Book Reviews

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

For me, this book started out like one of Ann Rule's true crime books. It's set in the Northwest and details a lovely day gone terribly wrong and some of the heartbreaking aftermath. Then Mac went to the shack.

I did not read this book as fiction. Nor does Young present it as fiction. The complete story leaves it up to the reader how to interpret it. I choose to accept it as a vision. I don't believe that something that is "merely" fiction can change a person as this "experience" changed Mac. (Fiction can change people who read it, but I don't think Mac would have been changed by reading this as a story. He experienced it, whether it was a literal experience or not falls into the debate about faith and religion and reality. In this case the experience came before the writing. Normally, the written work comes first and, yes, a reader can become so involved as to be changed by the experience.)

I loved Mac's view of God and his view of Jesus's humanity. I believe any Christian can relate to these views even if it's not quite their own view. To me it shows the boundlessness of Who God is. I didn't quite understand his view of the Holy Spirit, but it did manage to to convey an uncertain understanding of exactly who the Spirit is as a separate person of the Trinity. Or perhaps it is only because of my own uncertainty that I saw it that way.

The most important message of the book is the loving relationship within the Trinity and that it is the aspiration of all mankind. It is unquestionably a message Jesus had for his followers. Readers may not feel it the way Mac did, but, I believe that Young managed to capture the sense of this relationship very well in his writing.

I was leery of this book when I started. I've read too many "religious" books that were either not well written, had a bland, lecturing message, or both. The Shack is well written in such a way that did not feel lectured to. It presents what happened to Mac as Mac experienced it and lets the reader draw his own conclusions as to the "reality" of it in a way that maintains the validity of the message. It's not what I would call evangelical, but fulfills the admonition in 1 Peter 3:15 to be ready to give an account of why one believes. At the end, my wariness had dissolved to praise to God.

EDIT: Young said in the August issue of Guideposts "The book is true, just not real, like a parable. I may not be exactly like the fictional main character, but what that man learns about the healing power of love and forgiveness, the liberation of the soul through transparency and grace, is a journey I know well." It was the forward and the similarity of names that led me to believe that Mack was someone who actually related this tale to Young. I agree with the first like of Young's quote, however. It's just that it was Young, himself, who experienced the lessons in this book, albeit in a different context and manner. ~Airycat 09/20/09

I read this little book in one night. The first half of the book gives a brief autobiography, a summary of the state of Tibet and a summary of the state of the world. None of this is in depth. In the second half of the book, he talks about his own beliefs and how they bring inner peace. The book, as a whole, gives a good background of who the Dalai Lama is, in a well rounded, if not detailed, manner. I have several books in my library by the Dalai Lama, but I'm glad that I read this one first

The book is the words of the Dalai Lama, himself, but the book was put together by Frédérique Hatier. The quotes are kept individual and titled topically. Reading the quote following any title would provide food for thought, and for the most part would be suitable meditation for any religious belief. Even as a Christian, though I disagree with some of his beliefs about God, his words provided me the opportunity to affirm my own beliefs. Though we disagree on that one point, there is very little else we disagree on. And there is no argument with this disagreement. Our paths vary slightly (much less than I thought, though the one point is a major one), but our goals are the same. We both desire love and peace for our world.

This is a book I enjoyed reading and will read again, although probably not straight through, but rather, as an adjunct to my personal meditations.