I read this book because my son, who has never been much of reader, loved it and I wanted to see what was piquing his interest. I knew the book appealed to him because it was of the Christian fiction genre and that it might not fit neatly into my spiritual ideology.

That did not turn out to be my biggest problem, for I found the book definitely wanting in literary merit. Specifically, Wm. Paul Young has not mastered the very basic writing rule of "show don't tell." Though he writes some wonderfully descriptive passages, he fails to adequately illustrate the murky religious ideology espoused by his "God" characters. The point is, as his characters often say, that these are things humans can not fully understand; they must simply have faith. It's clearly an emotional thing, but the masters of Christian writing such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien were able to deliver a reader to the realm of intellectual comprehension as well as emotional understanding.

Young captures a reader's emotions more successfully than he does the intellect by picking horrific subject matter to dive into: the brutal and inexplicable abduction and murder of a little girl. He then employs imagination in tackling the after effects of such an incomprehensible ordeal and concludes that the only possible way to swallow such an event is by finding one's way via faith and forgiveness.

I'm glad I read the book for the window it offered into my son's heart and mind and for the opportunity it gave me to explore my own aptitude for love,forgiveness, and faith. There are many reasons for choosing to read a book and my reasons for reading this book were satisfied.

told by a master story teller. It is written with so much passion...his words cannot help evoke feeling in all his readers. A thriller with a religious undertone that keeps you on the edge of your seat and sad when it all ends. Loved this book...A++++

This was such a beautiful book. Ordinarily I avoid books that are immensely popular with Christians. I was burned by the shallowness of The Purpose Driven Life and the greediness inherent in The Prayer of Jabez. I was disgusted by the poor theology of the Left Behind series. But here, I find a book that is simultaneously popular, deep, beautiful, and orthodox.

I loved the image of God here, and of the Trinity. It is so hard to write a convincing God. It seems easier to write a convincing demon), perhaps because we often spend more time focused on the works of Satan rather than those of God. It is even harder to write a convincing Trinity, that mystery of mysteries. But Young largely pulls this off. I say largely because the weakest point of this book is the dialogue, which often times comes off stilted and unreal. Like George MacDonald, this is better story than writing. But the story is so fabulous...it is unreal in the sense of the superreal, in the sense of the numinous, that moment when we know we can never fear, but must fear.

There are times when I had to question the theology that was expressed. But even then, I was forced to question my own theology, and come to new understandings. And that, after all, is what mystery is for: we are called to continually question, and to grow, saved not through works or sola fideo, but rather sola morphe, the change that Jesus calls everyone to if they want to follow Him. And I'm still working on if Jesus would accidentally spill a souffle all over the floor.

Perhaps its because Young is a TCK, growing up overseas with a stone-age trip in Papua New Guinea, but he has a decidedly different perspective on both life and God, and one I can well relate to as a TCK myself. There were so many times when this book reached directly to me, within my soul, and I had to end it with tears.

This is a book that forces you to dwell on and consider. This is what Grace is. This is what Grace is. And ultimately, I believe you may find that it is only reasonable that God is a big beautiful black woman.

This book was a God-send. I have been battling mysterious health issues since July 08, my father was placed in hospice and died of prostate cancer stage d in September 08 (I was at his side when he died), my daughter left an emotionally abusive husband that same month and now there is a fierce intra-state custody battle (the guy's trying to take my granddaughter using the reason that my daughter is type I diabetic and can't care for her. In other words, life hit me like a ton of bricks. I haven't been a church going or paying much attention to my faith for decades. This book was recommended to me. The discussion about anxiety over the future on page 142 caused me to put the book down and slap my forehead. I then went out back under the beautiful Arizona night sky and got on my knees.

I don't care what anyone is saying/writing about the theological issues with this book. I think it's a beautiful work and maybe the most important novel I've ever read - and I read a lot. My previous #1 was To Kill a Mockingbird. I always thought I could be the Atticus Finch type and go it alone. I was wrong and I'm so thankful this book was recommended to me.

Something I thought was interesting, everytime I came up with a "yeah, but..." the author answered the question within a paragraph or two!

This book is phenomenal. It is a work of fiction, so don't be confused by the forward (several of my friends have gotten "stuck" on whether it's a true story or not), but there are so many truths in it that not only was I "entertained", I also got a lot out of it. I had started with a borrowed book but quickly realized I had to get my own copy so I could underline in it! You have to think outside the box a little, which is a good practice for most of us, who are comfortable with our preconceived notions about how things are. I highly recommend this book, but do encourage people to read it through the lens of the Bible to compare and contrast the Truth. Overall, it's one of my very favorite books of all time!

This book inspires you to talk with God. It reminds you how simple finding God and conversing can be.

From the onset you know what will happen in the visit; the author just keeps you on edge as to when each step of the dialogue will evolve. He wraps everything a little too perfectly together and gives the non Christian a way out at the end.

But his dialogue is moving....

This book touches so many areas of faith and the human condition. It shows a level of understanding which can only come from experience of suffering and redemption.I highly recommend it.

Ths book helps to us see that God wants to have a personal relationship with each of his children. Even though sometimes things don't turn out the way that we wish they would, God is walking with us the midst. A great read for someone who wonders if God really loves them, especially in the midst of tragedy.

I loved this book I own tewo of them and let others borrow it to enjoy it also. I have read it more than once and can't wait to get one of the copies back so I can read it again. Or I may just have to get another copy.

Someone told me about the book. She and I do not agree on it. It was interesting and fast reading but I think the author could have used a different method in portraying the Triune. I don't like the way God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit were portrayed........

I enjoyed this book so much that I bought 9 more books for my family for X-mas. This is a MUST read book, I could not put this book down.

I got the book fast and it's very thought provoking. It's so so much easier than searching through bookstores, especially since I recently had knee surgery and can't stand for long.

"The Shack" should have probably been titled, "The Mansion," since Jesus said, "In My Father's house are many mansions..." The dialogues between God (Papa), Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and Mack, the protagonist, give a fresh perspective of God as portrayed in the Scriptures. Literalists may find it hard to swallow, but those who read with their hearts and not their heads will find a delightful stirring up of Living Water!

i waas blessed in reading this book it greatly impacted my walk with christ and helped me tp better comprehend and connect to god i feel as if a whole world has been opened upto god and i and i have eternity to experience and cherish every moment. thank you with all my heart william young

Must read! Especially if it seems hard to picture God as a loving, approachable God. Truly eye-opening.

i waas blessed in reading this book it greatly impacted my walk with christ and helped me tp better comprehend and connect to god i feel as if a whole world has been opened upto god and i and i have eternity to experience and cherish every moment. thank you with all my heart william young

As a Christian, make allowances for some literary license, but I found it to be the most moving story I've read in some time. Young does a wonderful job of explaining how a loving God allows suffering and the connection to the free will He has given us. I'm buying this book for my closest friends this Christmas. Enjoy!

I really enjoyed the visualization of God in three persons, as quite the unexpected identities. The sad part didn't make the book less valuable, because the journey is to God.

Papa talking to Mack said, "I'm not who you think I am MacKenzie."

HA-HA! Satan always outs himself!

This book was blasphemous. The least disturbing part was that God the Father was portrayed as a woman.

It being sold in so many Christian bookstores and promoted by Christians leaves this book opened to being critiqued legitimately by Christians who actually love the God of the bible, not the god of their own deceived hearts.

Those who love this book can say it is fiction, but too many people have claimed the writings have changed their lives and brought them closer to God. True Chistians must be bothered by the lies, lies, lies about the character of God.

This book is just a book, it is written as a story and to show that we need a relationship with God not just religion. People need to stop taking everything so straight forward. It is fiction. It is a heart warming story of struggle and finding your way back to God.

I never, never would have thought that I would tell ANYONE that a book touched my soul. I am too rational, too in control, too much the skeptic to ever let such a thing happen-- especially by a popular paperback that I saw, at first, as just a little too Christian-y, even for me, a believer.
This book's tale of a personal relationship with God is so honest, full of love and spirit, that I couldn't keep my guard up while reading it. I could cite any number of nitpicks, but in the end, they don't matter. This book articulates relationship with a loving God, and offers the radical idea that power, control, hierarchy, domination, and violence are all human creations, all too often furthered by organized religion, and unrelated to a God who is unconditional love, affirmation of relationships, and true healing. For some reason, I went right to the one-star reviews on Amazon, to see what the book's critics are saying. It's the same old stuff: Biblical verses cited out of context, defending the indefensible actions of power, domination, and hierarchy undertaken, not by God or God's church but by humans' churches and other institutions seeking to substitute human definitions of good and evil for God's radical, un-judging, all-loving grace. The notion that one can live freely, wholly, joyously, in relationship to God, if only one gives up one's clinging to a false sense of control-- give up the illusion of control over one's own life and over others--is so fundamentally transformative, one must experience it to understand it. I am only beginning to grapple with it myself, and already my life is changing so wonderfully. Read the book!
I have only one quibble with this book, at least, only one which amounts to more than a nitpick. The book's vision of God is entirely personal and not at all concerned with public life. At one point, the book features God dismissing politics and economics along with much of organized religion as human institutions far removed from God's message of relationship rather than hierarchy. I agree, but was disappointed at the absence of discussion of Jesus' active, political resistance against systems of domination and control, specifically Rome. Jesus died because he refused to submit to the Roman Empire's use of fear, intimidation, myth-making, and murder to crush its colonies and destroy the will of those that would resist it. Jesus' message is a radically political one, in that he up-ended the Empire's hierarchy of power and ultimately faced a torturous death rather than submit. As a modern-day, left-leaning, liberation-theology-type Christian, I found the absence of this message of radical and, yes, political resistance to systems of power, hierarchy, domination, and control to be a major oversight in the book. God does indeed love us unconditionally, but that does not mean we should surrender our power in this world to resist systems of domination and control, including those perpetuated in God's name, even-- or should I say especially-- those perpetuated in Jesus' name.
But while this book lacks the radical, agitational, and yes, political message of the Biblical Jesus, it captures, better than anything else I've ever read, God's true vision (as expressed by Jesus' life and death) of a world that is a web of personal relationships, with no fear, hierarchy, intimidation, unquestioned authority, judgment, or false illusions of total independence from one another or from God. I can't remember the last time a book brought me to tears. This one did.

This is a book for anyone who is fed up with patriarchal narrowness. It was written as a story for the author's wife to explicate his spiritual country, not to start a theological controversy. To quote C.S. Lewis from his Narnian tales, "(God) is not a 'tame Lion'", and that is what comes across for me. Don't put God in a box; Creator and creation and our relationship with the Divine are way more complex - and perhaps more simple - than conservative religion wants to believe.
Also, I find nothing in this book that gives me pause as far as mainstream Christian theology is concerned. You have the Trinity, you have redemption, and you have a better explanation of both, along with forgiveness, than I have seen in a long time. This book redeemed Christianity for me.

I did not expect to like this book. But it came to me at just the right time. I have been so over organized religion, expecially in light of the past election. I am so tired of being told by Christian religions how I should think, feel, and vote. I have never stopped believing in God, but just can't believe these these "Christians" can be so intolerant and call themselves Christian. Anyway, this book described God like I have always imagined him/her to be. It made me believe, again, that God is with me. I know it is fiction and think it should be treated as such just like the DaVinci Code was fiction. Don't forget, you can walk into 10 Christian churches and find 10 different views on what the bible says.

The ShackThis was a very easy read and very thought provoking. The book was in very good condition and arrived promptly.

I'm only giving 1 star because you can't give none! I hated this book, but not for the reasons that most of the other 1-star reviewers did. Unlike other reviewers, the theological views expressed do not bother me, because it is fiction and the author is entitled to his opinions. I often read books that expand my knowledge and views. It was poorly written, not believable (even Peter didn't take to walking on water so easily!), and preachy. The excessive use of the word "sarcastic" made me want to overnight a thesaurus to William Young. The only thing going for this book is that it is relatively short. Save your time and read a true inspirational story like "Three Cups of Tea" or the fictional allegory of faith, "The Life of Pi". Both of those were great books!

A blasphameous feel-good unitarian intrepretation of the Holy Trinity. Mr Young managed to grab me in the first 4 to 5 chapters with his compelling introduction and his story of the suffering parent who loses a child. But then tragically he reveals his true cause for writing this book...influencing the unknowing reader with his interpretation of God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I am convinced he has never studied scripture, hence he would know that God does not have limitations, he can not be looked on, and Jesus is not ugly. Mr Young has made God into a comical Aunt Jemima character, and suggests that we can fit God into any mold we choose. And most frighteningly...Jesus Christ does not corner the market on the path to reach God. Be discerning Christians, this is a veiled dissertation on conforming to the world, and unitarian views!

Some say this book is fiction, but I know a good dose of crap theology when I see it. The whole book is practically theology. There is just one problem, the author failed to read the bible. God is not your grandpa or a nice black woman. Quite frankly everyone who saw him in the bible either cried or died on the spot. He does not love everyone (Jacob I loved, Esau I hated), he does not answer to us, and this book is a load of crap.

You want a good fairy tale? read cinderella.

This book was incredible! Not anything that I expected. I couldn't help thinking about it all day long, and wanting to know what happens next. This read is highly recommended!

I read this book at the recommendation of a friend, and it was great. There's a tremendous amount of truth about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in this book, even though it's a book of fiction. As a result, I bought several copies for gifts to a few people. Try it, you'll like it.

I appreciate this book very much because it helps people who have preconceived notions of who our Lord is! It is not be interperted as dogma but rather a different way of dealing with who is God and where is He? It is simply another way to bring God into our lives and put Him on a more approachable and loving manner. I think the author was brave to even try it!

This book gives you a new prospecitive as to why bad things happen to good people. This book gives you a "reason to live". We struggle to get buy day to day. This book helps.

An excellent book! It was a bit difficult (for me) to understand in the beginning. However, it was well worth finishing. I plan to read it again and hope the beginning makes more sense the second time around.

It is a book that will bring you closer to a down to earth God. One that can make you eggs and share a meal with you. It will give you Jesus in a new light. One reviewer worried that it left only the Divine and took out Jesus. The message I got was let's all go together.... no matter what the faith. No judgment. No preconceived notions. Only an eternal life of brillant light. I say let's go!

My husband and I both have read The Shack and found it to be an incredibly worshipful experience.

I don't generally read fiction novels, however this was one I couldn't put down. I sensed the inspiriation of the Holy Spirit in reading it. Highly recommended. Enjoyed it so much I bought 30 copies for gifts. It will both challenge your understanding of the Trinity and comfort you in those challenging times you face.

This book takes you to a sitdown dinner with God. Totally renewed my faith and probably opened my eyes to a lot that is wrong with the human race...judgment..greed...ego...etc...etc. And YES, we need to be reminded as to who we are and who our Creater is. Otherwise, our race is doomed.

The book is so intense that you can almost smell the scones sitting on the porch. Couldn't put it down night after night.

My only complaint - there is a little bit of repetition with some chapters. Otherwise, go out and buy the book, sit down and renew your relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost.

I am so very blessed by this book. In the same way the non-fiction book The Sacred Romance revolutionized my understanding of the love affair that the one true God has with His creation, this book of fiction has revolutionized the way I see the Trinity. There is much emphasis on how the trinity responds to itself, and how God chooses to limit himself in certain ways in deference to his child, "Mack". I can understand why some have trouble with it, because it tackles spiritual issues that are difficult to comprehend in our limited state as humans. It gives organized religion a beating, but I, for one, think it needs it, and will ultimately be better for it. Sometimes we have so much organization and order that we don't allow an infinite God room to be who HE IS. God cared enough for this one lost sheep, to go after him, to pursue him until he was ready to be healed. That is the picture of God this man needed. But don't believe what I or anyone else says, read it for yourself and decide.

This book is allright. It takes the Christian fables left us by the likes of George McDonald and John Bunyan, and updates them for our century. That's not unlike what C. S. Lewis and Tolkien were also doing in their way. I kept thinking my leg was being pulled, and it couldn't possibly be what it seemed to be. But it was. So there. This book is allright with me.

If you like this, try The Man Who Was Thursday

I have not received my order for this book. What can I do to reclaim a credit?

I would have thought such a bestseller would have delivered more. Anyone who has done some spiritual (not religious) searching will find this "dumbed down" novel for Christians only, written in a fairy tale format. Thank God I spread the word enough about this book that I won't be receiving it as a gift. Don't waste your time - try a book like "The Road Less Travelled" by Scott Peck.

This was a very different type book, but one that everyone should read.
It helps in many different ways - especially being able to understand the Three - Father, Son & Holy Spirit. It also shows that God never leaves us - even when we are mad at Him!!

I love this book. The story is captivating & well written. I wanted to live in this story. What I loved most about this book, was it made me want to get lost in God's embrace and finally let Him love me. It also answered a lot of questions for me about why bad things happen.

This book is an awesome perspective of how I see God's love to be- forgiving and wanting all of us to be loving and forgiving beyond our own understanding. The characters are creative and imaginative and nothing like most of us have thought God would appear to us. The author's description of the trinity is interesting. I have recommended this book to everyone and bought extra copies to share. Karen

Truely a great read. I have given 45 copy's away.All have found value in it. Thanks William Paul Young for writing it. RLR Clinton, Illinois

This book is incredible. Though this is a fiction book, I have actually come to a better understanding of the Trinity-God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. It is presented in a way that is so awesome, you'll read pages over and over again. I recommend it to anyone who is a believer.

Ok, bottom line people. Everyone who gave this book any stars (exept on amazon where you have to give a star to write a review) are just as guilty of blasphemy as the book is. It's time for Christians to start standing against stuff like this. It's time to be a GOD pleaser, not a people pleaser. Think of it this way, how embarrassed are you going to be on the Day of Judgment when you are asked about this book and why you based your belief on it. You gave up GODs 66 love letters for a $9 book....you should be ashamed. I don't know anyone of you but, I don't want to see any of you to go to HELL because of a false teaching. If you're lost you need to find your way to a good teacher of the gospel.

Having read the Book - The Shack - I have to admit that I was disappointed.
After all of the hype concerning the fresh new approach I found the book to be a thinly veiled rehash of Catholic Doctrine. Mush of the content - whether you call it a parable or just pure fiction - was aimed at shoring up Faith Traditions that belong in the Middle ages not in the 21st century.
I am no longer a devout follower. I am what some have called an alumni of the institutional Church.
What this book didn't do for me was to inspire me or encourage me. As a retired ordained Minister of the Methodist Denomination I feel the Institutional Church is grasping at straws. This book is one more example of that grasping.The Shack

I cannnot say enough about the book. It was so inspiring. As I read the book I had a pad and pencil to write down some inspiring thoughts from the book.

This is one of those books that you will read over and over again. I ordered 10 books to give to friends and family. It is simple and yet so deep depending where you are in your relationship with God. It was recommended by our Pastor and I would highly recommend it. Be prepared to read parts over and over to "get it all". I took it on a vacation to Hawaii, sat by the pool and read the book. I couldn't put it down. I want all my friends to read it so that we can discuss it.

The Shack is an absolutely life-changing book that is a great buy for anyone on your Christmas or birthday gift list. The seller shipped the book quickly, and it arrived in perfect condition!