A Christmas Story

The book supports the movie.

There are events that happen in the book that will slightly change how I view the film now; Adding to Ralphie's story in a good way.

I could visualize Jean Shepherd narrating throughout my reading since Shepherd's voice (same voice narrating in the movie)... is so distinct.

If you love the movie - definitely read the book.

I wish that I had read the book before I saw the film. Isn't that a constant refrain among readers? Anyway, I was sorting through books setting aside a mound of them to take to the Friends of the Library used book sale when I came upon this little jewel. I couldn't bear to give it away without reading it one more time. Ah, the memories. This good is a collection of some of Jean Shepherd's autobiographical writings that have been collected from a variety of sources. The tales of a boy growing up in a small town in Indiana during the Depression enlighten, amuse, and make one long for a somewhat simpler time. Who could every forget the discovery that a Little Orphan Annie decorder ring is really a gimmick to see more Ovaltine. That realization will make you distrust marketing forever. Also, the hilarious pitched battle between the husband and wife over the leg lamp won in a contest. But, of course, my favorite is the tale of the Red Ryder carbine action 200 shot range model air rifle that is the core of the story. "You're going to shot your eye out, kid." A wonderful book. I'm not sure that it's going to the used book sale. I might need to keep it for a while.

I'm a huge fan of the movie, it's an integral part of my Christmas tradition, so I was happy to read this book.

Shepherd's writing style is lovely, a combination of comfortable and sarcastic. The movie stuck pretty closely to the book, with a couple of minor changes to make it more holiday specific, so a lot was very familiar.

There wasn't a lot of character development, but I saw this more as almost sketch writing rather than story-telling, so that's OK. His language and descriptions however, were spot on. I think I would have been able to "see" - although maybe not quite as vividly - the scenes even if there hadn't been a movie.

I liked the story, but I prefer the movie.

I'd recommend it as light holiday reading.

I gave up with this one in the middle of the 3rd short story. I found it boring and not very funny. But then I've never seen the film that apparently springs from these reminiscences, and don't have the necessary American childhood for me to feel the nostalgia, so don't trust my judgement! It just wasn't what I was hoping for. On to something more uplifting.

Please note that I gave this book 3.5 stars and rounded it up to 4 stars on Goodreads.

Who hasn't seen "A Christmas Story?" I have been watching this movie since I was 6 years old and it's been a holiday tradition in my family that every year we watch this. Heck, I am not going home this year, but my brothers, sister, and I are still going to watch it and group chat. My favorite scene hands down is always watching how proud the Old Man was watching Ralphie playing with his BB gun that he wanted for Christmas.

Reading the book that inspired the film I can say that I was a bit disappointed with the structure. Since I am so familiar with the movie and can quote that thing off the top of my head, the book only really focuses on Christmas for one part of the book. The other parts occur at different times of the year, and I thought the last part focusing on the Bumpus's family was off-putting and pretty gross in parts.

The book starts off introducing the book and tying it into the movie that many readers may know about. From there it goes into the quest for the Red Ryder BB Gun. There are course are many of the same scenes in the movie so we have the whole "you'll shoot your eye out." and even the same admonishments from his teacher and Santa Claus, however, he still gets his gift, the day before Christmas. Apparently in this household, Christmas Eve was when all of the presents were opened by this family, with Christmas Day all of the other relatives showing up to provide gifts. We also do get that scene were he almost did shoot his eye out, but lied to his mother about what happened and got away from it. I found parts of this story sweet and found myself smiling throughout.

We are provided other details about the terrible Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, The Old Man and his special award, his fight with a bully named Grover Dill, and how much the family hated it when a clan of hillbillies (the books words) called Bumpus moved in next door. I am really surprised with how well the movie/screenplay was since the movie intertwines everything quite beautifully. The book jumped around a lot and maybe it wouldn't have bothered me so much if I did not have the movie playing in my head as background while reading.

I thought the writing hit the right level of nostalgia for childhood things like snow storms, being warm in the house, and love of Christmas and Santa Claus. After that though, we get Shephard's comments on marriage (his parents) and how they work. I thought looking at the major award section and how his father and mother quietly dueled over the lamp that my mother would have outlawed in our home too was pretty funny. However, unlike with the movie, this causes a three day freeze between his mother and father, before his father finally breaks the silence and everyone goes to the movies afterwards.



The flow didn't really work though in this one I have to say. I think it's because we have Shepard using a present incident (like the woman who was screeching about the terrible toy industry to him as an adult) to recall his childhood affection for his Red Ryder BB Gun. We get another off segue when Shepard does his best to hit on some woman (sounds like this took place during the 1960s) and is thwarted by her female lover which leads to him talking about his parents struggle over a lamp.

The setting of the book takes place in Indiana during The Great Depression. I didn't really get a sense that the family was struggling, which is weird, cause my grandmother before she passed away still was all about never throwing out food and keeping everything she had ever been given because she always had a fear about running out of food or needing clothes and blankets. She also passed this along to my mother who was a pack rat and this is why if any of you ever visit my home you will see how minimalist I am. I do a yearly purge because I still dream of rooms filled with old blankets that scratch and smelled, but we had to put on our beds every winter because they were still good.

Shepherd does a great job though with describing his neighborhood and the times of the day and how everyone was crazy for prizes in newspapers along with listening to the radio every night.

The ending was a bit of a letdown though. The book abruptly ends and I thought it needed an epilogue or something included since you feel like another story is just waiting to be told.

I read this for the twelve tasks of the festive season, task 8, the movie ticket.

Fudge!! What a great book. It doesn't even have to be read around the holidays. SOOOOO Good!!!

Update, 12/9/23:

This is still 3.5 stars rounded up to four. The danger in rereading some things is that they sometimes don't live up to how you remember them. The book as a whole is exactly what I expected (which is why it took me 12 years to reread it), but the Bumpus essay at the end, while still very entertaining and still the best one in the book, isn't quite as hilarious as I thought, at least it wasn't this go-round.

Original Review, 12/8/11:

Jean Shepherd wrote a series of semi-autobiographical essays, and put them in a collection entitled In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash in 1966. Four of those essays, and one other that was published in Playboy also in 1966, were used to make the now classic movie A Christmas Story. I've never read any of Shepherd's stuff before, and was hesitant to dive into the whole In God We Trust book because while I'm a fan of humorous essays, diving into a large collection of them is asking a bit much, especially when I have a million unread novels on my "to read" list.

If you find yourself in the same state of mind, then this is the book for you! It covers all the salient points of the movie and is a pleasure to read. Being a humorist, and a bit of a liar from what I've read on the internet, it's impossible to tell when Shepherd crosses the line from semi-autobiographical into pure fiction, but I wasn't all that bugged by it.

Shepherd's style is enjoyable for the most part, but he occasionally gets so superfluous that it makes me think of Amanda McKittrick Ros, and that is NEVER a good thing. Luckily those moments were few and far between. (12/9/23 update: I've since read a whole novel by her, and Shepherd can't touch her with a 39 and a half foot pole on that score, so I'm sorry I made the comparison; I was dead wrong here.)

The first four essays cover the Red Ryder BB gun, the leg lamp, the bully, and the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring, though not in that order. (The book is back on the shelf, and I don't feel like getting up to get it, nor do I feel like looking it up online. If the order of the chapters is that important to you, then read the thing).

I would've given this book three stars, but the last essay which covers the neighboring Bumpus family in much greater detail than the movie was an absolute scream and nets this collection an entire extra star.

At 131 pages (I remember that, but not the order of the chapters... Oh well), this book is hardly a thief if you don't enjoy it. Despite some of the occasional heavy vocabulary and phrasing, I breezed right through it. If you're looking for a strict novel-style interpretation of the movie, then you're apt to be disappointed. However, if you like humorous writing and enjoy the stories in the movie, then you could potentially be delighted. If nothing else, at least read the fifth essay about the Bumpuses. It's well worth it.

I thought I might be a little bored reading this since I know the movie pretty well. The movie's narrator was just like the book. However, I really didn't get bored. I thought it was really fun. I actually chuckled out loud a few times. Great read for Christmas!!