Book Review: The Shack, by William P. Young

I love critiquing books, but I don’t feel I can review this book by providing the usual opinions on the story line, characters, grammatical structure, etc. Nor do I care to touch on whether the book threatens the theology of orthodox Christianity, a major complaint I’ve read in other reviews. Instead, I’d like to share the experience I had while discussing the book with my book club (South Denver Book Club).

In March, I had to find a number of new bestselling fiction titles for the book club to vote on for our April and May reading selections. When I came across “The Shack” I was intrigued by the book the instantly interested in reading it, so I added it to our list of candidates. I was even more enthusiastic about reading it when my fellow book club members voted “The Shack” as our next read. When I read the book, I absolutely loved it, and it became a new favorite of mine. Then the day of the book discussion arrived. Four other people, whom I had never met, joined the discussion group. We shared a morning discussing the profound affects that this book had on each of our lives. Each of us was at a different points in our spiritual journey, but that made no difference. Together we spent two hours contributing to the discuss and connecting in such a heartwarming way that we could have continued our discussion through the afternoon. I’ve never enjoyed a book club discussion group more! The book was an inspiration to us all, but best of all five people grew both together and as individuals during that morning. Any book with this sort of influence deserves notice. I highly suggest that if you do decide to read this book, read it with a friend or two, and take some time to come together to share your thoughts and experiences with “The Shack.”

RATING: 5 out of 5