Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Sep 01, 2008

Kim♥ rated it:

Having had such high hopes for this book, I was sadly disappointed about its content, being for the most part simply unbiblical. Yes, there were poignant scenes and emotional moments that moved me to tears- but that does not tip the scales against all of the errors slipped in and truths that were twisted. Being protective especially of new Christians, I strongly caution anyone about reading it. This book should be read with much discernment.

Please read the Bible and learn about the W More...

32 comments like (131 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2009

Renee rated it:

Pure drivel. This book read like a Betty Crocker recipe gone bad: take one all-American Jesus lovin’/fearing family, add one unexplainable tragedy, mix with equal parts anger , guilt and sadness , bake for three weeks and get a bitter man who has turned his back on God. Alias, no need to give up, because God writes our hero a personalized note, and tells him to meet him in “the shack” (the place of his daughter’s murder), funny thing is, god is a black woman cooking pancakes in the kitchen who More...

24 comments like (108 people liked it)

Jun 02, 2008

Christie rated it:

First off this will be lengthy so don’t feel you have to read it
.
This is a hard book to review because you pretty much have to separate it into two parts. The novel, and the theological.

This man is not a writer. As far as the novel aspect of this book, I don't personally believe it is well written. Both the descriptions and dialogue don't ring true to me. But if delve into a little of the back story regarding this author you find that he never intended this book to be pub More...

11 comments like (80 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2008

Jay rated it:

I know, I know. Everyone loves this book. No fewer than forty-three people asked me "Have you read The Shack yet?"

Invariably, they responded to my negative response with something along the lines of "You have to! It changed my life! I was full of questions, and life stunk, and then I read the book, and God made sense to me, I understood quantum physics effortlessly, and all of a sudden I could spin flax into gold!"

So, what I'm about to say is goi More...

25 comments like (150 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Bells rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

30 comments like (37 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2009

Mike rated it:

Note: After several friends challenged me to read the book again (I assume they wanted me to upgrade The Shack to five stars), I indeed read it a second time. As a result, I downgraded it another star. There are things I noticed the second time I didn't the first.

Added to my review below are several more specific drawbacks of the book. Unfortunately, every one of these would have been pointed out by first or second year writing students, which simply reiterates my main point below: S More...

23 comments like (58 people liked it)

Sep 14, 2008

Amanda J rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

7 comments like (62 people liked it)

Jul 15, 2008

Eric rated it:

It is hard to not get carried away and be too effusive about this book. When one has spent time with someone or something, it is natural to feel a close connection to that thing and, I think, lose objectivity. Obviously I didn't try too hard to be calm and subdued in my praise because one can see that I rated it 5 stars; however, I think I will start with why I don't think it is a 5-star book.

It wasn't a book that I just couldn't put down. This is usually a prerequisite for me to ra More...

10 comments like (48 people liked it)

Mar 27, 2010

Jen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

23 comments like (25 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

booklady rated it:

The Shack is a book you will thank yourself for reading. While it can be a bit didactic at times, it is not overtly so. It’s more a story of journey and relationship—discovering who you are through learning more about who God is to you. I’m no theologian, but I do like to imagine myself as the Theophilus Luke is writing to in the Book of Acts. So I read the book as a God-Lover and I write this review in the same vein.

It begins with an unspeakably horrible tragedy happening to a lovi More...

20 comments like (20 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2008

Jill rated it:

I did NOT like this book. I kept hearing how good it was and got it from the library with no idea what it was about. The idea of a guy who loses faith in god because his child is abducted and then gets invited back to "the shack" where his daughter was found...this time to spend a weekend with god...is not my idea of appealing literature.

6 comments like (35 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2009

C.J. rated it:

This book was recommended to me by a book group I attended to speak about my book A Demon Awaits. I had not read this book prior to writing mine, but I was very surprised to find that the premise of our books (a man struggling to heal his relationship with God) was identical. Before I continue I’d like to share a bit of my bias because one’s perspective will vastly affect the enjoyment of this book. I’m staunchly conservative, religiously, politically and economically. I’m also a writer and I ch More...

13 comments like (31 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Mary rated it:

*mild spoilers below*

This book has been hailed, among other things, as a gripping page-turner. However, my personal refusal to put it down had less to do with any interest in the story than it did with a desperate desire to get it over with. I hate this book for so many reasons that it's difficult to know where to begin. Let's start with the claim, repeated over and over again in the more glowing reviews, that it's a literary masterwork. There is nothing remotely literary about t More...

10 comments like (42 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2009

Elisa rated it:

In case you can't read it, the tagline on this is "Where tragedy confronts eternity."

This is the story of Mack, a man whose 6-year-old daughter was abducted and brutally murdered during a family camping trip. The serial killer, a man who leaves a ladybug pin everytime he kills a child, was never captured, and the only clue to Missy's abduction was an undeniable, bloodstained red sundress on the floor of an abandoned shack high up in the middle of nowhere. Now, four years a More...

1 comment like (30 people liked it)

Jun 15, 2008

Shane rated it:

This is a very strange book. It seemed even stranger when I thought it was meant to be taken as non-fiction. So, as a warning to anyone who does read this, it is fiction and is meant to be taken as such.
Is this a good book? Not really. So many people seem to be obsessed with it and I can't quite figure out why. It seemed pretty mediocre to me. It takes itself to be answering some of the big questions about Christianity, like the problem of evil, the trinity, or questions about whether or n More...

13 comments like (13 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Having had no understanding of this books content before opening it, I must admit it rocked my little world a bit. It is incredibly well written and engaging from the start. I don’t want to say too much as I think this book is meant to be experienced with as little influence as possible. I will say it made me see many things in a much different way. It helped me grasp something that I struggle with and ultimately confirmed some of my own thoughts about things. I am being cryptic I know—but I More...

3 comments like (21 people liked it)

Nov 11, 2008

Katharine rated it:

The Shack was not particularly shocking to me on any level. I didn't find it life-changing, it didn't rock my perceptions of my faith, and it certainly isn't the best book about God I've ever read. On the other hand, neither did I think it was a cesspit of heresy and sacrilege.

In case you don't know, The Shack is about a man named Mack who has suffered great and terrible loss in his life. One weekend he receives a mysterious invitation to journey back to the shack, a place that repr More...

9 comments like (15 people liked it)

Aug 17, 2008

Bear rated it:

If you read one book in your life, read this one. I shall not delve into the story; let's just say this author thinks like I do. He also struggles with the same things I do; How to deal with people who have hurt others in the most heinous way. I really can't go into this too much; you just have to read it for yourself to understand how I feel about religion, "church", and the Trinity. We humans are so busy trying to control each other and control ourselves, that we miss the true me More...

15 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2008

Marci rated it:

I can't tell you how disappointed I was in William P. Young's book The Shack. While at first look this is a tender story of a father who has lost his young daughter to a serial killer, the book is much, much more than that. It is an exposition on the very nature of God. In Young's The Shack, God portrays himself to the main character, Mack, as a large, round black woman. Being a work of fiction, I could go with that. I have large, round black women as friends and adore them. But God or Papa, as More...

4 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jun 07, 2008

Donovan rated it:

When reading The Shack, be prepared some laughs and smiles, but mostly, be prepared for a well of tears. I'm a movie and book crier by nature. I'll admit that my wife and daughter give me the raised eyebrow and look at me strangely when I choke up while watching a sitcom and all I can do is sheepishly say, "Did you see how she helped that lady" or something like that. Well, be warned, if you also have a weakness for tears or if you are a father, the tears will hit you like a flood. More...

6 comments like (14 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2008

Christina rated it:

5 stars? Ya, I know it's crazy because I guess this is a super-controversial book... but I am rating it this way because of it's impact - not because of it's sound theology. The view of the trinity in this book is one I had never considered. And, although it challenged a LOT of my fundamentalist upbringing, it inspired me to return to the Bible and learn more - find the closeness with God described in The Shack and to see what God's Word said regarding his triune relationship. NEVER should anyon More...

3 comments like (19 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2008

Ibrahim rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

41 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 06, 2008

Skylar rated it:

This novel seems to be aimed at overturning (primarily fundamentalist) misconceptions about God and emphasizing that God IS Love. And although that is a noble and important goal, I find the novel itself to be overly didactic, with too many long explanations of too many things all placed directly in the mouth of God Himself (which seems to me a bit presumptuous).

Things are very often better explained and understood in story than in definition, and that is why I usually tend not to li More...

12 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2009

Leslie rated it:

Mackenzie Phillips is a man lost in "The Great Sadness". Lost from God, from his family, and from any sort of real happiness. His youngest daughter, Missy, was brutally murdered in an adandoned shack in the mountains while on a family camping trip four years earlier, and Mackenzie is having a hard time moving on with his life. He receives a suspicious letter from "Papa", inviting him to go back to the shack to find some answers, and incredulously, he does return to the foc More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2008

Debbi rated it:

I had to read this for book club and I did not like it. Bad theology wrapped up in a sappy soap opera type book.

I don't disagree with the message that God loves us and wants a relationship with us, but this book is so full of pot-holes and misinterpretations that renders useless:

The Jesus character says: “My life was not meant to be an example to be copied....It is a means for your independence to be killed”.

Huh?? What Bible is the author reading? What abo More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2008

Chris rated it:

I put off writing this review for a couple days because I wanted to give it some thought first. What I didn't have to think about was how much I enjoyed the book. Despite some distractingly clunky writing (the book was self-published and often reveals the need of an editor) it was truly invigorating, stimulating, and mind-expanding. I loved reading it. Young's story of a man's encounter with God, and his interaction with him over the terrible pain and suffering he has experienced, is packed More...

2 comments like (11 people liked it)

Jun 23, 2008

MistyAnne rated it:

I read this book with the recommendation from a librarian friend of mine, and I read it less than a weekend. Overall, it's not great literature, but The Shack is an interesting window into contemporary Christian culture and its dealings with the doubt, violence, and uncertainty in our world.

The novel does ask the average Christian reader to stretch his or her preconcieved notions of the Trinity: God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are not as one might imagine them. Though I was thrilled More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2008

Jillzbop rated it:

A fresh, yet sweet look in to the Trinity. A story of a man's journey to meet with God after the tragic death of his young daughter. This completely rocked...is rocking...my world and the way that I see God.

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2010

Betsy rated it:

Ok...so this book has been recommended to me by ALOT of people and I have been pretty resistant because I have been soooooooooo ticked off at organized religion lately. But this past weekend I went to a conference for my volunteer group and they were drawing names for prizes and I won this book. I have never been one to spit into the face of serendipity, so I started reading this as soon as I got home. I figured, after all the recommendations and then winning this book as a prize, SOMEONE want More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2009

Tanya rated it:

My godmother bought me this novel because she believes I need Salvation with a capital S. My mother died less than three years ago and I think she believes this is her way of getting me to cope with it.
I tried, I really did, to read this book. I got about four chapter in and completely gave up. I'd get rid of the thing but she signed it and my conscience would bother me, and so it sits here mocking me, probably for forever.
I thought I couldn't finish it because the writing is bad, More...

5 comments like (11 people liked it)