Skipping Christmas

John Grisham has turned a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive 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 suddenly realise 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. An accountant, Luther quickly estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas", and had "precious little to show for it". Luther makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends and neighbours that "we won't do Christmas". Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. All goes well until people get wind of the Kranks' subversive scheme. Everyone, from Christmas card salesmen to horrified neighbours, besieges the couple with questions; what about the Christmas party, carols and the erection of Frosty the Snowman? Things start to turn nasty in the local neighbourhood.

Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how the tightknit community turn on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, will they ever manage to board their plane on December 25? Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious drama of earlier books such as The Pelican Brief, but a funny poke at the craziness of Christmas. --Jerry Brotton

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Great reading. - Rated
Makes you think about the ridiculous things people do in the name of community.Good tale about the futility of the 'happy season' which is anything but.Made me appreciate how isolated my english friends felt when living in America at the xmas time, and how their poor chinese neighbours were ostracised for not following the crowd!

Happy Christmas! Not. - Rated
I picked this up at Singapore airport a few years ago while waiting for a delayed flight. I read it in under 3 hours and have read it twice since as well as recommending the book to everyone I know. It is a hilarious account of Christmas and all the nonsense that goes with it, such as the tedious office party where everybody is forced to go to and pull crackers with people they can't stand.

It is so well written and is kind of like a modern day Christmas Carol with more humour. I couldn't stop laughing all the way through this book and Grisham proves himself that he can write books beside one with a legal theme. Go and read it about a month or two before the Christmas holiday season. It'll really make you want to skip the festivities and go on a cruise somewhere sunny instead!

My Favourite John Grisham book - Rated
I've read a few John Grisham books and this is my favourite so far.

It's very different to his usual genre. The subject and plot are original. It is funny and easy to relate to. This story has really stuck in my mind and I look back on it with fondness.

A Christmas Story! - Rated
This is a very fast read. You will not want to put it down. Read this book in November and you will look at Christmas differrent. I alwasy thought Christmas was a little too comercial. And have always thought of skipping Christmas. But friends and family will not let me.

In this book a couple, The Kranks, decide to skip Christmas and go on a trip instead. Sounds good to me, but the neighbors cannot believe anyone would actually skip Christmas. The story allows itself to send the readers a message about the true meaning of holidays and friendships.

Here's one I made earlier... - Rated
Someone bought this for me a few years ago as a Christmas present and as so often happens, I put it to one side to read later. I've just finished it, and I'm glad I did.

Skipping Christmas follows the fortunes of Luther Krank and his wife Nora. Their daughter Blair has gone off to Peru to do voluntary service and with Christmas approaching, Luther has a brainwave. They will skip Christmas this year, save the money, and hasten off on a Caribbean cruise. (I confess I have often thought the same!) He dashes downstairs, fires up the computer and stares at his spreadsheets. Christmas last year cost him a whopping $6,100, heck a top line cruise for two costs only $5,000! They will skip Christmas and cruise the seas, and already Luther Krank can see string bikini clad tanned girls everywhere.

But nothing is ever as straight forward as that. This is a short novel by Mister Grisham's standards, indeed by anyone's standards, being only 178 pages and small pages at that. It is almost as if this is a throwaway one "he made earlier" when he had nothing better to do, but that would be unfair. I read it in a weekend. The writing is crisp; the dialogue spot on, and as in all of Grisham's books, the narrative is delivered very much tongue in cheek, through his unmistakeable dry wit.

For me, this wit has never been successfully reproduced in the accompanying Grisham adapted movies, resulting in the books, almost invariably, being considerably better than the films. This book made me laugh out loud several times, and anything that can do that, makes it money well spent. I liked it a lot, and hope you will too.