Skipping Christmas
by John Grisham

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Book Reviews of Skipping Christmas

Book Review: (4 1/2) A Delightful Christmas Fantasy
Summary: 5 Stars

The plot is simplicity itself - Thanksgiving weekend Blair Krank waves goodbye to her parents (Luther and Nora) and boards a plane to begin her service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Peru. Nora is consumed with worry about her daughter's safety, and Luther soon realizes that the family's Christmas routine of the past twenty-three years has now been completely altered. Being an accountant, Luther soon performs a cost/benefit analysis and reaches the conclusion that the costs of Christmas (financial combined with the psychological and physical stress) outweigh the benefits, especially given Blair's absence. Therefore, he plots how to convince Nora that they should consider SKIPPING CHRISTMAS and enjoy a holiday cruise instead. While she is initially resistant, they eventually agree and plan to avoid the usual Christmas routine (parties, gifts, decorations, etc.) and instead prepare for their holiday respite.

However, Luther soon finds that he has forgotten the other side of the ledger and there are hidden costs to forgoing their Christmas celebration and some overlooked benefits of the usual routine. While a few of Luther's associates are supportive and he suspects many more are secretly envious, Nora's friends view their decision with suspicion and she remains very ambivalent about their plans. Also, they become neighborhood outcasts as their yard remains devoid of decorations and (as depicted on the bookjacket) their rooftop alone on Hemlock Street remains without Frosty the Snowman to celebrate the season. And just when it seems they have successfully overcome all hurdles and their departure is within sight, as is often the case fate takes one last unexpected twist.

Any doubts about the tone and message of this book should be dispelled at the very beginning; after all, who except a Krank would decide not to celebrate Christmas? And yet, there is undoubtedly some aspect of the decision to which every reader can relate. And the ending was close to perfect, with the outcome reflecting the human condition and our relationships very poignantly. The final two brief sentences captured the ambivalence of the book extremely well. The book can be read during a plane or train trip or while relaxing during a winter evening, and its cleverness and Grisham's ability to perfectly capture the essence of the character types involved caused me to round up my rating to five stars despite its brevity and its lack of any true surprises.

As an aside, I also recommend David Baldacci's THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN (review 11/20/02) as another out-of-type story by another well known author for any readers who want a delightful and uplifting Christmas story with a somewhat more complex plot and less predictable storyline.

Tucker Andersen

Summary of Skipping Christmas

Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision.

Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how this tight-knit community turns on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, readers may wonder whether they will manage to board their plane on Christmas day. Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious action or drama of his legal thrillers, but a funny poke at the craziness of Christmas. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

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