1. Room by Emma Donohue
2. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama
4. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
5. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
6. A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
7. A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
8. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
9. The Shack by William Young
The Shack is the story of Mackenzie Allen Phillips, a man who loses his daughter Missy in a tragic kidnapping and murder. Years later Mackenzie receives a letter from God asking him to journey back to the shack where Missy's bloody clothing was found. Mackenzie does go to meet God, and is greeted by a Holy Trinity who proceed to inform him about the meaning of life and his purpose in the world.
I probably would not have finished this book if it were not for this blog. But as a lover of reading who has a pretty good grasp on what books I will and will not like, I so rarely wind up reading books that I truly dislike that I felt this would add some nice variety to my reviews. And finishing the book gave more validity to my hatred. I gave it until the very last page to redeem itself. But it never did.
There was absolutely nothing in this book that stimulated thought in me. I can't distinguish one original thought, or even an old wisdom presented in a new way. There was nothing exciting or interesting that kept me reading, whatsoever. I literally couldn't have cared less what happened to the characters.
I've read many other reviews of this book and I know that many people have read it and loved it. Therefore I think it is only fair to explain why I disliked it so much. I'm happy to listen to dissenting opinions. Provided, of course, that they are organized in the form of a 7-point list.
1. Young uses sadness as a crutch. A lot of writers fall into this trap. Sadness is a powerful emotion, especially when coupled with guilt. "A child is kidnapped and murdered. That's really sad. And if I don't feel sad, something must really be wrong with me. I better feel sad." You don't get to capitalize on my emotions by simply making up a sad story. You have to work for them.
2. The book never achieves a suspension of disbelief. Young is asking the reader to accept a lot here- the physical manifestation of God for the purpose of helping one disillusioned man make sense of a tragedy. Such a premise has to be approached very delicately for the reader to be able to accept it. But again Young never puts in the effort to make us believe. He jumps right in with a note from God (I was still with him at this point). Then when we meet God, rather than a subtle introduction, we are bombarded with excessive magic tricks that are not open to any kind of interpretation. There is no time to work up to this, nor does Young ever earn my trust enough for me to believe him.
3. Unnecessary details burden an already difficult plot. This problem also contributes to the lack of "suspension of disbelief." I am taken out of the story due to odd details such as the main character being a man named Mackenzie (is this really a man's name?) with a wife named Nan. Not only is God a black woman, She is a black woman whom Mack calls "Papa" for no discernible reason. The fake introduction by William Young claiming that this is a real story adds nothing to the story. And what happens to Mack when he leaves the Shack is totally out of left field.
4. The book tells instead of shows. "Show don't tell" is a basic rule of writing that many non-writers probably think is just a platitude. But there is a huge difference between "Mack felt surprised" and "Mack's mouth fell open and his breath caught in his throat." One enables you to envision the situation and draw your own interpretation about how Mack felt. The other is just a sentence. It makes you feel nothing. Young uses this technique in communicating God's message as well. God simply tells Mack of His/Her intentions. There is no element of testing faith or no possibility of the reader drawing conclusions on her own.
5. I find Young's version of God to be offensive. I'm not a particularly religious person. But I found it quite presumptuous for some author to literally write the words of God with his own hand. God in the book literally says "this is my purpose for creating man" and a variety of other direct statements. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I imagine that a particularly religious person would find this extremely offensive. And I'm all for God not being the traditional old white male with a white beard. But if God is going to be a black woman, She should probably be more than just an offensive stereotype that wears a head wrap and says things like "sho'nuff" (seriously...page 119). I would think the creator of all cultures would have a better understanding of them.
6. The characters behave in a way that literally no real person would. Mack meets a family camping for a long weekend (like, three days) and they literally become best friends. The police officer on Mack's case tells him gruesome details about what his daughter's killer has done to other girls. They get a lead on where the killer has taken Missy and decide to wait until morning to pursue him. The dialogue is stilted and at times cringe-worthy. Not to mention Mack's reaction to meeting God and how quickly he believes what he is being told. That could be a whole article in itself.
7. Young attempts too many grand messages and winds up leaving us with nothing. All of these things I could forgive if the book made me feel uplifted in some way or left me with some lasting impression, as many have said that it did for them. But I really can't identify any profound message or enlightening bit of information to be had from this book. God encourages Mack to forgive the murderer of his daughter- not surprising. God reveals that He loves all of his children equally- I'm pretty sure that's just a quote from the Bible. God suggests that the cause of all evil in the world is mankind seeking an independence from Him- somewhat confusing, and quite self-serving. There are just far to many messages crammed into 200 pages for any one of them to be developed enough to have any impact on me.
In short, I am entirely comfortable stating that this is the worst book that I have read cover to cover in my 25 years on this Earth. I think I have provided enough justification as to why. Obviously I can't encourage you to read something that I have just reviewed so scathingly, but I'd really be interested to hear from anyone out there who has already read it. Supposedly there is a group of people out there who actually love this book- but do they really exist?
