The+Shack

The Shack by William P. Young


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 * ^  ||   || • Does the author's use of language (diction and syntax) draw you in, or put you off?

• How would you describe the style: lyrical, pompous, complex and wordy, easy and straightforward, humorous, or offensive? ||
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 * ^  ||   || • Are the characters convincing ? Do they come alive for you? How would you describe them — as sympathetic, likeable, thoughtful, intelligent, innocent, naive, strong or weak? Something else?

• Do you identify with any characters? Are you able to look at events in the book through their eyes — even if you don’t like or approve of them?

• Are characters developed psychologically and emotionally? Do you have access to their inner thoughts and motivations ? Or do you know them mostly through dialogue and action?

• Do any characters change or grow by the end of the story? Do they come to view the world and their relationship to it differently? ||
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 * ^  ||   || • Does the plot hold your interest ? Does it keep you turning pages? Does it move briskly or unfold slowly?

• What is the story’s central conflict ? Is it between characters, a character and society, a character and nature? Is it internal—an emotional struggle within the character? Does the conflict create tension, even suspense, to hold your interest?

• How is the story told— in chronological order? Or does the author play with time, veering back and forth between past and present?

• Is the plot simple or complex ? Are there subplots related to the main plot—or separate, distinct story lines, operating independently and merging at the end?

• Were you surprised by the ending? Was information withheld till the end? Were there cliff-hangers at the end of chapters? Did that irritate you or make you want to read on? ||
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 * ^  ||   || • Can you think of the work’s themes, or its larger meanings? What might the author be trying to get at, to say?

• Symbols intensify meaning. Can you identify any in the book—people, actions or objects that stand for something greater than themselves?

• Does the author use irony —a different outcome, or reality, than expected. Irony mimics real life: too often the opposite of what we want or intend happens. ||