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The Shack
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The Shack (2007) (edit title/settings)

Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity

by William P. Young (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

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... read more

Summary edit see section history

The novel is set in the American Northwest. The main character is Mackenzie Philips, a father of five, called "Mack" by his family and friends.
Four years prior to the main events of the story, Mack takes his three youngest children on a camping trip to Multnomah Falls and Wallowa Lake... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The novel is set in the American Northwest. The main character is Mackenzie Philips, a father of five, called "Mack" by his family and friends.
Four years prior to the main events of the story, Mack takes his three youngest children on a camping trip to Multnomah Falls and Wallowa Lake near Joseph, Oregon. Two of his children are playing in a canoe when it flips and almost drowns Mack's son. Mack is able to save his son by leaving his youngest daughter Missy alone at their campsite. After Mack returns, he sees that Missy is missing. The police are called, and the family discovers that Missy has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer known as the "Little Ladykiller". The police find an abandoned shack in the woods where Missy was taken, but her body is never found. Mack's life sinks into what he calls The Great Sadness.

At the beginning of the book, Mack receives a note in his mailbox from "Papa", saying that he would like to meet with Mack on that coming weekend at the shack. Mack is puzzled by the note - he has no relationship with his abusive father, who left when Mack was young. He suspects that the note may be from God, who his wife Nan refers to as "Papa".

Mack leaves his family and goes alone to the shack, unsure of what he will see there. He arrives and finds nothing, but as he is leaving the shack and its surroundings are supernaturally transformed into a lush and inviting scene. He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three persons of the Trinity. God the Father takes the form of an African American woman who calls herself Papa, Jesus Christ is a Mideastern carpenter, and the Holy Spirit physically manifests himself as an Asian woman named Sarayu.

The bulk of the book narrates Mack's conversations with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu as he comes to terms with Missy's death and his relationships with the three of them. Mack also has various experiences with each of them. Mack walks across a lake with Jesus, sees an image of his father in heaven with Sarayu, and has a conversation with Sophia, the personification of wisdom. At the end of his visit, Mack goes on a hike with Papa, who shows him where Missy's body was left in a cave.

After spending the weekend at the shack, Mack leaves and immediately is nearly killed in an automobile accident. After his recovery, he realizes that he did not in fact spend the weekend at the shack, but that his accident occurred on the same day that he arrived at the shack. He also leads the police to the cave which Papa revealed, and they find Missy's body still lying there. With the help of forensic evidence discovered at the scene, the Little Ladykiller is arrested and put on trial.

People edit see section history

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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.”
    Papa
  • “Remember this, humans are defined not by their limitations, but by intentions I have for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in my image.”
    Papa
  • “Love is not the limitation; love is the flying.”
    Papa
  • “A child is protected because she is loved, not because she has a right to be protected.”
    Sarayu
  • “Such a powerful ability, the imagination.”
    Jesus
  • “I am especially fond of you.”
    God
  • “I suppose that since most of our hurts come though relationships so will our healing, and I know that grace rarely makes sense for those looking in form the outside.”
    Willie
  • “Being always transcends appearance - that which only seems to be. Once you begin to know the being behind the very pretty or very ugly face, as determined by your bias, the surface appearances fade away until they simply no longer matter.”
    Jesus
  • “Humans are so lost and damaged that to you it is almost incomprehensible that people could work or live together without someone being in charge.”
    Sarayu
  • “Have you noticed that even though you call me Lord and King, I have never really acted in that capacity with you? I've never taken control of your choices or forced you to do anything, even when what you were about to do was destructive or hurtful to yourself and others?”
    Jesus
  • “To force my will on you is exactly what love does not do. Genuine relationship are marked by submission even when your choices are not helpful or healthy.”
    Jesus
  • “Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience; it is all about relationships fo love and respect.”
    Jesus
  • “Because we want you to join us in our circle of relationship. I don't want slaves to my will; I want brothers and sisters who will share life with me.”
    Jesus
  • “Power in the hands of independent humans, be they men or women, does corrupt. Mack, don't you see how filling roles is the opposite of relationship? We want male and female to be counterparts, face-to-face equals, each unique and different, distinctive in gender but complementary, and each empowered uniquely by Sarayu from whom all true power and authority orginates. Remember, I am not about performance and fitting into man-made structure; I am about being. As you grown in relationship with me, what you do wil simply reflect who you really are.”
    Jesus
  • “Our desire was to create a being that had a fully equal and powerful counterpart, the make and the female. But your independence wit its quest for power and fulfillment actually destroys the relationship your heart longs for.”
    Jesus
  • “It's all part of the training of grace. If the universe contained only one human being, timing would be rather simple. But add just one more, and, well, you know the story. Each choice ripples out through time and relationships, bouncing off of other choices. And out of what seem to be a huge mess, Papa weaves a magnificant tapestry. Only Papa can work all this out, and she does it with grace.”
    Jesus
  • “Pearls, Mack. The only precious stone made by pain, suffering and - finally - death.”
    Jesus
  • “Forgiveness is not about forgetting. It is about letting go of another person's throat.”
  • “Each relationship between two persons is absolutely unique. That is why you cannot love two people the same. It simply is not possible. You love each person differently because of who they are and the uniqueness that they draw out of you.”
  • “Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly.”
  • “The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themxselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness thay can perceive, which often isn't much, and then calling that God.”
    "God"
Show all 21 quotes from this book

First Sentence edit see section history

Who wouldn't be skeptical when a man claims to have spent an entire weekend with God, in a shack no less?

Table of Contents edit see section history

Foreword

1. A Confluence of Paths
2. The Gathering Dark
3. The Tipping Point
4. The Great Sadness
5. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
6. A Piece of π
7. God on the Dock
8. A Breakfast of Champions
9. A Long Time Ago, In a Garden Far, Far Away
10. Wade in the Water
11. Here Come Da Judge
12. In the Belly of the Beasts
13. A Meeting of Hearts
14. Verbs and Other Freedoms
15. A Festival of Friends
16. A Morning of Sorrows
17. Choices of the Heart
18. Outbound Ripples

After Words

Glossary edit see section history

  • Fractal: Something considered simple and orderly that is actually composed of repeated patterns no matter how magnified.
  • chinook: a member of a North American Indian people of the Columbia River valley and adjacent regions
  • quandary: a dilemma or a state of uncertainty

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

  • Suffering: Pain (can be physical and/or emotional) that comes after a traumatic event in life.
  • Death: The end of your physical life on earth, and the beginning of your spiritual life in heaven.
  • Spirituality: Can refer to an ultimate or an alleged reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.”

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 77 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)
This book is in New York Times Bestsellers (Current). (authoritative list)
This is book 78 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 79 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 76 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. William P. Young (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Dave Aldrich (Cover Artist) - Cover Design & Page Layout
  2. Marisa Ghiglieri (Cover Artist) - Cover Design
  3. Bobby Downes (Cover Artist) - Cover Design

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Windblown Media
Country: United States of America
Publication Date: 2007
ISBN: 978-0-9647292-3-0
Page Count: 252

Awards edit see section history

  • ECPA (2009: Diamond Award)

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PR9199.4.Y696 S53 2007b
  • Dewey: 813/.6 22

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Young Adults

There's a tiny bit of mildly offensive language. The beginning of this book also deals with the abduction and murder of a young girl, though nothing graphic is even hinted at.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Illusions
  • The Holy Man
  • The Pilot's Wife
  • The House at Sugar Beach
  • The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
  • Allison's Journey
  • Unveiled
  • Unashamed
  • Same Kind of Different as Me
  • The Good Earth
  • Out of Egypt
  • Monique and the Mango Rains
  • The Gravedigger's Daughter
  • The Lovely Bones

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

   
  • Finding God in the Shack: Seeking Truth in a Story of Evil and Redemption
  • The Shack: Unauthorized Theological Critique

Books That Cite This Book edit see section history

   
  • Finding God in The Shack
  • Finding God in the Shack
  • Reflections on the Shack (Powder Room)
  • Burning Down 'The Shack'
  • The Shack: Unauthorized Theological Critique
  • Beware the Shack

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