The Shack is a Christian novel by Canadian author William P. Young, a
former office manager and hotel night clerk, published in 2007. The novel was
self-published but became a USA Today bestseller, having sold 1 million copies
as of June 8, 2008. It was the #1 paperback trade fiction seller on The
New York Times Best Seller list from June 2008 to early 2010, in a publishing
partnership with Hachette Book Group USA's FaithWords imprint. In 2009 it was
awarded the "Diamond Award" for sales of over 10 million copies by the
Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.
The title of the book is a metaphor for “the house you build out of your own
pain”, as Young explained in a telephone interview. He also told radio host talk
show Drew Marshall that The Shack "is a metaphor for the places you get stuck,
you get hurt, you get damaged...the thing where shame or hurt is centered."
Plot The novel is set in the American
Northwest. The main character is Mackenzie Allen Philips, a father of
five, called "Mack" by his family and friends.
Four years prior to the main events of the story, Mack takes three children on
a camping trip to Wallowa Lake near Joseph, Oregon stopping at Multnomah
Falls on the way. Two of his children are playing in a canoe when it flips and
almost drowns Mack's son. Mack is able to save his son by rushing to the water
and freeing him from the canoe's webbing, but unintentionally leaves his
youngest daughter Missy alone at their campsite. After Mack returns, he sees
that Missy is missing. The police are called, and the family discovers that
Missy has been abducted and murdered by a serial killer known as the "Little
Ladykiller." The police find an abandoned shack in the woods where Missy
was taken. Her bloodied clothing is found but her body is not located.
Mack's life sinks into what he calls "The Great Sadness".
As the novel begins, Mack receives a note in his mailbox from "Papa," saying
that he would like to meet with Mack that coming weekend at the shack. Mack
is puzzled by the note—he has had no relationship with his abusive father
since he left home at age 13. He suspects that the note may be from God,
whom his wife Nan refers to as "Papa." Mack's family leaves to visit relatives
and he goes alone to the shack, unsure of what he will see there. He arrives
and initially finds nothing, but as he is leaving, the shack and its
surroundings are supernaturally transformed into a lush and inviting
scene. He enters the shack and encounters manifestations of the three
persons of the Trinity. God the Father takes the form of an African American
woman who calls herself Elousia and Papa; Jesus Christ is a Middle-Eastern
carpenter; and the Holy Spirit physically manifests itself as an Asian
woman named Sarayu. The bulk of the book narrates Mack's
conversations with Papa, Jesus, and Sarayu as he comes to terms with Missy's
death and his relationship with the three of them. Mack also has various
experiences with each of them. Mack walks across a lake with Jesus, sees an
image of his father in heaven with Sarayu, and has a conversation with
Sophia, the personification of God's wisdom. At the end of his visit, Mack
goes on a hike with Papa, who shows him where Missy's body was left in a cave.
After spending the weekend at the shack, Mack leaves and is so preoccupied with
his thoughts that he is nearly killed in an automobile accident. After his
recovery, he realizes that he did not in fact spend the weekend at the shack, but
that his accident occurred on the same day that he arrived at the shack. He
also leads the police to the cave that Papa revealed, and they find Missy's
body still lying there. With the help of forensic evidence discovered at the
scene, the Little Ladykiller is arrested and put on trial.
Publication Young originally wrote The Shack as a
Christmas gift for his six children with no apparent intention of publishing it.
After letting several friends read the book he was urged to publish it for the
general public. In 2006, Young worked with Wayne Jacobsen, Brad Cummings and
Bobby Downes to bring the book to publication. They had no success with
either religious or secular publishers, so they formed Windblown Media for the
purpose of publishing the book. The Shack achieved its #1 best selling
success via word-of-mouth and with the help of a USD$300.00 website; it is
often reported that nothing else had been spent on marketing up to September
2007. Additional startup funds were supplied by Brad Cummings, president of
Windblown Media, who spent the maximum credit limit on 12 personal credit cards
in order to publish the book. Reception
The Shack went largely unnoticed for over a year after its initial
publication, but suddenly became a very popular seller in the summer of 2008,
when it debuted at number 1 on the New York Times paperback fiction best seller
list on June 8. Its success was the result of word of mouth promotion in
churches and Christian-themed radio, websites, and blogs.
As of May 2010, The Shack had over 10 million copies in print, and had been at
number 1 on the New York Times best seller list for 70 weeks. The Shack was
also released in hardcover, and translated into Spanish as La Cabaña. In
June 2009 a German translation with the title Die Hütte – ein Wochenende mit
Gott was released. it was also translated into Croatian as "Koliba" and
it became very popular in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In his "Doctrine" series, Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll criticized
The Shack for presenting a non-Biblical view of the Trinity, including the use
of graven imagery, goddess worship, and modalism. Evangelical author Chuck
Colson wrote a review called "Stay Out of The Shack," in which he criticizes
the attribution of "silly lines" to characters representing the three
Persons of the Trinity, and the author's "low view of scripture". R. Albert
Mohler, Jr. called The Shack "deeply troubling" on his radio show, saying
that it "includes undiluted heresy". Apologist Norman Geisler has also
weighed in with a critique outlining 14 theological "problems" with the book.
Theologian Randal Rauser has written a generally sympathetic guide to The Shack
in his companion volume Finding God in the Shack. In the book Rauser responds
to many of the objections raised by critics like Colson and Mohler.
Wayne Jacobsen, one of Young's early collaborators, wrote a detailed response
to several common points of criticism. His column "Is the Shack Heresy?" was
published online by Windblown Media. Legal dispute
In July 2010 the Los Angeles Times reported that The Shack had "spawned a
tangle of lawsuits over royalties and even the book's authorship." Young
claimed that he was owed $8 million in royalties, Jacobsen and Cummings filed a
suit against Young, Young asked the court to dismiss or stay the claims,
Jacobsen and Cummings responded. Hachette, the commercial publisher
involved, asked the court to determine to whom it should pay royalties from the
book. On 10 January 2011 the court declared that it had been advised that
the case between Young et al. and Jacobsen et al. "has been settled or is
in the process of being settled" and the case was dismissed.
Film adaptation A movie adaptation is currently in
development. Forest Whitaker will star and direct the movie.
References in other works The Shack was referenced by Stephen King
in his 2010 title, Full Dark, No Stars, which is a compilation of four novellas.
In the final novella, A Good Marriage, the protagonist recalls that her husband
recommended she read The Shack and he said the novel was "a life-changer."
References External links
The Shack Official Website Windblown Media Official Website
Paul Young's Official Website Interview with William P. Young by
broadcaster Sheridan Voysey