The shack book how many pages

There is no way I can convey the impact of the thought-provoking and possibly life-changing conversations we become privy to. I don't know that you would much care for the book if you were a total athiest, not atuned to the spiritual at all, but people of all spiritual and religious persuasions will find aspects of this book deeply worth pondering.

You must read it. The following section contains what might be some spoilers for some people, but I wanted to mention them being a little vague as parts of the book that I particularly appreciated. When Mac is telling his guests about his family and stops saying, "Now here I am telling you about my kids and my friends and about Nan, but you already know everything that i am telling you, don't you?

I am not talking about rational fears regarding legitimate dangers, but imagined fears, and especially the projection of those into the future. To the degree that those fears have a place in your life, you neither believe I am good nor know deep in your heart that I love you. You sing about it, you talk about it, but you don't know it. And this about lies not the lies people tell to stay out of trouble, but the lies we believe about ourselves or others as a defense mechanism : "Lies are a little fortress; inside them you can feel safe and powerful.

Through your little fortress of lies you try to run your life and manipulate others. It was a mirror to reveal just how filthy your face gets when you live independently. There were other parts that I thought were dubious theologically.

I thought there was so much real good valuable stuff that these departures could be overlooked. Anyway, the counter at the bottom of this box says I can writ almost more characters, but I will not. I must say, you have to read this book. Don't miss out on this.

I am very serious. While most of my friends seem to have a love or hate relationship with this book, I can't say that I do. I am the rare reader that didn't have a strong opinion about this book, one way or the other. I found it to be good and entertaining enough, but I didn't find it to be life-changing or especially inspirational for me. It was certainly a change from my usual type of story, so that was refreshing in a sense.

However, in the end it was in the "good but not great" category for me. Mack is expectedly devastated and distraught. He is also exceptionally angry at God, feeling that a worthy god wouldn't have allowed such a heinous crime to occur to such an innocent young girl as his daughter, Missy.

Understandably, Mack is never the same man after the loss of Missy. His relationships are forever changed as he drowns in his own guilt and misery. He has lost faith and turns his back on God. When Mack receives a note in his mailbox from God, luring him back to the cabin where his daughter was murdered, he doesn't know what to think.

Could somebody be so cruel as to play this type of a sick joke on him? Is the murderer still watching and toying with him? Could the murderer want to kill him as well? Is it possible that Missy could still be alive? Mack doesn't know what to think. However, he knows that he won't be able to rest until he gets to the bottom of it. Borrowing a Jeep from a friend, he sets out for the cabin - the site of his worst nightmares.

During his time at the cabin, Mack has if forced to confront his loss of faith. Over the course of the book, he gets the closure that he needed and leaves a changed man. It was about as rosy as it could get for a book that centered on the murder of a child. Personally, I didn't feel any great sense of peace or satisfaction while reading this story. While I can see why some people felt that this book restored their faith and gifted them with a greater sense of empathy, it just didn't work that way for me.

I saw where author was going, I just wasn't jumping on board that train. In fact, I think I was more upset with Missy's killer by the end of the book than Mack was. I couldn't let it go. I wanted vengeance and justice for her young life. I wasn't going to be satisfied unless the child murderer was found and put to death.

That's just me though, I'm bloodthirsty like that. I'm also not what I would consider to be a very religious person. I don't offend easily and I respect the views of others.

I was raised as a Methodist, but I'm not a devout follower by any means. That being said, nothing ever amazes me like the lack of tolerance that many self-professed "Christians" have for anyone with views that differ from their own. Not that this is a phenomenon exclusive to Christians either. We all know them, they're the "my way or the highway" and "what I believe is right and your beliefs are wrong" people.

A quick glance at the reviews for this book revealed that it has garnered lots of that type of attention--no big surprise there. On the one hand, I can see that the author attempted to bridge the gap and present a book that might cross religions. However, since the book was so heavily based on Christian principles and beliefs, this attempt fell flat. It was clear that the god presented was based on Christian teachings.

Yet, even amongst Christians there are many differences in theology. This author focused largely upon one of those areas where different denominations have varying beliefs -- free will vs. The author was clearly in the "free will" camp.

Not surprisingly, readers who fall in the "predestined fate" camp will take issue with one of the major premises of the story. If you are able to appreciate a story that has strong religious themes that may or may not align with your beliefs, then you might enjoy this one.

I found it to be a good story, but I would have liked to feel more of a sense of justice. Things at the end were too nice, tidy and convenient for me. If I were a more religious person, I might have enjoyed it more, or I might have despised it It might be a great choice if you're looking for somebody's response to the age-old question, "Why does God let bad things happen to good people?

Check out more of my reviews at www. Note: After several friends challenged me to read the book again I assume they wanted me to upgrade The Shack to five stars , I indeed read it a second time.

As a result, I downgraded it another star. There are things I noticed the second time I didn't the first. Added to my review below are several more specific drawbacks of the book. Unfortunately, every one of these would have been pointed out by first or second year writing students, which simply reiterates my main point below: Shame on you Wayne Jacobsen for ruining a good book by not bothering enough to edit this properly.

Simply because you wanted another "anti-organized-church" book on the market, and probably saw this as a vehicle not a good one for that purpose either is not an excuse for allowing the following: 1. Sloppy synonyms: No one outside of bodice-rippers uses the word "visage" for "face". I lost count how many times this word is used.

It is an example of the author reaching for the thesaurus when he got bored. Elementary writing classes teach "In dialogue, use the words "he said" instead of "he opined" or other such synonyms".

I would gladly pay for Young to take a writing course in lieu of Jacobsen editing another of his books. Inconsistencies of plot: In one scene, the narrator - who is supposedly writing down what the main character told him - tells us what is playing on the television while the main character is passed out.

How can he possibly know this? Second, why does it matter? The plot is full of these little annoying inconsistencies. The biggest and most annoying is this vague reference to a possible murder of his father. Couldn't the boy just run away from home? Did he really have to spike the dad's beer with rat poison? Did the dad die?

If he does, why haven't the police come after him? If he doesn't, what is he apologizing for in the great forgiveness sequence? As I said, these inconsistencies are glaring. I re-read one paragraph where the author uses nine similes! Two of them concern tears and are in the same sentence. Someone please sit this author down and explain that similes and metaphors are to open windows. We don't need an entire glass factory delivered to us every page. I listened to an interview with the author.

He explained that this book started out as a transcription of conversations between him and God and that the story was a convenient way of bringing those conversations to light. That makes sense. It also explains why the conversations go on and on and on and on. The plot stops every time there is an elongated conversation. Young, please read the Chronicles of Narnia and see how to write a half-page dialogue that says more by saying less.

Unfortunately, this is only the start of what is beginning to annoy me about a book that I wanted to like. Read below for my full review. That's an understatement. There are no Spoilers in this review. Before I began reading I wanted so much to like this book.

Partly because I respected the friends who recommended it and partly because this is the author's first book. As some of you know, I personally believe that most authors have one great book in them and it is often their first see Tracy Chevalier and J. That is why I was somewhat disappointed with my reading of the first few chapters. The writer could have used a ghost writer to clean up his prose. He overwrites like a young author. Specifically, he uses too many deliberate similes and altogether too many adjectives.

In fact, on the same page he uses three different similes to describe the wind. Can it really be a food group and a sigh at the same time? I digress. He also gets "cutsie" with his description of the main character Mack. The author needs to choose a voice to speak from. The third person omnipotent is not working for him. If you're not familiar with that POV, it is the tendency to describe what every character is thinking. Usually writers choose third person specific, meaning they know the thoughts of only one person.

But later the author figures this out and sticks with the main character and lets him discover the story as it happens. So, I guess my only real criticism is that the author is not a tremendously skilled writer. Therefore, a quarter of the way through the book I was ready to be done with it.

Then I was delightfully surprised by what happened next. It seems he did an about-face as soon as he came to the kernel of the story. See how a store is chosen for you. Restrictions apply. Pricing, promotions and availability may vary by location and at Target. Loading, please wait Free 2-Day Shipping. Same Day Delivery. Please select a store. Deliver to Edit zip code. Ship it. This item isn't sold in stores.

Help us improve this page. About this item. Specifications Edition: Large Print. Number of Pages: Sub-Genre: Christian. Format: Paperback. Publisher: Shack. Age Range: Adult. Book theme: Suspense. Author: William Paul Young.

Language: English. Street Date : May 6, TCIN : UPC : Description Book Synopsis After his daughter's murder, a grieving father confronts God with desperate questions -- and finds unexpected answers -- in this riveting and deeply moving 1 NYT bestseller. Review Quotes "When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fefertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress did for his.

It's that good! About the Author Wm. Paul Young was born a Canadian and raised among a Stone Age tribe by his missionary parents in the highlands of former New Guinea. The caption: "Don't forget, they grow up. Is it possible to craft a space for community and conversation free of the divisiveness of politics or religion or ideology Subscribe and let's find out.

Purchase The Shack. Can't wait to read it! The Shack is such an amazing story.