the shack

I just started reading The Shack a few days ago, and now that I'm past the incredibly distressing beginning, I can't seem to put it down.  But...it's different from what I expected.  And not even different in an "expected" way, if that makes sense.  The writing isn't remarkable and the premise is more than a little bizarre...but it's doing something for me, at least, beyond what any other ordinary writing or story has done for me before.  And it's doing it with a most loving subtlety.  I can be a picky (okay, snotty) reader, and I was getting a little skeptical pretty early on in this book.  You know, wondering if it was all it's cracked up to be.  But around chapter 5, this little tipsy-seeming boat embarked on a journey far bigger than I expected it to.  

A few short phrases into a dialogue between two key characters, I felt something surprising.  Just a little thing, like a pinprick.  Soft, tiny, attention-getting.  Just, there-- as I was reading.  And then another.  And another.

I've felt a sense of recognition while reading other books (The Great Divorce being a recent example), but this is something different.  I definitely want to write and think more about it...and, of course, finish reading it, which is probably best accomplished when my eyes will stay open as well as the book covers are managing to.  

More to come later...lovin' this book.