Renee Roissier Miller

Has anyone suggested that you read The Shack by William Young?

Yes, the book has been recommended to me.  Off the top of my head I can think of at least five people who suggested I read it.  I did read it and I am glad I did, though it did not have near the impact on me some had hoped for.  My thanks to all who suggested I read it.  If you have not read it and plan to do so you may want to wait to read my thoughts on the book that follow, they reveal quite a bit of the story.

OK, thoughts on The Shack- a quick glance at the back of the book was all it took to see why it was recommended to me. The main character lost a daughter to violence and there were enough similarities to my losing Renee and the grief that followed to make the book seem like a custom fit to my situation.  Not to take anything away from those who were moved by the story, it really did not have a similar effect on me.  I suspect the story reads quite a bit differently to those who have not experienced the type of devastating, unexpected and senseless loss that I have endured with Renee’s death, and just read it to validate faith they already possess.  I was left with many more questions than answers and I found several parts of the book very disturbing.

Again, I am glad I read it, partially I suppose because it is something relatively current I can discuss with people.  I have lost most of the passion I once had for politics and current events.  I guess it may be insightful to see what my philosophical starting point was when I read the book. Prior to Renee’s death I would have described myself as agnostic leaning toward a belief in some sort of higher power.  After her death I am not even sure I have that little bit faith though I do at least consider the possibility some of the kindness and generosity I have been shown by others may be divinely inspired.  There are truly good people out there which does somewhat balance the pure evil my family has experienced.  This may be as close to God as I get.

I found the book way too flowery, almost new age, and lacking in substance for my taste. Even the term the author applied to his grief as the “great sadness” seemed somewhat empty to me.  “Great sadness” is technically accurate but really doesn’t do justice to the gut wrenching misery, hopelessness, anger, hatred, helplessness and myriad of other emotions that follow someone you love being stolen from you.  It doesn’t begin to convey what I went through when I not only didn’t know if I was going to live or die, I didn’t really care.

Casting God as a cross between Aunt Jemima and Julia Child was rather amusing and original but the Holy Spirit portion of the Christian trinity was seemingly inspired by Shirley McLaine, I found it almost condescending or maybe it was written for a younger audience. The main character’s questions when given the chance to speak to God were for the most part superficial and not what I like to think I would ask if given the same opportunity.  One salient point I did take from the book was when God was asked by the main character why his daughter “had to die.”  God replied, “she didn’t have to die.”  I do agree his daughter didn’t have to die, nor did Renee.  Wasn’t part of any plan, it just happened.

The part of the book I really found disturbing wasn’t revealed until the end of the story.  The protagonist has been describing a weekend visit with God, at God’s invitation and we find he never actually went to the agreed upon meeting place.  Instead he was in a near-fatal auto accident on the way to his destination and was, in fact, comatose in the hospital for the weekend.  It struck me as odd the only way to meet with God involved near death. Darker still when during the course of the story the man lamented not bringing his wife to meet God, and God said she could have come but you didn’t want to tell her about our rendezvous. Would she too have had to have her body crushed and hovering near death to see God?

Maybe I was too close to my tragedy to be as inspired as some were with this book, but my thinking is – if I need the near death experience to get answers, no thanks. I’ll wait.  I care little about my own pain but my family has suffered enough.  If given the choice I would never want them to see me busted up, near death while on a spiritual journey, even if I did come out happier at the other end.  The piece where our character was given the choice of staying with his beloved, dead daughter to play forever in God’s gardens or going home to his family scared me a bit.  My family needs me here but I likely would have followed Renee anywhere if I had the option.  It may be for the best I don’t really believe Renee is waiting patiently for me to join her.  It would be real tempting to speed up the process.

The author in my opinion gets real lazy at the end of the book.  We find bodies, catch a murderer, and tie up a bunch of loose ends in just a couple of sentences.  Prior to the end of the story our author waxes on using hundreds of words to describe various aromas emanating from God’s kitchen as she cooked breakfast and other superfluous events.

I will end my review here and at some point may re-read the book to see if my perspective changes with time.  Again, thanks to those who suggested the book and while some of my observations may seem to contradict, I am glad I read it.

-jamie