Intended to give powerful reassurance, The Shack, a novel by William Paul Young (2007, in collaboration with Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings, Windblown Media, California, 252 pages), struggles to make sense out of the perpetual clash between fanciful religion and harsh reality. Despite New York Times-bestseller status, this ponderous and pretentious book isn’t nearly as important as its publisher pretends.
Protagonist Mack (short for Mackenzie) Allen Philips has held a grudge against the world and battled a “great sadness” since the kidnapping and murder of Missy, his young daughter, by an evil brute nicknamed the Little Ladykiller. How can the allegedly loving powers-that-be allow such a cruel fate to a much-loved child?
“… The Great Sadness had draped itself around Mack’s shoulders like some invisible but almost tangibly heavy quilt. The weight of its presence dulled his eyes and stooped his shoulders. Even his efforts to shake it off were exhausting, as if his arms were sewn into its bleak folds of despair and he had somehow become part of it.”
Missy’s body wasn’t recovered, but the police found her “torn and blood-soaked red dress” at an abandoned shack deep in the Oregon wilderness. On a stormy day four years later, Mack receives an odd note, apparently from God, inviting him for a weekend chat at the same shack.
“Did God even write notes? And why the shack – the icon of his deepest pain? Certainly God would have had better places to meet with him.”
Young tells of strange events at this offbeat rendezvous. Mack even reckons he can walk across a lake.
“His shoes were instantly wet, but the water did not come up even to his ankles. The lake was still moving all around him, and he almost lost his balance because of it. It was strange. When he looked down, it seemed that his feet were on something solid, but invisible.”
Ultimately, “tragedy confronts eternity”. Will Mack get answers to all his questions about God, why misfortune strikes even good people and where organized religion veers wrong?
There’s even an environmental angle. “Our earth is like a child who has grown up without parents, having no one to guide and direct her…. Some have attempted to help her, but most have simply tried to use her. Humans, who have been given the task to lovingly steer the world, instead plunder her, with no consideration other than their immediate needs.”
Does God show up at the shack? If so, does he (or she) offer useful insight? “Mack, just because I work incredible good out of unspeakable tragedies doesn’t mean I orchestrate the tragedies. Don’t ever assume that my using something means I caused it or that I needed it to accomplish my purposes.”
Many passages presented as pearls of wisdom resemble silly slogans: “If anything matters, then everything matters.”
Even so, the book has sage moments: “Don’t ever discount the wonder of your tears. They can be healing waters and a stream of joy. Sometimes they are the best words the heart can speak.”
The middle-aged Young, originally from Grande Prairie, Alberta, in Canada, grew up in New Guinea where his parents worked as missionaries. After attending Bible College, he worked in many industries -- from insurance, construction and venture capital to telecoms and food processing. He always wrote a lot, often songs, poetry, short stories, newsletters, business plans or Web content. “The Shack was a story written for my six children, with no thought or intention to publish,” he said. “It’s as much a surprise to me as to anyone else that I am now an author.”
Ultimately, The Shack delivers only Young’s version of how religious “truth” may be interpreted. Mack wants answers to all life’s great puzzles, but no one has grasped those yet.
There’s no reason to believe this imagined account bears much resemblance to reality or that Young’s religious theories surpass those of anyone else. Much of what happens on these pages rankles and annoys more than inspires.
Approval rating: 38 per cent.
For more information: www.TheShackBook.com
(January 18, 2010)
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