Read: July of 2011
Recommended To: Self-Help lovers, religious people, people who struggle with their religious beliefs, those who have suffered a loss and questioned why, people who don't mind being patronized and force-fed moral and existential lessons, anyone who likes a story with a moral, and maybe a little mystery.
Categories: Fiction, Religious Fiction, Mysteries, Life Lessons/Self Help, Books I Will Never Read Again
The Shack. The Shack. Where to begin? I am very often reminded when reviewing books of that old adage, "if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all". I try to always have at least something nice to say about every book I read, and even when I don't enjoy something, I can usually appreciate something about it. Then again, most books I don't enjoy don't actually irritate me, or seem to written in a condescending, patronizing way.
I'm getting ahead of myself though; The Shack is a book about struggling with belief in the good of God in the face of grief, masquerading as a mystery novel. Mackenzie Allen Phillips has been a broken man, haunted by sadness since the day his daughter Missy was abducted, and the only trace of her that was found was a blood stained red dress found on the floor of an abandoned shack. Years later, Mack is still struggling with his grief, as well as his faith, when he receives a letter purportedly from God, asking him to meet him up at the Shack where Missy's bloodstained red dress was found. What follows is the story of what happens to Mack when he goes up to the Shack to meet with God.
Personal Thoughts
I realize that my personal thoughts have already leaked through, but I would hate for someone to read the description, and not get to the part where I complain. My job, after all, is to help you make a choice about whether or not you want to read this book, and I gotta say, you probably don't really want to. Or maybe you do.
As I said, this book is masquerading as a mystery novel. How so, you might be wondering? Aside from the mystery of Missy being abducted, which is strictly background information for the central plot, there is no mystery. To read the description of the book, you would think otherwise, but there really isn't; everything that occurs after the point where Mack receives the letter from God is predictable. I kept thinking that there must be some twist coming up, something other than having these moral life lessons spoon-fed to me through colour-less descriptions and flat characters; and yes, considering that God is a character, I feel bad saying that, but it's true. They were completely predictable, and one dimensional. The descriptions of the people, places and things were mostly lackluster, bland, repetitive, and unoriginal.
Don't get me wrong, I love books that make me think, that somewhere in the story are able to teach me a little something about life or myself or other people. I do not, however, like being very obviously "taught a lesson", or in this case, multiple lessons, in a pandering, in-your-face way. If I did, I would just buy myself a self-help book, instead of disguising the book in a veil of "mystery". I know a lot of people absolutely love this book, and for that reason, I have to think: there must be something good in there for someone.
Pros:
* It was short. In this case, a very good thing.
* I can see the possibility of this being comforting to certain people, and being perhaps a good book for young adults who are starting to struggle with questions of this nature.
* It is not the worst-written book I have ever read. At times, passages are well composed, if not quite "well written".
Cons:
If you've read above, I need not add more. I didn't hate the book; heck, 3.5/10 is far from the worst rating I have given a book before. Perhaps, if I had read it when I was younger, or if I was at a different place in my life where I could relate to it better, I might not have been as irritated. Probably not, but it's possible!
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