Skipping Christmas (Hardcover)

by John Grisham (Author), John Grisham (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home."

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

From Publishers Weekly
For all its clever curmudgeonly edge and minor charms, no way does this Christmas yarn from Grisham rank with A Christmas Carol, as the publisher claims. Nor does it rank with Grisham's own best work. The premise is terrific, as you'd expect from Grisham. Fed up with the commercial aspects of Christmas, particularly all the money spent, and alone for the holiday for the first time in decades (their daughter has just joined the Peace Corps), grumpy Luther Krank and his sweeter wife, Nora, decide to skip Christmas this year to forgo the gifts, the tree, the decorations, the cards, the parties and to spend the dollars saved on a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But as clever as this setup is, its elaboration is ho-hum. There's a good reason why nearly all classic Christmas tales rely on an element of fantasy, for, literarily at least, Christmas is a time of miracles. Grisham sticks to the mundane, however, and his story lacks magic for that. He does a smartly entertaining job of satirizing the usual Christmas frenzy, as Luther and Nora resist entreaties from various charities as well as increasing pressure from their neighbors (all sharply drawn, recognizable members of the generic all-American burb, the book's setting) to do up their house in the traditional way, including installing the giant Frosty that this year adorns the roof of every home on the block except theirs. And when something happens that prompts the Kranks to jump back into Christmas at the last minute, Grisham does slip in a celebration of the real spirit of Christmas, to the point of perhaps squeezing a tear or two from his most sentimental readers (even if he comes uncomfortably close to It's a Wonderful Life to do so). But it's too little, too late. The misanthropy in this short novel makes a good antidote to the more cloying Christmas tales, and the book is fun to read. To compare it to Dickens, however, is...humbug. 1.5-million first printing.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (November 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385505833
• ISBN-13: 978-0385505833
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (908 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #552,397 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All I want for Christmas..., December 4, 2001

By	Jody Thomas "Cookie Whisperer" (Pasadena, CA United States) - See all my reviews

...is to be able to skip it.

Who hasn't said one time or another something to the effect of "next year, let's keep it simple...let's go away for Christmas without family and friends." John Grisham's "Skipping Christmas" is a fantastic, light-hearted story about how we all feel every Christmas...rushed and broke. This pleasant and quick-to-read tale is a MUST for anyone who needs to take some time out during the holidays for a little bit of "brain candy." I took this book with me on vacation with me last week and was able to read it within a day.

Grisham is a comedian, it's a nice breath of fresh air. Everyone should read it...because in the end there's a positive message ringing to the tune of "this is what Christmas is really all about."

58 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A BOOK TO BE READ "BEFORE" CHRISTMAS, November 19, 2001

By	Nancy Martin (Pennsylvania (orig. NY)) - See all my reviews

OK, it's not your typical Grisham courtroom drama but, once again, he makes a plausible argument for "skipping Christmas" in his latest book of the same title. "Bah Humbug", I said, when first hearing about the book's premise until the plans surrounding the main characters' scheduled departure for the Caribbean sounded so enticing that it left me wondering if they might take me along.

While this book is not about doing away with Christmas forever, it's one couple's desire to just skip it, for just one year, and spend the money on a cruise instead. And, why not? Their only child Blair has just left for a stint in Peru with the Peace Corps and they are looking at spending their first Christmas alone in a very long time. But skipping Christmas entirely means not doing anything "holiday" related at all - no cards, no presents, no holiday parties and, most importantly, no rooftop Frosty...the "symbol" of Christmas in their Hemlock Street neighborhood in Illinois. But Luther and Nora KRANK are about to find out what the true "symbol" of Christmas really is -- whether they like it or not.

While their friends and neighbors are appalled at their decision to forego the Christmas festivities, Luther and Nora remain stalwart in their resolution of "no Christmas for the Kranks." Grisham throws some humor into many of the scenes as he has the Kranks hiding out in their own home as carolers sing Christmas songs on their lawn and then has them eating lettuce leaves in an effort to lose weight for the trip.

But it's the end of the book where the true meaning of Christmas will be exhibited. It's not money spent or gifts bought or Frosty's on the roof. It's much simpler and easier than that. The Kranks will find out that the true meaning of Christmas, in Grisham's story, is that of giving...giving of yourself. And, you'll have a good time reading how they get to this point and hoping, just as I am, that all of us will come to this realization during this upcoming holiday season.

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I laughed until I cried!, December 10, 2001

By	Sheryl A. Lemma (Sterling, VA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Who *hasn't* felt the way Luther and Nora Krank feel when they decide to sit this Christmas out? Identification with that feeling immediately connects you to the main characters of this charming, outrageously funny book. The societal pressures the Kranks have to face in their quest for a non-holiday holiday are those that, while made larger for the sake of fiction, we all face when deviating from the norm. More subtly, I imagine Grisham has illuminated what it must feel like to be one of the small groups of Americans who don't celebrate Christmas *any* year.

I dare not say more lest I give away any of the plot of this absolutely terrific book. Just read it, you'll love it -- as long as you're looking for something fun. This book is not meant to be great literary fiction. It is a light-hearted Christmas tale with a sappy ending. (Would you really want anything different for a Christmas story?) It's a quick read (I read it in two hours) and laugh-out-loud funny. I actually laughed myself to tears reading this book -- a first for me!

I highly recommend this tale as a respite from the stresses of the holidays -- perhaps while waiting to get on a plane to your holiday destination!