It starts out with this older man that has experienced a great tragedy. (The
great sadness) as stated in the book. He lost his daughter to a pedophile when
she was kidnapped and murdered. They were having a family outing and a boat
over-turned. He was the rescuer. But as he was helping someone else, his
daughter was on land, and was whisked away within minutes. It happened years ago
in an old shack. But they never found her body. It changed him. He could never
be the same again.
The winter was especially cold and freezing. The
mailman was unable to deliver mail for days. The man’s mailbox was frozen shut.
The man was finally able to get it open. There was a letter in the mailbox. He
couldn’t for the life of him figure out how that could be, when the mailman
hadn’t been there, and the mailbox was frozen shut. He opened the letter. It
said,” Meet me at the shack.” and it was signed,” Papa.” It was very upsetting
to him. Who would do such a cruel thing? The shack was the last place that he
wanted to go. How could he possibly go there again? Finally out of curiosity he
decided to go, but he would tell no one. When he arrived there, he encountered
God, Jesus, and the holy ghost. But they were represented as very unusual, and
bazaar deities. The tail goes into his past, about how he put poison is his
fathers beer and burnt their house down after years of abuse. He is able to see
his father in a different light and learns to forgive him. He learns about his
daughter’s attacker and about her last moment before she was murdered. He learns
about her attacker and about her attacker’s life. He finds his daughters body.
He was given a choice to stay and see his daughter alive, or go back to his wife
and children. It was the hardest choice he would ever make.
Now I’m
not going to tell you the end, because I want you to read the book.
If you
are a realist, and want a book that is well written literature, you probably
won’t like the book. But if you have an imagination and enjoy a good story,
you’re in for the ride of your life. I loved the book. I couldn’t put it down
once I started reading it. You will see things in a way that you have never seen
them before. I guess you would say there is a moral to the story. If you don’t
believe in God, you will not like the book. Some religious leaders approve of
the book and encourage reading it. Other religions don’t want anything to do
with it because it is not biblically correct. You can judge for yourself.