The Bottom Line: Skip Skipping Christmas unless you have also been sucked into a grossly materialistic Christmas, or have reprehensibly nosy neighbors, in which case you can probably see its humor.
thmeeks's Full Review: John Grisham - Skipping Christmas
Imagine being John Grisham: You’re popular and successful beyond most authors’ wildest dreams (except for J.K. Rowling). Your books are usually made into high-grossing movies starring the likes of Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise. Suddenly, you feel the urge to branch out into more “literary” genres. You start up a new literary magazine, The Oxford American, which is very well received. You write a book totally unlike your formulaic thrillers, A Painted House, and you hit another home run. Then you write Skipping Christmas.
I’m used to curling up with a Grisham book and not coming out until I’m done. His plotting and characters are so good, the pacing so quick, that you find yourself telling the family to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner as long as they leave you alone, thanks very much. Not so with Skipping Christmas. At a mere 177 pages, it’s by far his slimmest volume. It took me over a week to plow through this book.
Perhaps I’m just not familiar with the ludicrously expensive, materialistic, frenzied type of Christmas to which his main characters, Luther and Nora Krank, are accustomed. Perhaps he’s trying to use hyperbole to illustrate the true meaning of the season. Whatever he’s doing, reading that the Kranks spent over $6,000 on their previous Christmas seriously challenged my suspension of disbelief. Are there really people who spend more than $300 on Christmas cards? I suppose there are, but I don’t know any of them.
Is the idea of skipping Christmas really so revolutionary? Surely Grisham is aware that Christmas is one of the busiest times of the year for vacations to Hawaii and other exotic locales? The book’s approach to Luther’s idea to take a break from the whole crazy season - that it’s so radical the Kranks risk the ostracization of their neighborhood and community - is absolutely unbelievable. I simply don’t buy it. I couldn’t even find the humor in the book because of the ridiculous plot.
As Luther and Nora bravely forge ahead, their neighbors assault them with loud Christmas carols and nasty signs on the front lawn. The couple feel obligated to hide out in their house, speaking in whispers whenever one of the many persistent seasonal visitors (who gets a Christmas tree delivered these days?) stops by to ask for donations or attempt to sell them something. Both Kranks endure menacing and snippy comments from friends and neighbors at every turn.
If Grisham had whisked Luther and Nora off to the tropics as they gave the single finger salute to all the idiotic and nosy people populating his novel, I might have enjoyed the book after all. Instead, he forces the Kranks (and us) to endure their forced march back into the madness of the season.
Blair, their loving daughter, joined the Peace Corps and shipped out to South American the previous month. On Christmas Eve, just as Luther is fully enjoying his store-bought tan and the pleasant thoughts of warm breezes on sandy beaches, Blair calls to say she’s coming home with her fiancee. Does Nora, who has only tentatively bought into the whole idea of skipping Christmas, get up the gumption to tell her daughter they’re leaving? Even before this moment, you have to wonder if these people write letters or make phone calls. Grisham is constantly reminding us (actually, beating us over the head with foreshadowing) that Nora is so very worried about her daughter. I think logical options would have been 1) Make yourselves at home, honey, and we’ll celebrate when we get back or 2) We’ll see if we can get two more tickets for the cruise. But, no, Nora lies through her teeth and then goes about rustling up a good, old-fashioned, $6,000 Christmas for her daughter.
Again, I hard time accepting the plot. I’ve bought Christmas trees on Christmas Eve, but Luther cannot find any trees except for pitiful remnants that make Charlie Brown’s tree look lush. He winds up “borrowing” a tree from his neighbor and is almost arrested by the local police, who are already ticked off at him because he didn’t buy his usual dozen copies of their calendar. Must be a really small town is all I can say. Call the police here to report a stolen Christmas tree and I would bet you’d get laughed off the phone. Meanwhile, Nora is hurriedly running around town trying to find a turkey - again, I’ve been in the store on Christmas Eve and they still have food - but can only find smoked trout. In between these escapades, Luther and Nora frantically call every person they know to try and have their traditional Christmas Eve party. All must seem perfectly normal, you see, for Blair and her intended.
With only six hours before the love birds arrive, the Kranks pull out all the stops trying to mask the fact that up until Blair’s phone call, they had no intention of celebrating Christmas. The only redeeming points of this book come in the last pages, when their nosy neighbors pitch in to help them (rescuing Luther from a sure death as he desperately attempts to hook up the mandatory Frosty on the roof - you can see the Frosties on the book’s cover), and the Kranks wind up donating the cruise tickets to a neighbor with a terminal illness.
I hate to be the only dissenting review so far as I see my fellow Skipping Christmas reviewers really liked the book. If you can buy the book’s plot, I suppose the humor then follows. Otherwise, I think it’s best to skip Skipping Christmas.
Luther and Nora Krank are fed up with the chaos of Christmas. The endless shopping lists, the frenzied dashes through the mall, the hassle of decorati...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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