Skipping Christmas
Christmas with The Kranks
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- £3.99
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- £3.99
Publisher Description
The bestselling novel behind the iconic movie Christmas with the Kranks
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded shops, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes and no unwanted presents.
That's just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they'll kip the holiday altogether.
Theirs will be the only house on the street without decorations, a Christmas Eve bash or even a tree. Because come December 25th, 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 . . .
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. (On-sale Nov. 6)
Customer Reviews
Skipping Christmas
Funny!!!!
Brilliant
Another Grisham novel made into a movie, "Christmas With The Kranks". A very witty read that lifts you up and leaves you feeling very festive.
Funny & lighthearted
I loved this book. I found it very funny & different to the author's usual novels. Quick read and really has a festive feel