Skipping Christmas is a comedic novel by John Grisham. You heard that right. A comedic novel by the John Grisham, the author of The Firm and other thrillers. And, to be honest, he has a terrific sense of humor.
This story begins the day after Thanksgiving as Nora and Luther Krank are saying goodbye to their only daughter, Blair, as she embarks on a year long Peace Corps adventure in Peru.
As the Kranks are sharing their goodbyes with one another at the absurdly crowded airport, we see Luther’s ill will towards the holiday season begin.
This is the first time ever that the Krank household will be without Blair on Christmas.
Nora mourns the fact that this will be the first time that the three of them have been apart from each other on Christmas, ever.
That night, Luther, restless, finds his way down into the basement where he keeps all their financial records. As a trained accountant, Luther makes quick work of auditing last year’s Christmas receipts and finds that, after rounding and not accounting for this and that, they spend $6,100. $6,100 on gifts, decorations, and entertaining his guests at their annual Christmas party. And not to mention the chaos of having to fight the crowds at the shopping centers; or having to climb up onto the roof, risking life and limb, to put up decorations that will have to come down in a month; or hordes of people he hardly knew or liked visiting his house on Christmas Eve. It was enough to give anyone a headache.
This was the wake up call Luther was looking for, the excuse as to why he and Nora should skip Christmas this year, and instead take a 10-day cruise to paradise (which would be half the cost of what they had spent on Christmas the previous year.)
It only made sense, Nora herself had continually said that Christmas wouldn’t be the same without Blair.
The rest of the book hilariously follows the Kranks as they experience the trials put upon them by their neighbors, co-workers, co-volunteers, and friends as they test the Kranks on their choice to skip Christmas. The Kranks prove to be unmovable, unshakeable, that is until Christmas Eve day when they receive an unexpected phone call from Blair. She’s coming home for Christmas and she has a surprise. What are the Kranks to do?
This book is probably the most honest take on the holiday season that you will ever read. Everyone can relate to some aspect of this book. Whether it's the excessive spending on gifts that will be used once and then discarded or donated, the polite extortion of assumed generosity by the local door-to-door donation callers, or the Salvation Army Santa Clauses and their endlessly ringing bells, or the gatherings with people you hardly know (or like) to put in the face time to show you’re a good and caring member of your community even though throughout the rest of the year no one hardly talks to each other, or extravagant decorations that took hours or days to put up only to come down less than a month later.
With that said, this book also presents the best of people at Christmas time: how the neighborhood pulls together to help each other in a time of need, or how the smallest acts of generosity at the right time can help to change someone’s life.
Be warned, do not read this book during the holiday season. You may just be tempted to skip the chaos of Christmas and decide to take a cruise instead.
If you liked this book, check out our "The Book vs. The Movie" blog to see how it compares to the movie!
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