THE SHACK

I didn't read this huge bestseller, but I bought it. It happened this way: When my wife and I were doing our annual book shopping for the winter months ahead at Chapters in Halifax in the fall, I threw in THE SHACK---just for fun. THE SHACK(or the Crap Shack, as I like to call it) is a huge, huge, religious-like, feel-good bestselling novel which is still number 1 on the charts today after being there for tons of weeks.

You see, I wanted my wife to read it, and report her findings to me. I waited months for her to get around to it, and she finally did. All the time, I was watching her reading it through the corner of my eye trying to register her reactions. She finished it! I asked her what she thought. The following is the dialogue that ensued.

Bernie: Ah, you read THE SHACK? What did you think?
Wife: (suspicious look) Why did you buy this? Why didn't you read it yourself?
B: I wouldn't waste my time, it's....
W: YOU wouldn't waste YOUR time!? But you think it's OK to waste MY time? You...
B: Wait! wait! wait! I can't read books like that because I'm too biased. You can read shi..cra..stuff like that and although it can be really sappy, you can find the worth in it. You can find a voice in the book and its intent which usually makes it a good read. I just wanted to know.
W: What?
B: What you thought of the book.
W: It was OK. Well written, suspenseful. It kept you reading, a good message I guess for some people.
B: And?
W: What?
B: Is that it? No great revelation? No breakthrough religious experience?
W: Read it yourself.
B: Well, tell me this. Overall. How is the book overall?
W: Ooooh, crappy.
B: Aha!
W: Oh don't go feeling so smug, it's a nice little fable for people who like that sort of thing. In the book, God was a big Black woman.
B: Oprah?
W: No. He meets God at the end, and she's a big Black woman.
B: I always thought of God as a midget with a big stick.
W: We're getting low on books, we got to go back to Chapters.

So there you are, my review of THE SHACK---well, around about review, anyway. But I'm confused, didn't you think God was a midget with a big stick?

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