this book really wasn't either so good I am thrilled by it, or so horrid I want to rag on it. There are some things in it that are a little strange, and for my tastes there was way too much debatage between the characters on different theologies and such. I enjoyed the beginning, the mystery and such, but once he went into the fantasy land...it was just not the same stuff for me.

I didn't think the book was written particularly well, but I decided I would forgive that if it made an earth shattering impact on me. As much as I did learn things from the book, it was not earth shattering enough to move away from the just average writing.

I will say that this book has caused more than its fair share of controversy in my own life, and even the mention of the title can strike up a conversation. I have had two people call me up afterwards apologizing for their drastic/harsh opinions on it (mostly because they were rude in their approach) so I know that it is controversial. The funny thing is that those who haven't read it seem to have the strongest opinions. As in what I was yelled at the first time I mentioned it: " AHHH, that is not a christian book!!!! It contains 13 or 14 counts of HERESY!!!" Seriously, when was the last time you heard the word heresy!?!? yuk. Okay, and that dweeb hadn't even read it, he said that he gathered his information from "snippets" that he saw online. Seriously? ya.

Because of all the strife I have endured for it....I don't think I will try to bring it up in a group of friends, at least not my most opinionated friends until the topic settles a bit. I guess if you are one of those who claims it is heresy, but won't read it, all I can say is that really you should give it a read first. It isn't claiming to be a new add-on to the Bible, or that it is divinely inspired, so chill folks. I think dooming some book and therefore neglecting the little good morsels it contains is really sad, and this book certainly does have some good. Having said that...I still have yet to determine if it is good enough to merit the several hours it takes to read. It was just blah for me.

What did you think about The Shack?