Have you read the novel, The Shack? Have you seen the movie? Which do you prefer?

I reviewed The Shack, the novel, years ago!

I enjoyed the movie MUCH MORE than the book. Seriously. I think I enjoyed the movie more because I believe it gave some background information about Mack, the main character. I don’t recall there being any information about Mack’s childhood and his dysfunctional relationship with his father in the book?

***Spoiler alert!

When Mack goes on a camping trip with his family, sans his wife, his little girl (Missy), goes missing. Turns out she’s been murdered. Mack’s wife refers to God as Papa, and Missy uses the same term of endearment for God. The murder happens in a secluded Shack and when Mack receives a mysterious note in his mailbox, telling him to come to the Shack to meet Papa (God), he thinks it’s a joke.

The movie is about Mack meeting Papa, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in the Shack. He has conversations with each of them, working through his grief. I believe the movie makers added the part of Wisdom. I don’t recall Wisdom in the novel, but, I could be mistaken since I read it so long ago.

I really enjoyed this movie. It shows how hard it’d be to work through grief when losing a child. I know if I were to lose my child, I’d struggle with forgiveness. I’d have been a lot like Mack in the movie (and the book).

Oh, another thing they did in the movie, which they did not do in the book, Mack gets accidentally hit by a semi-truck. The movie indicates in the beginning that he escaped the on-coming truck, then goes to the Shack to meet Papa. But, at the end, after he leaves Papa and the rest of the Holy Trinity, the movie backtracks and he’s then hit by the truck.

When he awakens in the hospital, he tells his friend that he’d gone to the Shack. The friend says it’s impossible – the accident occurred shortly after he left his home to go to the Shack. Apparently, Mack had been in a coma all weekend. The movie indicated the Shack visit occurred in his mind in dreamlike state – kind of like Dorothy waking up at the end of The Wizard of Oz.

So, have you ever read the book The Shack? If so, how do you think it compares to the movie?