48 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Santa Shop, November 16, 2002
By A Customer
This is a truly engaging story; once started, putting it down was NOT an option. It is rare to find a book that allows you to feel as though you walk the journey yourself. The social undertones of The Santa Shop with its vivid portrayal of homelessness brought me through the currents of life that can sweep any person to that place. The author has done a wonderful job of bringing together the despair that so many feel in the holiday season and the hope that can be found even when your not looking for it. This a very well written novel that captures the meaning of Christmas in a way that is rarely depicted. I think it's a must read and I am so glad I did!
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66 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An emotional story that will stay with you, June 17, 2011
I normally have a set outline for reviews, but this book has left such an impression on me that I felt compelled to deviate from that format. There is a good reason for this and I will explain. This story is about a man who had a horrible Christmas experience that brought him to a suicidal state one year after that tragic incident. For me, I have never been suicidal, but Christmas has always been an emotional time for me due to similar reasons. My mother died just two weeks before Christmas when I was nine years old. The doctors knew she wouldn't make it and warned my family to prepare for her upcoming death. Brain cancer had left her in a very weakened state, but she wanted to see me and my younger brother open our gifts one last time. So we celebrated early with her that year. Then just a few days later, the cancer won the battle and took her from us. When the actual time for Christmas arrived, my father, brother, and I were in a rather depressed state. A few small, cheap gifts were exchanged. My father was trying, in his own way, but he wasn't our mother who did Christmas in a big way. Also, despite medical insurance, the cost of cancer had left us nearly destitute.
We tried to hang in there that first year. My father attempted to play the dual role of mom and dad, but eventually his depression caught up with him. Alcohol became his alternative and what money we had went toward feeding that need in him to drown out his sorrows. Our Christmas' became a decorated tree with little or nothing under them. Every year, I would cry myself to sleep and mourn the loss of my mother who had always known how to make holidays so special. By the time I had reached fourteen, it became too much. I planned ahead and saved every dollar I had, usually it wasn't much, maybe twenty or thirty total. Then, just a couple days before Christmas, I would go to whatever store was within walking distance to purchase little gifts for my brother and father. I wrapped these meager offerings up and placed them under the tree with the order they not be opened until the appropriate time.
Once Christmas eve had arrived, I would drag my brother to the living room and awaken my father from his drunken stupor. Under my supervising eye, they would open those gifts and each might give a smile. It wasn't much, but somehow I had to make the holiday better for them. They had both fallen to depression, drinking, and other things by this time and I was the only one hanging on. In some way, I was trying to give them a bit of happiness. Then, after the wrapping was cleaned up, my father passed out again, and my brother back in his room, I would go off alone to cry. I had done what I could. All the holidays until I left home seemed to pass this way with only one or two minor exceptions.
That first Christmas when I was eighteen years old was spent in Army barracks in North Carolina. I had just arrived at my unit two months before and only the soldiers who had been in the unit longer were given leave to go home. Perhaps not more than a dozen or so of us were left and I didn't know the others. I sat in my barracks room with its ugly cinder-block walls, once again depressed and even more alone than ever before. Then someone started pounding on all the doors, ordering us out into the hallway. We stumbled out, it was perhaps around 7pm so most hadn't gone to sleep, yet it was dark outside already. They told us all to go to the barracks entrance steps. I didn't want to and argued against it, but they told me it wasn't an option. To my surprise, upon reaching the entrance, a gathering of families were outside singing Christmas carols for us. It was a very cold night, yet they braved it to give us a little cheer. We even received cookies as a small gift. The children smiled so happily, knowing us soldiers needed that extra lift for the holiday. For ten minutes they stood there, just singing in chorus, in the cold, before moving on to the next building. It touched my heart to see people who selflessly came out on their holiday evening to show that they remembered us. The soldiers who sat alone in the dreary old barracks. Maybe they will never know how grateful I was for that kindness, but I hope they did.
So you are probably wondering why I related my story to you. Well, if it touched you at all, then this book will as well. It is about depression, Christmas miracles, and people giving out of the goodness of their hearts. I couldn't read this all in one sitting. It brought out my own memories and caused tears to pour forth from my eyes. I had to walk away from it a couple of times, but always felt compelled to come back and read more. It touched me deeply and I'm glad I read it. For this reason, I'm giving it five stars. Any author that can write a story that pulls so deeply at my heart is truly talented. You will not be sorry for having read this story. It is truly a beautiful tale.
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26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Every town should have a Santa Shop!!, January 7, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: THE SANTA SHOP (Paperback)
Tim has written a wonderful book, more about life than Christmas, which was an inspiration to me. His characters are alive and you feel as if you know them. You hurt when they hurt, love when they love, and feel what they feel. His descriptions put you right there and I wanted to help!! So much of life packed into this story, and I was wishing for more at the end!
A must read for everyone; read it to your children! I will be watching for this author's works!!
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