I adore holiday books, especially those centered around Christmas, but this is one I wish I had skipped. At least it was short.

First of all, I didn’t like anybody through 7/8 of the book. Mr. Krank, is, well, a crank. His wife agrees with his skipping Christmas idea but still manages to lay all the blame on him. Their neighbors and friends are jerks. I would be jealous if someone I knew were taking a cruise for Christmas not angry. I do think the Kranks were going a little overboard though. I’d still do some decorating, after all they were planning on being in town through most of December.

Even the daughter was inconsiderate, assuming that her parents had made no alternative plans. And why they didn’t just tell her that they would be happy to spend Christmas Eve with her, but they were leaving on Christmas Day for a cruise is beyond me. She’s a grown woman, out of college, capable of heading across the world on her own.

The last bit of the book held all the feel good moments, but overall I didn’t care, and by the end felt manipulated. I guess it had an anti-materialism message somewhere, but there are way better stories out there.

Sinopsis: Saltarse la Navidad parece fácil, pero cuando se vive en una calle como Hemlock, sempiterna ganadora de los premios de decoración navideños, y en la que las fiestas son el acontecimiento más esperado del año, supone casi un suicidio social. En su intento por vivir una Navidad distinta, los Krank se convertirán en víctimas de un cúmulo de situaciones que les harán desear no haber tenido jamás tan estrambótica ocurrencia.

Pues ha sido una lectura desenfadada y muy apropiada para esta época del año, con la Navidad a la vuelta de la esquina.
Un matrimonio los Krank, se van a quedar solos en casa por primera vez y el Sr Krank le plantea a su mujer saltarse la festividad, con todo lo que ello conlleva para sus vecinos, que intentaran por todos sus medios que no lo haga, (muñecos adornando la casa, el árbol, la fiesta en casa...) todas esas cosas a las que están acostumbrados y que el Sr Krank les quiere arrebatar; toca pelear por ellas y en este conflicto surgen las situaciones cómicas.
Y es que escapar de la Navidad no es tan fácil como parece, con un inicio con una critica clara a lo que se ha convertido la Navidad, consumista y derrochadora, tenemos una historia sencilla y dinámica que nos hará soltar alguna que otra carcajada.
Además en 2004 se estrenó su adaptación cinematográfica con el título "Christmas with the Kranks" (Conocida en español como "Una Navidad de locos"), comedia Dirigida por Joe Roth y protagonizada por Tim Allen y Jamie Lee Curtis.
Valoración: 6/10

What a disappointment. This book started off with such promise, and ended in such a ridiculous way. Luther and Nora decide they don't want to deal with the hassle of Christmas, and after Luther breaks down the expenses and thinks about what he and Nora do, he decides to quit it. Personally, I don't blame him.

However, he and Nora are bullied... there's no other way to say it, BULLIED by their neighbors for choosing to not decorate their house or put up a snowman statue. The harassment over the snowman was frankly ridiculous. There simply was no justification for how the Kranks were treated, they didn't try to stop anyone else from celebrating Christmas!

The ending was a huge disappointment. Instead of scrambling around when Blair said she was coming home with her fiance (she announces this RIGHT BEFORE Christmas!) her parents should have said, 'Oh sorry, honey, we already made plans'. Blair is an adult, she could have very well just stayed in South America with her fiance. Luther nearly dies putting up that stupid snowman statue on the roof, and the neighbors, who had tormented the Kranks with anonymous letters (how mature!) and even sending carolers to their house to annoy them, pitch together to have a Christmas that Blair can come home to.

The fact that the neighbors cared about Blair enough to want her to have a nice homecoming doesn't cancel out the way they treated Mr. and Mrs. Krank beforehand. I mean honestly, if I had neighbors like that, I would have sold my house to a horrible, grungy, trouble-making family and hightailed it out of there.

This book, which started out with a great message, ended as a huge disappointment with the overused cliche of Christmas cheer. The book should have ended with the Kranks going on their planned vacation, instead of giving their vacation to one of the guys who had a big part in harassing them in the first place. Granted, the Kranks felt bad for the guy's wife, who had cancer, but that still doesn't cancel out the fact that the neighbors relentlessly bullied the Kranks, all because they didn't want to deal with the hassle of Christmas preparation. (eyeroll)

I recognized the story a few pages in, so I know I've read it before but I had to finish it again. It was sooooooo good. This is one of my favorite Christmas stories. I'm surprised by all that hate it's getting. I pretty much love all things Christmas, but this book is extra special and really captures the meaning of Christmas and reminds me why even all the hassle is important. Even the crankiest Scrooge will pull out all the stops when it comes to making his daughter happy at Christmas. It just warms my momma heart. Love it!

Love the title, love the idea of skipping all the money and hours spent on decorations, gifts, parties, etc. and taking a Caribbean cruise instead. Grisham paints a good picture of the commercialism, frenzy and overwrought activity of Christmas. Who wouldn't like to escape that once in a while!

As well as being a good commentary on the ridiculous lengths we go to celebrate Christmas, this is a light-hearted, funny book with good character sketches of the main character, Luther Krank and his neighbor and nemesis, Vic Frohmeyer.

That being said, this book has not stood the test of time. Grisham published the book in 2001, but I can't believe some of the sexist, racist passages below weren't edited out even then. My jaw dropped when I read them. Hopefully we have progressed in twenty years.

Here are two of the worst examples:

"By five, some of the most starched and staid accountants at Wiley and Beck would be groping or attempting to grope some of the homeliest secretaries."

Really?! I hope that frat boy parties like this don't still go on, but they probably do. However, the description I most object to is "attempting to grope the homeliest secretaries." Homeliest secretaries?? I'm speechless. Grisham writes this with a male arrogance that makes one wonder if he experienced activities like this himself.

As for the racist passage:

"The door opened and Blair rushed in. Nora and Luther both glanced at her first, then quickly looked beyond to see how dark Enrique was.
He wasn't dark at all! At least two shades lighter than Luther himself!
They hugged and squeezed their daughter as if she'd been gone for years, then with great relief, met their future son-in-law."

OMG, Enrique passed the color test!

As for the ending, it's a perfect Christmas ending, sweetness and light and neighborly good will  with Luther doing the right thing and giving the cruise tickets they can't use to a neighbor with cancer who has six months to live. He feels pretty good about being benevolent and kind to his neighbor, but he's such a cheapskate throughout the book, I have to believe that his real motivation is not wanting to throw $3,000 worth of cruise tickets down the drain.

Not one of the author's best

Delightful and different. I re-read this every year at Christmas time!

5 Estrellas, pese a la brevedad, es un libro genial y perfecto con el que he pasado unos momentos divertidísimos. Corto, ágil y muy ameno, es un relato que va al grano, critica y concreta lo que significa el consumismo estadounidense en unas fechas tan significativas y sagradas para ellos como son las navidades.

Acaba de pasar Acción de Gracias, y la familia Krank va a sufrir un cambio, su hija Blair, acaba de terminar la universidad y se ha apuntado a una labor de voluntariado en Perú, estará allí más de un año, por lo que no estará con su familia las próximas navidades.

Luther, el cabeza de familia está harto de lo que representan el gasto, consumismo y la horterada que es la Navidad, sobre todo en su barrio. No estando su querida hija ¿Para qué van a celebrar las Navidades? Nada de colocar árboles, luces, el muñeco hortera de Navidad en el tejado, los dulces, las cenas y la fiesta en su casa. Así que se le ocurre una genial idea, en vez de invertir los más de 6000$ que se gastan cada año, él y su mujer, Nora, se irán diez días de crucero por el Caribe.

Pero ¿Qué pasará en su barrio cuando toda la calle se entere de que los Krank no celebrarán la Navidad, y lo que su decisión ocasionará en el vecindario? La comedia está servida, porque la novela no es si no una chanza y crítica hacia la sociedad estadounidense, y su manera tan hortera de pasar las fiestas, celebrar cenas, regalos, invitaciones, dulces, y sí, las decoraciones tan estrafalarias para presentarse a los concursos del ayuntamiento.

Y la historia será mucho más amena y divertida según pasan los capítulos, porque los Krank se llevarán más de una sorpresa, y al fin y al cabo, lo que se acerca es la Navidad. ¿Triunfará el espíritu de las fiestas? Pues todo esto se sabrá en una novelilla que apenas tiene 170 páginas y que es sencillamente magnífica, ideal para leerla en Navidad, o en cuaquier época. A mí desde luego me ha encantado y la recomiendo, porque la risa la tienes asegurada.

Christmas 2022 - Meh

I finally got around to reading this novella on which the dreadful movie Christmas with the Kranks* is based. They are very similar. The book has a better title, so of course the movie didn't use it. I really dislike the message of the story. At first it seems to be condemning the mindless conformity and consumerism that has overtaken our celebration of Christmas; but then it turns around and embraces these as the way to achieve happiness and community.

*Shameful disclosure: Even though I KNOW it's dreadful, I watch Christmas with the Kranks every year. I'm not sure why. I hated it with a fiery passion the first time I saw it, yet somehow it grew on me and has now become a tradition.

Man, this was exactly like the movie Christmas with the Franks BUT with a lot more background information.

Skipping Christmas was a really fun holiday book to dive into. It was a lot of fun to learn more about Luther and Nora has a couple. Yes, they loved Blair but these folks just wanted a break from Christmas. Okay, it was mostly Luther but he can easily persuade his wife. Unfortunately, for him, not everything goes as planned.

All Luther wanted was to go on a cruise for the holidays. Never been on one so it seemed like the best time ever since his only daughter was out of the country. Nora wasn't all in on the idea but he's the love of her life - so it was going to happen. Of course she was still upset and sad about not being with her daughter for the holidays.. but it was bound to happen anyways.

Things are sort of going great back home for Blair's folks. Although the neighborhood is a bit salty about Luther not putting up good ole' Frosty. Little does Luther know that his plans are going to get cancelled. Blair ends up surprising her parents by coming back home. I guess she sort of missed them but I was honestly a little peeved that it was so last minute. Yeah, she didn't think her parents wouldn't do their own thing for the holidays - but damn, they are al in a pickle now.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It honestly made me really want to watch the movie.. which might happen this weekend. Who knows? I love Christmas movies and can't wait to start binging all of them!

I thought this book had a few funny parts, but I was also bored at times. Nothing really happened that you didn't expect. It was just an ok Christmas tale. I think if I could I would give it two and a half stars. In the Christmas spirit, I will push it up to three.

A fun Christmas story! Having seen the movie lots of times, it's safe to say they followed the book almost to a T. This is a fast, entertaining read that exposes the commercial ugliness of Christmas in America. I think everyone who is bashing it are just salty because this book is about them!