Missy Philips, Mack's youngest daughter, was abducted when the family went on a camping trip. The search conducted by the local authorities revealed that Missy was kidnapped by a person who has abducted four other children, whose bodies were never recovered. Shattered, Mack, with great reluctance, have accepted that Missy was brutally murdered. He has since then lived his life under the mantle of the
Great Sadness. Four years later, Mack received a note in his mailbox, inviting him for the weekend to the shack where they had discovered clues of his daughter's murder. The note was signed "Papa", his wife's term of endearment for God. Mack thought this was a cruel joke; but he could not help thinking:
What if the note was really sent by God?
It was said that Saint Augustine, while walking along a beach and contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity, met a child who was attempting, through a spoon, to ladle out the water from the ocean into the small hole he created on the shore. When Saint Augustine explained to the small child that this was impossible, the child then replied to the saint that it was likewise impossible for the human mind to comprehend the Holy Trinity.
I thought this was what WM. Paul Young was attempting to do with his novel,
The Shack; and I would have to say that this seems quite an impossible feat. Although I would give him an A for effort, in my honest opinion, the Holy Trinity exemplifies that unbridgeable gap between faith and reason. I see this work as a personal thing between the main character and God, and the author's resolve to spread this wonderful personal experience to anyone who might need healing. There are moments in the novel that tears welled in my eyes because of the affirmation of God's deep love for us, frail humans. There are moments in the novel that I got a bit lost, bored even. So, basically, I feel a mix of emotions when it comes to this book - I like it at one point; I got bored with on the other.
There are people out there who strongly recommend this book and though I will not fall in line, I will have this to say: if you want to read it, go ahead, and discover for yourself what this book will do for you; if you do not want to read it, I will not hold it against you.