The Shack -- In Summary

    What is there to knowing something with acute certainty? To be free within our lives in a way we've never before believed is a lovely thing. There is closure and awakening in The Shack, and I think that there is no way that two readers would come away feeling the same way about this novel.

     Yes, it explains our lives in relation to Christianity in a bunch of ways. But it also encapsulates the true meaning of a God being present anyway, whether you're a believer or not.

     A profound sense of calm emanates from me when I finish this book each time. I learn something else, read each passage a different way, and feel just a little closer to God each time. The book doesn't preach religion (if you're able to take it with an open mind). If anything, it centuries established religion on the way it tells our reader that personal religion doesn't have to be practiced anywhere but in our hearts. It is there, brick and mortar church or not.

     Our character loses his child and steps away from the world because of it. Through the healing power of knowledge and awareness of his life, he finds his way back to the world -- and back to his family.

     He does not miss his daughter less, nor does he stop trying to make certain that justice is received. He, instead, learns not to be angry at God for what has come to pass as the relationship to god is defined in a way which everyone understands. It reminds the reader that god does not pass judgment and he does not cause the things which happen. He merely set into action the world and watches it pass.

     The whole of the novel is up-lifting and everything about it speaks to a better understanding of the relationship between not only God and Jesus, but also the Holy ghost. It further explains the relationship between those three and the human element.

    I, personally, enjoy every page of this book and truly enjoy that the book is written from the point of view of such a normal and every-day character. Everything about this novel lends itself to be read and understood by everyone on their own terms, though it does take a clear and open minded point of view to be able to read and understand this novel for what it is. It will help many have the faith they are looking for, even when they haven't realized that they are searching for it.

     I really would recommend this novel to anyone who loves to think and to expand his/her awareness of the world. The novel makes short work of everyday questions about God and the ever present question of why?

   I truly enjoyed re-reading this book and will shelve it once more to re-read it again someday.

~Emily