Customer Rating: Summary: Enjoyed the difference of this book Comment: I read this without knowing a lot about it so wasn't influenced by anything. I found it a little slow to start with then got quite a surprise when it became obvious what the theme was. I am a christian and found the way the ideas about God were portrayed were very good - OK you might be able to argue here and there about the 'correctness' of some of it but the most important thing was that it gave a great way to understand God and goodness and how and why God doesn't intervene when things go so wrong for us.
I enjoyed the unusualness of this book and it wasn't over-religious for those who might be worried!! Customer Rating: Summary: indifferent theology, but poor quality literature Comment: As a Christian myself, I don't want to be too harsh on a book which seems to mean well, and has clearly spoken to many. But as a piece of writing, 'The Shack' really is extremely poor: wooden, clichéd, pedestrian, and excruciatingly sentimental. Unlike other reviewers, I have no particular bones to pick with its trinitarian theology - but there are any number of accessible books that tackle problems of suffering and the nature of God better than this. (One thinks of the work of C.S.Lewis, for example, which stands head and shoulders above this nonsense.) I suspect its success is to do with the way in which `The Shack' has been marketed to an evangelical Christian constituency, in such a way as to persuade them that buying a whole set of these books for a friend is really an act of faith and evangelism - a marketing ploy that borders on the cynical. This sort of thing does no real credit to the cause of thinking Christianity. In short, if you are used to reading decent quality literature (whether you are religious or not), give this one a wide birth. Customer Rating: Summary: Typical American Schmalz Comment: People who say that this is the best book they've ever read have clearly not read many books and are totally ignorant of all the great literature of the world, past and present. Far from giving anyone faith, as so many claim, it is enough to put them off religion. It's badly written, sentimental and theologically dubious. A waste of time! I can imagine Walt Disney making a schmalzy film of it. And the 'Missy Project' publicized at the end of the book seems to me a typically American attempt to boost sales disguised in the form of an attempt save people's souls! Customer Rating: Summary: Sanctimonious and Nauseating - Give to charity instead Comment: Frankly, I feel as if I have been duped into buying this book. As an American, I am deeply ashamed that a fellow countryman is attempting to pass off this sanctimonious piece of nonsense as the truth behind God's relationship with mankind.
Please. If you want to feel better about yourself and do the world some good, take your hard earned money and give it to charity. If you buy this book, you will only be lining the pockets of the charlatan who wrote it. Customer Rating: Summary: The Shack Comment: After much hype and worldwide acclaim, I felt duty bound to get my hands on a copy of "The Shack". Just as the review before mine, I broke a lifelong rule, and abandoned my copy having read half of it (this is extremely rare as I persevere with any book with the hope that it will prove worth the time and effort).
I would never discourage anyone from reading it, but it proved a useless task for me. I always judge books by my own view, and take, of the content. But I am sorry, I have never read so much nonsense, and unbelievably naive dribble in a very long time. And I feel so let down, for believing the hype, and getting no substance whatsoever in return. And I so, so wanted this book to be all that it promised.
