The Shack

Number of Reviews: 7 (29 stars total)

Average Rating: 4.1/5

Title: The Shack
Author: W.M. Paul Young
Pages: 248
Genre(Tags): Fiction
Reviewer: Irene Beresford
Rating: 5/5

Author: Young was the eldest of four, born May 11, 1955, in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada, but the majority of his first decade was lived with his missionary parents in the highlands of Netherlands New Guinea (West Papua), among the Dani, a technologically stone age tribal people. These became his family and as the first white child and outsider who ever spoke their language, he was granted unusual access into their culture and community. By the time he was six, he was flown away to a boarding school. Paul's writing has a hidden meaning, and it he writes using cliff hangers, so it makes you want to keep on reading to the next chapter.

Book: This books big idea was how to connect with God again when you're going through a struggle, and how to over come it and grow with your relationship with God instead of turnig away from him.
A story

Evaluation/Relevance: This is an excellent book for a discussion because it has many questions, and it had several points to elaborate on and Paul writes in a way people can relate to when they are struggling with something. I think this book was so good for me because I was dealing with a death at the time I read this and it helped me over come the situation and not walk away on my relationship with God. I learned that God is always there, and even when we face something challenging and we walk away on him, he will never walk away on us.

Title: The Shack

Author: W.M. Paul Young

Pages: 248

Genre(Tags): Fiction, Religious

Reviewer: Riley Douma

Rating: 4/5 stars

Author: WM. Paul Young was born in Canada, and although he has written many books, The Shack is what he is best known for. Lots of his inspiration for religious writing, he says, came from the writing of C.S. Lewis, who also is known to explore difficult questions regarding faith.

Book: Missy, Mackenzie Allen Phillip’s youngest daughter, was kidnapped during a family vacation. Evidence suggests that she was murdered in an abandoned cabin deep in the Oregon wilderness, and Mackenzie is unable to fathom why God would allow such a thing to happen. Deep in the grip of “the great sadness” of depression, he receives a mysterious note seemingly written by God himself, inviting Mackenzie back to the shack.

Evaluation/Relevance: The Shack is a gripping read, although the first half or so is difficult to talk about in group discussions because the first chapters mainly focus on setting up the story. Once Mackenzie reaches the shack however, it speeds up a lot, with great opportunities for questions and controversial discussion.  The author did a good job in turning a story into a devotional, which I liked very much. This book is definitely an eye- opening worthwhile read, however the beginning is slow and, though very good, it is not perfect which is why I gave it a ⅘.

Title: The Shack
Author: W.M. Paul Young
Pages: 248
Genre(Tags): Fiction, Religious
Reviewer: Jeremy Kampman
Rating: 3/5 stars

Author
● William Paul Young (born May 11, 1955) is a Canadian author, best known for the novel
The Shack.
● William Paul Young's writing style makes you feel a connection with the characters.

Book
● After Mackenzie's daughter dies, he enters a time of depression. When he goes on
a trip to the place his daughter was killed, he meets God and spends the weekend with
God, learning to forgive and to let go of his daughter
● This book really only works from a third-person point of view

Evaluation/Relevance
● Definitely an easy book to write PCR's about and talk with others about.
● Someone could probably make a number of connections to the book, or not maybe not. I
don't know what their life is like
● I learned a bit through the book, not a lot but not a little.

Title: The Shack
Author: W.M. Paul Young
Pages: 248
Genre(Tags): Fiction, Religious
Reviewer: Braden Bussoli
Rating: 4/5 stars

Author

WM. Paul Young was born a Canadian and raised by missionary parents. He suffered a greatlss as a child and young adult, and now enjoys the "wastefulness of grace" with his family in the Pacific Northwest.

He writes this book as a fiction book but makes very real points in the book that we can use through our life as a Christian.

Book

Mackenzie Allen Phillip's yougest 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.

Evaluation/Relevance

This book has many unanswerable questions. I found it hard to create a group discussion throughout most of this book. It takes a while to get into the meat and potatoes of this book because it needs many chapters to set up the story.

After finishing this book I was actually able to take a lot from it. The author is able to turn a fiction book into somewhat of a devotional. I enjoyed reading this book, but however I didn't find the book perfect. Since it takes a while to get into the story, I was quite as interested in the story as much as I would have liked to have been.


Title: The Shack Author: W.M Paul Young Pages: 248 Genre: Fiction Reviewer: Sheela Steendam Rating: 4/5 Author: Paul Young Writes in a way we can all connect too and understand. He grew up with missionary parents in a stone-age tribe. Book: The Shack is about a man, Mack, coming to terms with God by visiting Him at a shack. Mack has trouble believing God loves everyone because of what happened to his daughter a few years earlier. God appears to Mack as an African American woman, Jesus as a lumberjack, and the Holy Spirit as an Asian women. Mack builds relationships with each of them. Relevance: The first discussion for the book is hard because it takes awhile before anything to talk about happens. The rest has more to talk about. It kind of helps to understand the trinity if you have an open mind.


Title: The Shack Author: W. M Paul Young Genre(tags): Fiction/ Story Reviewer: Julia Kendra Mulder Rating: 4.5/5 Author: W. M Paul Young is said to have been born in Canada to missionary parents and was raised in New Guinea. He now lives with his wife and four wonderful children in the Pacific Northwest. His style of writing is straightforward and easy to follow. The simplistic diction is fitting to the story. When an uncommon term arises, it is thoroughly explained. Book : This intriguing story commences with the main character , Mack and his children out on a camping trip when Mack’s youngest daughter , Missy disappears. Mack is faced with trials and sorrow when an assumed serial killer is suspected to have kidnapped her. Fast forward several years and he is invited back to the shack where his daughter had allegedly been murdered. This invitation was sent by an anonymous source. Mack is shocked to discover who invited him to the shack and the events that take place there. The Shack makes you question your beliefs about the trinity and how they appear. Much can be learnt about forgiveness life after death and much more! Evaluation/Relevance: This book made for some excellent PCR’s and discussions. I think this is due to the fact that there were a lot of big controversial ideas in it that gave us a lot to talk and write about. Also it had some parts that were confusing, so in discussions we got a better understanding of the story and what took place in it. There were a few elements that could relate to class ideas, and I could relate some aspects to my own life, but in a much smaller scale. This factor makes the rating a little lower than it should be. I learnt a lot about myself and some spiritual aspects as well . I would recommend this book to anyone , definitely a worthwhile read!

Title: The Shack
Author: William Paul Young

Pages: 256
Genre: fiction
Reviewer: Riley Bouwman
Rating: 4.5

Author: The author that wrote this book is a Christian author. He is a Canadian and his book that he published has been sold over 10 million copies of it.

Voice/style: The shack is written like a story.

Book: Big idea/ summary- his youngest daughter gets kidnapped and they phone the police and go to try and find her. The police have been trying to find this criminal for a very long time and still haven't caught him. Mack decides to go to the shack alone but finds nothing but most of the book is Mack spending time with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu and he comes to terms with Missy's death and his relationship with the three of them.

Evaluation/Relevance: good for discussion, PCR
Is was pretty easy to talk about this book because just how the author makes you think in a different way. The PCR part was kinda hard to write about because I didn't learn so much and I couldn't connect my life with the book.

connected to class: The book talks about God and we are in bible class so it relates. life did you learn from this book?  I kinda did learn from this book how we should keep and open mind about Jesus and how they look.