The Shack

I read The Shack by William Young (Inspirational Fiction selection). A patron recommnded it and gave me his own copy to borrow. I have to say I did not enjoy it. It's about a man, Mackenzie, whose youngest daughter is kidnapped and murdered. 3 years later he gets an anonymous note asking him to come to the shack in the wildnerness where his daughter's bloodied dress was found (she was not found) and it is signed "Pete". Pete is the name his wife calls God. Now Mackenzie has fallen away from God but he goes, thinking it might be the murderer, God or someone who may have an answer. He finds the shack and when he goes into it, it is transformed into a very nice cabin with three occupants, a black woman who can cook up a storm and represets God, a hispanic man handy around the cabin and a great gardner who represents Jesus and a short Asian woman who doesn't speak and who represents the Holy Spirit.

I have to say I didn't know this was inspirational fiction going into it and was unprepared. It is quite heavy handed, not in a condemning way but in the platitudes, how the characters talk and give advice and how it ends. Some readers who like inspirational fiction may not like the crime described within it but may enjoy the personified characters of teh Christian faith (God, HS, Jesus). i will say the description of the food that God created DID make me hungry!