Every two or three years or so, there's a Christian book that really catches fire. Whether the circumstances are ordained by God or if these books happens to contain something that a lot of people are looking to hear is debatable, but whatever the cause, these books seemingly go from unknown to everywhere over night. Despite the fervor, or maybe because of it, I've always chosen to avoid them. I never read The Purpose Driven Life and I've never prayed The Prayer of Jabez. I've never even opened a Left Behind book and I didn't see the movie, my love for "Growing Pains" not withstanding. Recently, however, my parents gave me a copy of the latest Christian sensation (and weekly fixture in the New York Times Best-Seller List), The Shack. I'd read about the book in USA Today where they'd mentioned that many evangelical leaders had negative things to say about it and I was interested to see if the controversy was warranted, so I decided it was worth a read. It's currently the suggested book of the month at my church and they asked for comments on the church's blog, so I thought I'd turn my thoughts into a blog of my own and share it.
For those of you that don't know me, I have an English degree and most of a master's, so I tend to be critical of the things I read. This isn't the kind of book that can be judged simply by technique, but I find that it's valuable to study any work analytically and break down its strengths and weaknesses. If you happen to be completely enamored with the book and would be offended by any criticism of it, you may want to stop here. For everyone else, as the Apostle Paul said, "I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness; but you are already doing that."
[By the way, for those that haven't read the book, know that there will be spoilers galore. Come back later perhaps.]
First of all, let's get the negative out of the way. From a purely aesthetic point-of-view, I had a few issues with The Shack. Young's writing is mostly smooth, if unimpressive, but there are a few plot points that get skipped over and some misplaced modifiers here and there. For example, the narrator says early on that Mack[the main character]'s two oldest children are away at "camp or college. " Okay. So which is it? Does the otherwise-omniscient narrator not know? Most likely, Young (the author) meant that one was at college while the other was attending summer camp, but the mistake was enough to make me pause. While it doesn't seem like a huge flaw, little mistakes like that can ruin the flow of the narrative and take the reader out of the moment. After Missy's disappearance, the book goes into great detail about what each family member does in response, but the oldest children are completely left out of the picture. One would assume that they returned from camp or college to be with the rest of the family, but Young doesn't mention them again until much later in the book and never really tries to develop them as characters. Honestly, I'm not sure what purpose the older children serve and if I were the editor, I would have simply cut them from the narrative. Again, it's not the kind of thing that ruins a whole book, but when I'm reading a novel I'd prefer not to have a stop and think about why two kids just pulled a Chuck Cunningham. There are some other missing details throughout the book that bothered me (such as the kids' ages never being mentioned). These things could easily have been fixed with a sentence or two and I hope the poor editing is due to the book being published by a smaller company and isn't indicative of Christian fiction as a whole.
Next, let's get down to the meat of the book. What does it say? Well, it says a lot actually. When Mack meets up with "Papa" God, it's not all hugs and cake baking. They get into some pretty deep theology. A lot of it is pretty basic and mainstream. I thought, for example, that it was a bit odd for a former seminary student to not know that the purpose of the old covenant law was to point out our sin and inadequacy, but that's being a bit nitpicky I realize. Some of the theology, on the other hand, was a bit unorthodox. I don't have the book in front of me right now because I let someone borrow it, but I remember being struck by several statements that I would characterize as debatable at the very least. And there's certainly nothing wrong with that. I'd much rather read fresh ideas than hear the same boring take on things that I could already recite verbatim. It did strike me as a bit arrogant at first that Young had those statements of theology coming from the mouth of God. But people claim to be hearing directly from God all the time and Young never says his book is a true story or that his fictionalized "Papa" is an exact replica of the real creator of the universe. In fact, it bothered me a bit at the end when Mack immediately wrecks his car upon leaving the shack and questions whether his weekend was all a dream. The Alice in Wonderland/Wizard of Oz ending has been done to death and I didn't see the point in backpedaling and undercutting the rest of the book. Then, of course, Mack's best friend Willy reveals that he's been the narrator all along. It was a hokey ending that didn't seem necessary and left a bad taste in my mouth.
All that being said, I actually did enjoy the book. You'd have to be made of stone to not be moved by the death of a child and Young renders it well without straying too far into sentimentality. Beyond that, I think there are three common issues that the book addresses with a good deal of depth and grace:
1) Mack, like many people, has a problem dealing with God as father. Because of the unhealthy relationship he'd experienced with his earthly father, the word doesn't have the positive connotation for him that it should. God chooses to reveal himself to Mack as a woman, while still going by "Papa," to ease Mack into the concept, but he doesn't stop there. He also reconciles Mack with his natural father and deals with the issue of fatherhood head-on. By the end, Mack is much more comfortable with God as a father and I imagine many readers have made the journey right along with him.
2) Mack is devastated by the loss of his daughter and not only carries around melancholy and hurt, but also holds a grudge against God for allowing her to die. Mack and Papa work through the anger and, again, deal with the issue directly until he is able to forgive both God and himself. We've all had times where we're angry at or frustrated with God and Mack's story, while extreme, is a great model both of what not to do in the beginning of the novel and eventually of how to accept those emotions and move past them.
3) Mack also suffers the common problem of seeing God as Old Testament judge rather than loving creator and friend. I felt like the book could have done a bit more to reconcile the seemingly harsh God of the Torah with the Abba Father that we all know is one and the same, but it does paint an excellent picture of God in that loving, nurturing role. It's a role that's often relegated to the more camera friendly Jesus, but it's an aspect of God's personality as well and one that many readers may not have grasped. "God is love." It's a simple statement, but when that's the center of your equation, everything else falls into place.
Finally, let's tackle the controversy. I don't claim to speak for the book's detractors and there may be other criticisms leveled against the book that I haven't read. From my understanding, however, the main complaint is that the book doesn't really speak favorably of organized religion. Truth be told, the critics are right. The Jesus character is particularly critical of the modern church and Mack seems to be disillusioned by things he's seen go on among supposed Christians. Really, though, if we're honest with ourselves, don't we have to admit that we, the church, deserve a bit of criticism? So many individual churches are filled with lifeless Christians and two-faced unbelievers and the church as a whole has been infected with all sorts of rogue doctrine and some downright heretical beliefs. We've become the lovers of ourselves that Paul warned against and we're long overdue for a wake-up call. The Shack may not be the alarm bell that we need, but it's certainly not out of line in its criticisms. Despite the fact that Mack spends a lot of time in nature, his visit with God is a very specific event and the book doesn't advocate a transcendental, Walden Pond communing with nature. While the characters don't talk a lot about Mack's specific church, I think the fact that Mack shares his story with his wife and his best friend shows that Young recognizes the need for Christians to be in a community of other believers. I can see why some church-leaders are upset about the book, but any church built on sound doctrine with strong, God-seeking leadership should have nothing to fear.
The Shack, like any book, has its flaws. The writing could use a touch up in places, but it's not so terrible that it prevents the book from serving its purpose. Not everyone who reads The Shack will be amazingly touched and write glowing testimonials, but I feel like any Christian who looks should be able to find at least one or two nuggets of truth worth holding onto. Thankfully, most of us will never go through an earth shaking tragedy like the one in the novel. Still, there's still a bit of Mack in all of us and sometimes we need a special visit with Papa.
