Book Report Number A

The Shack by William P. Young.

This book has found the magic formula that vaulted this story to the tops of best seller lists.

The formula: One part underexposed genre + two parts great story + three parts mediocre writing.

Hey, it's the formula that has Stephanie Meyers with two books on the top 10 list. It put Catcher on the Rye on the "classics" list. And now it has put The Shack at the top of every Christian's must read list, including an endorsement from the Super Bowl losing quarterback that was so terrified of tackling that he would rather get out of the way and lose the super bowl.

This book is a must read if you have no understanding of God, the Gospel and the Atonement. I compare it to a the Twilight books because it really is a great story, unfortunately the author kept it from being a great book.

The story of a grieving father finally coming to terms with the lose of his daughter and finding forgiveness for himself and his daughters killer through an exceptional experience with God was a great story. The unbelievable attempt to try and make God out to be everything He is not was disrespectful at best and at many points goes way beyond blasphemous.

This book really is nothing more than one man's attempt to explain things that he d0es not understand. If you are looking for an explanation of the current economic problems, would you really ask George W. to explain it to you? It would be like asking Al Gore to have a rational thought or Barack Obama comparing his done nothingness to Abraham Lincoln. In other words, if you are looking for directions to the nearest Target shopping center, this book is like calling someone that lives in another country for the quickest route.

However, this being said, if you have time, it is a short read (8 - 9 hours) and there are a few parts that did make me think, even if it was not the direction of thought the author had intended. You may learn something, you'll just have to wade through all the gobble gook and squirm at the blasphemous portions to get there.

My recommendation: Read something by Thomas S. Monson or Alma instead.

Spoiler Alert:

To save you the trouble of reading this book, there was one passage that I thought almost made it worth the read. Mac was brought before a woman and told to be judge. He refused, but she said he must judge all humanity and God Himself. She told him that of his 5 children he must choose 2 to send to heaven and eternal happiness and send the other 3 to hell and damnation. He couldn't do it. She explained that when we judge the things that happen in our lives and the people around us, we are judging God. Not only that, but imagine being a loving father that had to judge his children and send them to eternal torment. No matter how horrible my children may be, I would never want anything less than complete happiness for them. However, that is the the judgement seat God must fill.