. . . Fr. George Heyman for his review of “The Shack.” This “assisting priest” has written a very to-the-point review of this novel, and also sets the record straight about noted anti-Catholic writer Dan Brown. He writes:
“It’s a novel! I kept telling myself this is a novel. And it’s not a very good one at that! William Young’s The Shack fits into the nouveau genre of blending the religious and the fictitious in such a way that both canons of western literary tradition are equally offended in the process.”
He goes on to say:
“The language is so mundane that the most challenging word in the English language in its two-hundred plus pages is the word ‘expectancy.’ In short, it’s written at about the level of a Middle School Literature assignment.”
He continues:
“Needless to say, Mack (the main character) ventures down to the shack . . . where he meets ‘Papa’ (who as you might expect turns out to be God, but now portrayed as a black woman stereotypically singing and baking), while Jesus is busy making furniture and Suraya (a Native American word for ‘wind’ – hence the Holy Spirit) turns out to be an Asian woman.”
My personal opinion of this book is exceedingly low. It is not worth the paper on which it is printed. It is simple, trite, and un-challenging. At least the DaVinci Code had some blood and cassocks.
I would encourage you to read the rest of Fr. Heyman’s review, found here in the Church of the Resurrection bulletin from Sunday: http://content.seekandfind.com/bulletins/06/0209/20100321.pdf
Tags: Orthodoxy at Work
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