For the right reader, this is definitely a 5. But you have to be motivated and have some theological background or you will not plow through the difficult chapters. Personally, I love Alcorn's books, but I also know that his theological works take some time to digest, and you need to be motivated to look up the Scripture passages. ( )

My rating obviously reflects my opinion, however I also want to explain also that I believe that I am not specifically his target audience.
My biggest qualm with the book as a whole is that it, like many others of similar disposition, gives answers that are too easy for topics far too difficult. While he certainly does take time to acknowledge that hurt is not merely a weak reaction or an indicator of "weak" faith, he still ends up at the same place as others. While this may bring comfort and truth to the "faithful," I can't help but think how short these words fall for those that are truly trying to understand how a God that so many claim to be good could make such evil possible. Not until the end does he begin to dig into something I believe he could have spent a larger portion of his time on(rather than quoting endless sources without always getting helpful insights from them). This being the fact that we do not handle suffering very well. Since most of his audience(this may be a hasty assumption so feel free to correct if this is unfounded) would be those in the western church, it is an even larger point that really could be highlighted. He speaks to this some at the beginning when he says that people only think of God negatively when negative events happen in life rather than reversing these points to think positively. I believe that this greatly cripples us(myself a white American with a college education) as we seek to understand a life seeking after God's will. One that tells us to take up our cross and follow Him. Easy answers does not aid this along and I really wanted this to be a more messy book(because of its topic), but it came out neat and tidy overall with the same answers you here for everything. I believe Philip Yancey has done a great service in seeking to grapple with the problem of evil. I can not recommend him enough.

For those that are in the more conservative camp, who he seems to aim for, I believe there are some insights here that may be new and for this I cannot give it a lower score. While I certainly would not claim to understand God, etc. better than more conservative folk, I believe this is a topic that has been largely avoided with even easier answers(I have a history in the conservative church, so I'm not speaking from inexperience). I believe each pocket of the Christian body has much to give to others, and I am grateful that this message is starting to seap into the conversation. This is a topic worth wrestling over, not simply accepting as life.

While this book may be more eye-opening and helpful for others, I found myself amazed that the amount of material covered really needed to be spread over 500 pages. As I mentioned before, the quotations from other sources were extremely lengthy and not always necessary to further a point. I believe more editing could have served this book well. ( )