Dec 30, 2001 02:31 AM
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(Updated Dec 30, 2001 02:32 AM)
Skipping Christmas is not a long engrossing read like most Grisham books. It is a very short satire on the excesses of Christmas. At first glance, it might seem to be a throw away-something Grisham tossed off to please a publisher. But the reader who gives him/herself a chance to get into the story will be happily surprised.
Face it. Few people have the time during the holidays for a lot of reading. Most are also looking for light reading to relax and reinforce the warm holiday ''glow'' we are all supposed to be feeling. Hence the popularity year after year of Christmas fiction. This book is no exception to that theory. There are though some fun comic twists before the inevitably sweet ending.
The premise is simple. Luther and Nora Krank, facing their first Christmas without their only child, decide to skip Christmas and go on a cruise. Luther's plan is to totally skip all activities associated with the holidays. There will be no tree, no parties, no cards and no decorations. This results in an intially funny but increasingly menacing reaction from their neighbors. Their street, it seems, is the usual winner of a local decorating contest-thanks mainly to matching giant snowmen on each family's roof. Just about the time the reader is getting bored with Nora and Luther's fending off of each traditional activity, the Grisham twist appears. To tell anything further would spoil the ending.
So is Skipping Christmas great literature? No Way! Not even great Grisham as far as I am concerned. BUT-it absolutely does pass for a read in front of the Christmas tree with a cup of Hot Chocolate. Just a little warm fuzzy moment for your winter.
