From Killer to Kinkade, A Review of the Shack, Part 2

Killer

I won't go into a lot of details about the book's plot. It is horrendously sad and I cried several times as it forced me to think about my own daughter. In truth, there is probably no worse thing on the planet than having your tiny child ripped from your protection by a psychopath and being needlessly abused and probably murdered (the 'probably' lighting the pain on fire). And so Young makes his task ambitious: he's gonna take The Problem of Evil to the shed, or The Shack, as it were. That is either incredibly hubristic, painfully dumb or rightly ambitious.

But I have to admit, he hooked me. I want to know that there is some sort of emancipation at the end of Mack's hell. I want to know what glory awaits those who persevere despite the suffering. Though the whole premise is exceedingly fantastical (read=unbelievable), you don't really care because you want answers. I want answers.

Da Plot

Anyway, you should know that upon the disappearance and determined death of his daughter, Mack gets a note, beckoning him to hang with 'Papa' (his family's word for God) at the shack, where they found the only remnants of the tiny girl. Now that is, by far, the creepiest part of the book. It reminds of that horrible Silent Hill video game where a dead wife sends a note to her husband to meet her in a godforsaken location. And, yet, Mack decides that it would be a grand idea to go.

Mack, we had come to find out at this point, was seminary trained but kind of non-religious. I.e., he was normal. He knew a lot but didn't "know" a lot, if you catch my drift. And yet, he was a conscientious family man who loved his wife and kids desperately. That was until he had entered The Great Sadness, as it is referred to throughout the book. And that is, of course, understandable. It is honestly surprising that Young didn't have him fall further. Though he experienced deep pain, he seemed to be holding up quite well. But not well enough, I guess. And so he heads out to the shack with a gun.

Kinkade

Now you know how the story goes. When Mack finally returns to the malevolent shack, he gets teleported, or transported, or something, to a new world. Think Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 70's version, of course) where the kids descend into fantasy, a sugar laden utopia. What was there is now gone. The snow, the cold, the ominously evil shack. The scene Young depicts is really what you see in any Kinkade painting. And this is exactly what is needed. This is exactly what you want to happen, to feel. Warmth, safety, grace.

Soon Mack is inside the boisterous log cabin, conversing with God.