Book Review - The Shack

Book Review -- The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, by William P. Young, Copyright 2007 by William P. Young.

When my friend suggested this book, she said, "It is the type of book that will change your life."

I smiled and said, "You'll know I've read it if you don't recognize me the next time you see me." Well...she may not recognize me because reading this story really touched me.

After reading the back cover, I was reluctant to read The Shack because it begins with the abduction of a child. But I pressed on...

In the first chapter the main character, Mack, receives a mysterious note from God (who his wife refers to as "Papa") which invites him back to the shack where his daughter, Missy's, blood-stained clothes had been found years before. Her death was never confirmed and Mack had lived since then in what he called, "The Great Sadness," a heavy fog of grief that hangs over his life.

Mack accepts "Papa's" invitation and returns to the shack to hopefully answer the questions that have haunted him for years. This is when the real story began.

While Mack is at the shack, through his personal encounter with "Papa," he discovers things about himself, God, religion, forgiveness, judgment and love, and he learns lessons that help him heal in his heart and in his soul.

I highly recommend The Shack and believe each reader will get out of it what they need the most. I re-connected with the holy trinity -- God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit -- and remembered how that energy is always present in my life, even as my spiritual beliefs change and grow.

I plan to read The Shack again to fully capture its richness. I bet each time you read this book, something new comes to light.

Here are two of my favorite quotes from, "The Shack:"

"So many believe that it is love that grows, but it is the knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is just the skin of knowing." (pg. 155)

"If anything matters, then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my (the Holy Spirit's) purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again." (page 235).

If you are interested in reading The Shack, I've provided a link below for more information and to order your own copy.

And, if I don't recognize you the next time we meet, I'll suspect that you read The Shack and it changed your life like it did mine.