A book review

I just read The Shack by William P. Young. There is a website set up for it here. I found the book very moving. I will admit I knew a little bit about the book before reading it as I heard a sermon on the book at a local church. So I went into the book with high expectations. I knew it was fiction and I knew that it wouldn't solve all my problems. But I felt like I could relate to the main character a little bit. Mack is a father who loses his 6 year old daughter in an extremely brutal way. He has a lot of anger. I have a lot of anger. I am still anger about the miscarriage and I am angry about dealing with infertility on top of all of that. So I was hoping to get something out of this book to help me let go of some of my anger.

All in all the book was good. There were moments I cried when the characters said things that I totally felt. Like when Mack said he felt so lost. I just started crying because I have said that same thing myself. But there were other times when the story was too predictable and I remembered it was just fiction. It did give me another perspective and helped me with my anger. I am still angry but I feel like I can talk to God more directly about it. I just started reading Empty Womb, Aching Heart by Marlo Schalesy. It is a series of short true stories of women and families dealing with fertility issues and their own faith journey with God. I think reading The Shack made me more open to reading this book. Before I think I would have been to angry to read their stories.

So should you read The Shack? I think so. I think even if you haven't had a horrible tragedy this it is a new look on God. I was taken back at first by the way God was written in the book. I found Jesus a much easier character to accept but I think the characters were written that way to get the story across. Even if you aren't a Christian or do not believe in God, this book is a good story and an interesting work of fiction.