While most of my friends seem to have a love or hate relationship with this book, I can't say that I do. I am the rare reader that didn't have a strong opinion about this book, one way or the other. I found it to be good and entertaining enough, but I didn't find it to be life-changing or especially inspirational for me. It was certainly a change from my usual type of story, so that was refreshing in a sense. However, in the end it was in the "good but not great" category for me.'The Shack' tell...

Why?Why did you make me do this book club? You all seem like nice people.....what did I do?Seriously. I missed the book club meeting due to work or I would have yelled out at the top of my lungs 'NOOOOOOO, not The Shack!' But I wasn't there, so instead of reading Cloud Atlas, The Shack happened, and I let it happen with my absence. *sigh* Where to begin.....1. I am not a Christian. Strike one for The Shack and me. Many people are and that's fantastic, but this book was so stupid that I have hope...

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 s...

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...

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 going to make a lot of people pretty angry.The Shack...

I was recommended this book by several people who found it both moving and fresh. So Mr. Young certainly has an audience for this glib encounter between Mack, the “everyman,” and God. I, however, must not be the intended audience. Despite the fact millions of copies have been sold and the book has climbed its way to the top of the New York Times Bestsellers List, I found The Shack to be preachy and fake to the point of insincerity. The main characters are so flat and one-dimensional that one ca...

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 rate a book so...

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: Shame on you ...

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 Way, the Trut...

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 published. After experienci...