Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 4129
 I cannot believe I actually read this! March 17, 2010
Kasyy (USA)
I am sorry - other reviews are so glowing - but I hated this book - and cannot believe I finished reading it - I should have stopped midway throught when it started to annoy me.
Annoying - is the best thing I can say about it - I thought most of it was drivel - and I was thoroughly and most definitely depressed when i turned the final pages.
 The Shack Reviewed March 17, 2010
Spellman (United States)
I just finished "The Shack" while on a ski trip with my elder son. I had to make him drive the entire 10 hours to northern Vermont, I could not put this book down. I found the author's view of the Trinity fascinating and God's relationship with man refreshing. We ALL have misconceptions of who God actually is, his plan for humanity, his overwhelminmg love for us, and the consequences of the freedom he gives us. I would hope everyone, Christian and non Christian alike, will take the time to read this book and gain a better understanding of God's "Will" for his greatest creation; US.
Don't know what all the "Buzz" was about March 15, 2010
Pamela J. Blount (Ozona, Texas)
The Shack was for me just an OK book. I found it somewhat boring and speed read on most pages that didn't pertain to the little girl and the message. I understood the message,and the concept was interesting, but it could have been written better? The bones were there but the meat didn't stick for me. My opinion only, don't lynch me!
Is it because if Oprah reads it, then everyone that reads it feels the need to agree that it was the "best"?
Not a murder mystery and a lesson on buying via the Kindle March 14, 2010
J. Decker (Austin, TX)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Downloaded the book via the Kindle store - sounded like an interesting read and got good reviews. Book took a weird and unexpected turn about 1/3 of the way in. I tried to make it through but just couldn't - I had to give up while god was making pancakes and Jesus was passing the syrup. Had I actually read the reviews I would've known that it was a Christian book. Part of me thinks this was the intention of the author - some sinning atheist accidentally reads the book and gets saved. Unfortunately, the story goes so over the top I don't know how people of faith can even make it through. Key lesson - use the web to shop for books, especially if you want to try something new!
A maudlin, manipulative, meandering manifesto March 14, 2010
Florentius (New Jersey, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book was mentioned to me by various unrelated people, a few claiming that it had "changed their lives." I had never heard of it and was shocked to discover that it was a huge bestseller. Therefore, when a copy of it was put into my hands, I was eager to read it.
Well, now that I've read it, let me just say that my time could have been put to better use watching dust bunnies roll across the floor. The Shack is a maudlin, manipulative, meandering manifesto.
Any time an author tries to put words in the mouth of God--even a few words--readers' caution flags should go up. This book puts entire chapters into the mouth of "god"--and Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and a personification of "Wisdom" for that matter. It would be one thing if these words were completely in line with Scripture and Christian tradition. Of course, they are not--far from it! The author mixes New Age junk in with Scripture to create a stew of half-truths which often sound good on the surface. But the author tips his hand in several places as to what his true agenda might be.
In short, we learn:
Our view of God as "Father" is a product of religious conditioning.
Jesus's life was not meant to be an example to follow.
Jesus did not come to build an institution called the Church
The real church is about "relationships and sharing life".
Jesus is "not too big on religion."
Jesus isn't a "Christian" and has no desire that others become "Christians."
God doesn't expect us to obey the Law. In fact, "all things are lawful."
Of all these lies propagated in The Shack, the last one is arguably the worst. It is also the most easily refuted, using the actual words of Christ as opposed to what the bogus "Jesus" of The Shack says:
"Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled. He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:17-19)
There's lots more airy-fairy nonsense packed into this book, but a wise reader should have figured out by this point that The Shack will not lead you to a true spiritual epiphany in any Christian sense.
In my opinion, this book was meant to help rich Americans reconcile a depraved lifestyle with an external embrace of Christianity. Interestingly, the supernatural being known as "Lucifer" never appears in The Shack. If you ask me, the reason for that omission is fairly obvious. On that note, I would recommend that anyone who is tempted to read The Shack check out The Screwtape Letters instead.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 4129
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