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
Book Description
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded
malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents.
That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide
that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether.
Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock
Street without a rooftop Frosty; they won’t be hosting their annual
Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree.
They won’t need one, because come December
25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple
is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous
consequences–and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.
A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a
hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our
holiday tradition.
