Mackenzie Allen Philips' youngest daughter, Missy, has been abducted during a family vacation, and evidence that she may have been brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. Four years later in the midst of his "Great Sadness," Mack receives a suspicious note, apparently from God, inviting him back to that shack for a weekend. Against his better judgment he arrives at the shack on a wintry afternoon and walks back into his darkest nightmare. What he finds there will change Mack's world forever. (Goodreads)
My two cents
I'm not religious in any sense of the way. I'm not even an atheist, because that too is a belief of nothing being there. I just don't bother trying to find an answer to the almighty question if we are alone or not. So, reading The Shack wasn't my kind of thing, you would say, but I actually enjoyed this little novel.
It didn't turn me into a believer, but I did agree with several statements made and I know I will try to live my life a little different than before I read this novel. Seems like I can't do the wrong thing, anyway, with God being especially fond of each and everyone of us.
The way God is portrayed in this novel, is a way I can partially live with. I'm against any kind of religion and the only institution I belief in is marriage and as being stated in this novel, that isn't even an institution, but a relationship. The God in here is a loving and all forgiving father/mother/sister/brother... much as we are towards our own children. He wants us to not follow those rules and protocols that only causes us to feel guilty about one thing or another.
Of course, asking for us to surrender ourselves to him to be fully and completely loved, is a bit farfetched for me.
This novel is a great little story, with a few paragraphs I found inspiring and others I found farfetched. All in all I would recommend it to people who are religious and people who aren't. Read it with patience and don't stand still with what you find ridiculous and focus on what could better your life.
Personal rating: 3 stars
Page count: 252 pages
First published in 2008
