Product Description

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. In a world where religion seems to grow increasingly irrelevant "The Shack" wrestles with the timeless question, "Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?" The answers Mack gets will astound you and perhaps transform you as much as it did him. You'll want everyone you know to read this book!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
"The Shack" is a one of a kind invitation to journey to the very heart of God. Through my tears and cheers, I have been indeed transformed by the tender mercy with which William Paul Young opened the veil that too often separated me from God and from myself. With every page, the complicated do's and don't that distort a relationship into a religion were washed away as I understood Father, Son and Holy Spirit for the first time in my life. --Patrick M. Roddy, ABC News Emmy Award winning producer

Finally! A guy-meets-God Novel that has literary integrity and spiritual daring. "The Shack" cuts through the cliches of both religion and bad writing to reveal something compelling and beautiful about life's integral dance with the Divine. This story reads like a prayer--like the best kind of prayer, filled with sweat and wonder and transparency and surprise. When I read it, I felt like I was fellowshipping with God. If you read one work of fiction this year, let this be it. --Mike Morrell, zoecarnate.com

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of "The Shack." This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" did for his. It's that good! --Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

About the Author
William P. Young was born a Canadian and raised among a stone-age tribe by his missionary parents in the highlands of what was New Guinea. He suffered great loss as a child and young adult, and now enjoys the 'wastefulness of grace' with his family in the Pacific Northwest.

From AudioFile
Mac is a grief-stricken father in mid-life about to have an extraordinary experience with God. His great sadness began four years ago on a weekend camping trip, when his 6-year-old daughter, Missy, was murdered. What he couldn't know then, but is about to learn, was God's purpose for Missy's death. Roger Mueller's clear, gentle voice characterizes Mac's family with high-spirited joy and laughter. His portrayal of Missy's animated excitement makes her especially believable. His polished performance of grief-stricken Mac brings tears. With empathy and sensitivity, Mueller captures the mysterious voices of those who have invited him to the now abandoned, yet transformed, cabin in the wilderness. This compelling fantasy explores themes of love, loss, and blame. G.D.W. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Most incredible book!!!!!
It is the most incredible book I've ever read it!!! It gives you a true sense and visual image of the true nature of God.
Please do not miss the chance to read a great book!!!

Hope Restored
Before I had even heard of this book, I was told it would change my life. While I have never experienced something as horrific as Mack and his family do, William Young's novel did, in fact, help me reaffirm my own relationship with God.

Both tragic and inspirational, this book aims to teach, to inspire. As the narrator, Willie, explains: we should take from this story what we would like. And I choose to take from this hope, hope that forgiveness can heal us and love can overcome evil.

The death of Missy is devastating; I could hardly read the description of her disappearance and subsequent death. However, like Mack, this story helped me to heal. I felt comfort in God's own sadness; he too lost a son. Likewise, I felt happiness at this incredible, awe-inspiring presence. And, at the end, when Mack has the strength to say goodbye--properly--to his daughter, we, as readers, feel a sense of peace.

Perhaps a dream, perhaps a parable, perhaps a true experience--nonetheless, this novel challenges us to confront powerful issues in our lives. And, when we are asked to forgive--as God asks of Mack--will we, too, rise and kill all hatred with open love?

Theology Disguised as Fiction
If I wanted to brush up on theology there are a lot of great theologians who have done a much better job of explaining theology than Wm Paul Young ever will. In fact, some of his theological points are inaccurate and misleading. I would go so far as to say that Young's book is actually dangerous in that it is leading Christians in to heresy concerning the Trinity, the incarnation, free will, etc. Just a caution, don't check your brain at the door if you are going to read this book. Let Scripture and not Mr. Young inform your view of God. [...]