The Shack, oh my God, The Shack.

There are certain books that I avoid reading simply because everyone is reading them, and sometimes I want to be a book snob. One of those books was William P. Young's Christian fiction mega-bestseller The Shack.*

When I worked at the public library, this title was huge. And then my dad read it, and loved it, and for years now I have had to listen to him ask, "Hey, have you read The Shack yet?" This year I found out my sister had started it, so because I could care less if I'm left out of something that the rest of the world is talking about, I don't like being left out of something that's being read and discussed in my family. So I requested and got it from the public library.

At the risk of sounding blasphemous, oh my God. What a piece of crap. I'm sorry, really sorry, if you read it and liked it and are offended by me saying that. Most of the American book-buying public obviously really liked it, and so did my dad (who is usually a pretty discerning customer when it comes to books--he's the one who first turned me on to Richard Adams's novel Watership Down, after all), so clearly I'm the outlier here.

The book starts with a page-turning feel. The protagonist, Mack, is caught in an ice storm at his house, and when he goes to check his mail, he finds a note in the mailbox that reads "It's been a while. I've missed you. I'll be at the shack next weekend if you want to get together. -Papa." Mack's wife and family are out of town, and Mack doesn't know what to think of the note. It's painful on several levels--he thinks "the shack" being referenced must be the one where, years earlier, a family tragedy had played out: the abduction and murder of his youngest daughter, Missy. He also knows that his wife refers to God as "papa." Could God be so cruel as to be inviting him back to the shack where he found evidence of all that is evil in the world?

So he goes to the shack, where of course he finds God is waiting for him, in the form of three persons, ready to talk to him about what happened to Missy and Mack's own relationship with God. And heaven help us, once it hits the chapters and chapters of God (in various forms) talking at Mack, does it get boring. Whoever has referred to this book as a story-driven narrative is way off. It is basically a Christian fable attempting to answer the age-old question "why do bad things happen to good people?"**

All of that said, I DID get a lot of laughs out of this book, which I don't think was the point, but what the hell, I'll take laughs wherever I can get them. Most of these laughs started when Mack first meets Papa-as-Three-Entities. The first is described as a "large beaming African American woman," and when Mack meets all three of them at once he asks if there are more of them, and this is what happens:

"The three looked at one another and laughed. Mack couldn't help but smile. 'No, Mackenzie,' chuckled the black woman. 'We is all that you get, and believe me, we're more than enough." (p. 85.)

Really? "We is all that you get"? Dialect from God? Can authors really get away with that sort of thing and still become mega-huge bestsellers? Evidently yes.

But I got an even bigger chuckle out of Mack meeting Jesus:

'"I guess I expected you to be more,' be careful here, Mack, 'uh...well, humanly striking.'

Jesus chuckled. 'Humanly striking? You mean handsome.' Now he was laughing.

'Well, I was trying to avoid that, but yes. Somehow I thought you'd be the ideal man, you know, athletic and overwhelmingly good looking.'***

'It's my nose, isn't it?'

Mack didn't know what to say.

Jesus laughed. 'I am Jewish, you know. My grandfather on my mother's side had a big nose; in fact, most of the men on my mom's side had big noses.'" (p. 111.)

Really? A big Jewish nose joke? Can authors really get away with that sort of thing and still become mega-huge bestsellers? Evidently yes.

WOW. And the laughs kept coming, all the way to the end. And here's where I have to give you the big *****SPOILER ALERT*****--just in case you're still planning to read this one. In the beginning of the story, we learn that Missy is abducted on a family camping trip with Mack and two of his other kids. He and Missy are at the campsite while the other two are canoeing on the lake, and when Mack looks at them, his daughter Kate raises her oar to wave hello, which makes their canoe capsize, so Mack has to rush down to the lake and save them, leaving Missy alone at the campsite. When they return she is gone. Fast forward to the present, where Mack's wife Nan and he are struggling to understand why Kate is showing signs of emotional distress and acting out. At the very end of the book we learn, as God tells Mack, that Kate--get this--feels guilty for tipping the canoe, which makes her responsible, she feels, for Missy's abduction and death. Mack is shocked to learn this. THAT is the big reveal? You're telling me this idiot needs God to help him get to that conclusion? Heaven help us all.****

*No affiliate links to this book; I really, really don't want you to buy it. Check it out from the library if you have to.

**Is there really any satisfactory answer to this question in our mortal sphere? Even if you accept that God didn't cause the bad thing, does that make it any more understandable? Even if you forgive the bad things, does that make them understandable? I guess I personally feel that's one of those questions no one's ever going to answer for me satisfactorily, particularly Mr. William P. Young.

***Why on earth would anyone think this? Was Jesus described in the Bible somewhere as a smoking hottie, and I missed it? The fact that this Mack person obviously associates holiness with hotness really makes me dislike him.

****I kept telling all these stories to Mr. CR, whose only reaction has been to say "Is that book still in our house? Can you get it out of here please?"

Comments

[Melanie]

This is your best review ever!

[Citizen Reader]

Oh, Melanie, you're very kind, but it's not so much a "review" as a "rant." Lately when I read other, real book reviews, online and in other publications, I cringe and remember all over again that I can't call what I do here actual "reviewing."

Still, glad to be of service. :)

[Marija]

Love your review! I haven't read the book either, because I feared it would be exactly as you described. Life's too short, you know? By the way, I *love* that Mr. CR wants you to GET THAT BOOK OUT OF THE HOUSE PLEASE!

[lesbrarian]

Jesus could have had the chicks if he'd wanted them. I refer you to Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal.

[Citizen Reader]

Marija,
Of course life is too short. And I go into these books sometimes expecting to dislike them, which is really not fair to the book, or what people might be able to take away from it, you know? But them's the breaks.
Oh, Mr. CR. He's just getting back at me for when I go all snobby about all of his genre fiction littering up our bookshelves. :)

Lesbrarian,
Sadly, I cannot read Christopher Moore, as I have never once understood his humor.
Yeah, Jesus. How interesting now that I think about it how many ladies he DID have around--and how they seemed to have a good working relationship with him and he with them. And he didn't need any "binders of women" to find them either, evidently.

[Robin]

Loved this (the review; didn't read the book)! Would a person/part of God who says "we is" say "we're" instead of "we's" two seconds later? That, to me, not the bizarre-o "reveal," is the deal-breaker.

Thanks for making me feel great about never reading this. What about 'I am Charlotte Simmons' and 'The Story of Edgar Sawtelle?' Can you vindicate me there, too?

[Susan]

Haven't read The Shack and don't plan to. Mencken got it right when he said, “No one in this world, so far as I know — and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me — has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”

The writer meant well, but isn't talented. For Christian literature Greene, Waugh and Mauriac are far better.

[Citizen Reader]

Oh Robin, sweetie,
I just laughed and laughed when I read your correction. Yes, Young's editor should have changed "we're" to "we's" to at least make it consistent dialect. Ha!

I've been thinking of maybe adding a new section where I read books that other people don't want to read for them. Should we call it "Taking a Bullet"? Can't help you on "I am Charlotte Simmons" but I can help you with "Edgar Sawtelle":
http://www.citizenreader.com/citizen/2008/09/now-this-is-the-stuff-of-nightmares.html

Susan,
A very timely quote--thank you.
And your way of reviewing this author was very accurate, and much more succinct than mine. I salute you.

[Debbie Q]

Read The Shack. Hated The Shack. End of story.

[Robin]

I'd be a loyal follower of "Taking a Bullet."

Does that mean that you'd recommend "I am Charlotte Simmons" or that you've never read it?

Love, love, love having you back in the blog world.

[Citizen Reader]

Debbie Q,
Another great, succinct review. Thank you.

Robin,
We'll see what we can do on "Taking the Bullet." Any suggestions? (Other than Charlotte Simmons. I've not read it--Tom Wolfe books are too LONG for me!)

[bybee]

CR, you took a real hit for us book bloggers and assorted bookworms. Although I can hardly imagine the cost, I'm forever grateful. What wll you read now to purge and cleanse your system of The Shack??

[Mommytoallgirls]

One thing: it's "I could NOT care less" not "I could care less". If you COULD care less, you still care. Just a thought...

[Citizen Reader]

Bybee,
Well, it was more fun, and interesting (especially to hear other people's take on the book) than it was a hit. I've already read a million other great things since reading it, so no harm done. :)

Mommytag,
Good call. I've always struggled with that saying. Although, maybe it's a Freudian slip. Maybe I do still care a little bit what everyone else is reading and discussing, and I would prefer to care less? That's the type of word puzzle my brain is not up to this morning, but thank you for pointing it out all the same.

[laura]

Oh man. My grandmother had to read The Shack just to get people at her retirement place to stop telling her to read it. I dearly wish she were still alive, because she would LOVE your rant.

[Citizen Reader]

Laura,
Oh gosh, your poor grandmother. Hope she was able to read it fast and tell others what she REALLY thought of it. My condolences to you on her passing.

[tessabarber]

ha ha -- "humanly striking". that's the most tortured phrase I've read in a while.

[Citizen Reader]

Tessabarber,
Well, Mack was trying to dance around the subject of Jesus's big nose with that description. Poor guy, to learn that Jesus wasn't a humanly striking dreamboat.