Book Summary: The Shack By William Paul Young

The Shack, written by William Paul Young, is a fascinating book that takes you through the journey of the Philips family whose youngest member, Missy, gets kidnapped during a camping trip. This book is a fictional book with many unexpected twists and turns. The Shack takes place in present day at Wallowa Lake, located in Joseph, Oregon. Although there are many characters that make up this book, the main character in The Shack is Mackenzie Allen Philips. Mack, father of five, is a man of his forties overwhelmed by the loss of his youngest daughter Missy, better known as the Great Sadness. He is a tall man with scruffy brown hair, starting to become bald in the middle of his head. Mack is nice to everyone and is always trying to reach out to his oldest daughter Kate, whom is traumatized over the abduction of Missy. Four years after Missy’s death, Mack receives a note card in his mail box asking him to come back to the shack for the weekend, signed Papa. The shack is where Missy’s torn bloodstained dress was found, and seemingly is the location of her murder. Also, Papa is what Nan, Mack’s wife, calls God. When he gets …show more content…
When he got there, he wasn’t sure if it were a prank because nobody was there. But then, everything turned to spring and Papa appeared as a Native American woman who loves to cook. She takes Mack on a journey which in the end relieves him of the Great Sadness. He walks on water, meets the Holy Trinity, and even sees one of Kate’s dreams with John, Tyler, Josh, Kate, and Missy in it! Before Papa sends Mack home, he showed him a cave near the shack. When Mack went home, he realized that only one day had gone by. He went into Joseph and reported the cave to Thomas. When they opened the cave, they found the bodies of all the kidnapped and murdered girls, including Missy. When Nan and the kids got back in town, Mack talked to Kate and told her that Missy’s death wasn’t her