The Shack by William Paul Young

Nope sorry.

Could you give a short description and perhaps highlight some issues with the book you want discussed ?
 
Basic gist: Dude's daughter is kidnapped by a serial killer. He does his thing to her, which has to do with being a serial killer. Dude starts doubting his faith. He gets a letter from God asking him out to the Shack where his daughter's body was found. He goes and guess who is there?

The serial killer. No, just kidding, that would be unrealistic. It is actually the Holy Trinity that is waiting on him. God, in the guise of a black woman, Jesus, who looks quite Jewish, and the flitty little Spirit chick.

Mack, the dude, spends the weekend with the three, hanging out, walking on the lake with Jesus, and eating some of God's home-cooked vittles. Most of the book is these conversations, which have the tone of a typical Christian wondering why his religion is so fucked, and one of the trinity explaining it to him. In a way that doesn't sound so fucked. Almost.

So... I need a book review up tomorrow or the next day, and I am having a hard time figuring out which way to go with it. I am trying to not let my atheism bias me too much, but it is difficult. The book has over 5 million copies in print and is a NYT #1.

I guess I was hoping you guys had good things to say, so that I could plagiarize some of them.
 
swivel said:
...So... I need a book review up tomorrow or the next day, and I am having a hard time figuring out which way to go with it. I am trying to not let my atheism bias me too much, but it is difficult. The book has over 5 million copies in print and is a NYT #1.

I guess I was hoping you guys had good things to say, so that I could plagiarize some of them.
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?? what kind of book reviewer are you? Either you liked it or you didn't.
 
Orleander said:
?? what kind of book reviewer are you? Either you liked it or you didn't.
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Not a very good one, to be honest.

Here's my problem: I think the book does a great job at supplying rationalizations for modern Christians who aren't sure how to untangle some of the problems their faith has been saddled with over the years by Chuch councils.

But several of the ethical problems, such as the idea that people should be forgiven for even the abduction and murder of children, or that God loves people equally, no matter how they live their lives, or the concept of all evil being the fault of one man (Adam) seem to be promoting what I feel is a vile system of moral thinking.

So, the book does its job well, but I think that job is not to be recommended.

I ended up posting my third review of the book, one that is harsher than my first, but more forgiving than my second. I could only give the book a single star, but I think any Christian looking for pat answers to difficult problems will find them here, even if I think the answers are wrong.
 
Any recommendations, swivel, for other good books in the genre? I liked American Psycho.
 
spidergoat said:
Any recommendations, swivel, for other good books in the genre? I liked American Psycho.
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Heartsick by Chelsea Cain is a good serial killer/murder mystery book. Some really gruesome scenes (not on the level of American Psycho, but few books can say that anyway)

The Monster of Florence is a great true-crime book about an Italian serial killer that didn't get much press over here. The author is a bigtime fiction writer that got mixed up in the investigation. One of the best books I read last year.

The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death is a very good book by Charlie Huston. It takes 20 pages to get into, but after that you can't put it down.

Daemon by Daniel Suarez is the best book I've read in ages. More of a techno-thriller, but just so damn good it is hard to describe. Everyone should give it a read.

I linked to my review for each, if you want to get more info on the books.
 
I'm on chapter 24 of Heartsick. The writing is somewhat awkward, but not bad, and it takes place in Portland! That's where I live. I know all the streets that are mentioned, I have even been kayaking at all the spots where the bodies were found.
 
spidergoat said:
I'm on chapter 24 of Heartsick. The writing is somewhat awkward, but not bad, and it takes place in Portland! That's where I live. I know all the streets that are mentioned, I have even been kayaking at all the spots where the bodies were found.
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I liked the book. The sequel is good, but not as good as Heartsick.

I did an interview with Chelsea Cain a few weeks ago. She seems like a very cool person.
 
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