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!

Christmas With the Kranks seemed to be on every time I was looking for something to watch on television while on vacation time so I decided to do what I do best and finally pull this off the shelf and read instead of watch. The premise here is a cute one - new empty nesters decide to skip their usual Christmas festivities and take a cruise. When their daughter surprises them with news she’ll be home for the holidays after all the entire neighborhood pulls together to make the spirits bright. If you’re are looking for good olde timey Christmas feels this novella might be right up your alley.

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)

Almost exactly like the movie. I can say that I actually liked parts of the movie a bit better.
I still hate how everyone berates these two for taking time out for themselves...their daughter just left home they are entitled to something crazy like a get away cruise. If it were me I would have left a week before Christmas then been gone through the holiday. Who chooses to travel on Christmas day?!!!
And the neighbors acting like they are doing some huge favor by pulling together and putting on a party? Didn't they put on a party every year for everyone?! Ingrates!
And the 'welcome home' that their daughter receives...it is all just hoakie to me. What is she? The neighborhood saint?! She can't be that great. She thinks Canned Ham is a requirement for the holidays

#sacrilege

I am just going to keep celebrating the season as I see fit.
Stop being so judgy everyone!!



Blessed Yule you filthy Pagans!

"Who would ever dream that two otherwise sensible adults would skip Christmas and go on a cruise?"
- John Grisham, Skipping Christmas

The question above is posed by an idiot. The idiot in question being Nora Krank, who learns too late the awful price to be paid for not strictly conforming to your neighbors’ Christmastide expectations.

One is tempted to treat the query as the rhetorical device of an imbecile. And yet, the urge to answer is overwhelming, if only because the answer is so obvious to everyone except the people inhabiting this insipid Christmas novel.

So, why would two otherwise sensible adults skip Christmas and go on a cruise? Maybe they are Jewish. Or Muslim. Or Hindus. Maybe they have just suffered a loss, and in the process of grieving, don’t feel like celebrating. Or maybe they live in a cold latitude, where the idea of a peaceful cruise in a tropical locale is actually freaking awesome. There are literally billions of people on Earth who do not celebrate Christmas. Thus, there are literally billions of answers to that stupid bit of inquiry.

John Grisham’s Skipping Christmas doesn’t recognize this fact. Indeed, it is set in a world in which this fact isn’t a fact at all. Skipping Christmas takes place in a white, upper middle class suburb where such things are barely mentioned. There was once a Pakistani couple in the neighborhood, we are informed, but they moved very quickly. By the end of this nasty little work, you will understand why.

We begin with a fairly anodyne premise fully articulated in this book’s title.

Luther and Nora Krank’s daughter, twenty-three year-old Blair, has just left home for Peru, where she will be serving with the Peace Corps. With their grown daughter out of the nest, and facing a Christmas bill that runs to over $6,000 each holiday season, Luther has an inspired idea. Instead of burning 6K on parties, decorations, food, booze, and presents, Luther discovers that he and Nora can go on a warm-weather vacation for half that amount.

This makes sense to me. It should make sense to you. This is a rational idea on a personal level (daughter gone for the first time, meaning the break of old traditions), on a financial level (you’re saving money), and on a temperature-level (it is not snowy and icy on a cruise). Going on a Christmas cruise is an excellent idea to everyone except the holiday Nazis who live on Hemlock Lane.

(It should be noted that Luther is a tax accountant and drives a Lexus. His wife is a full-time volunteer, and drives an Audi. Their financial considerations thus necessarily fall into the realm of uptown problems).

Like Galileo, though, Luther is condemned for his heresy. His main nemesis is neighborhood Gauleiter Vic Frohmeyer. Vic’s job is to enforce social compliance among the residents. Chiefly, he ensures that everyone places a large Frosty the Snowman on their roof. Because nothing says “Christmas cheer” quite like being forced to purchase, install, and display a decoration chosen by a guy who lives down the street.

This is a novel about intolerance. Wait, that’s not correct. Sorry. This is a novel that celebrates intolerance. Vic soon has the neighbors rise up against Luther and Nora. People trespass on his lawn and post signs. People chant “Free Frosty.” Carolers are sent to annoy them. Their neighbors treat them coldly for their refusal to abide Frohmeyer’s edict.

As satire, this might have worked.

The latent fascism of the neighbors is ripe for parody. It might have been interesting to see how American notions of “freedom” and “religious tolerance” and “the right to be left alone” rub uncomfortably against the reality that “freedom” means I get to tell you what to do; and “religious tolerance” is being a Christian or shutting up; and “the right to be left alone” means you just need to surrender to the Christmas magic as it gets shoved up your – well, as it gets shoved in your stocking, which better be hanging on the mantel or else. When I read this, I kept thinking about the Christmas bullies who demand stores and cashiers say Merry Christmas, as though forcing some minimum-wager at Wal-Mart to utter bland holiday greetings in the checkout line is somehow actualizing.

But I don’t think this is satire. Grisham never allows that he’s in on the joke. Ultimately, he approves of the neighbors’ triumph over Luther’s free will.

Just about everyone in Skipping Christmas is a low-grade monster. Luther, despite his utterly logical plan, is also a raging asshole. I suppose this is Grisham’s way of stacking the deck against him. His wife Nora is a blubbering nitwit. One classic scene has her discussing the cancellation of her Christmas Eve party while volunteering at a battered woman’s shelter. As you might imagine, the specter of domestic violence pales in comparison to Nora’s shocking decision to go on a vacation. The neighbors are grim, backbiting, gossipy, small-minded conformists.

Scenes like the one in the shelter made me question Grisham’s self-awareness. There is little textual support for this being a satire. However, it occurred to me that this might be an Andy Kaufman-esque performance piece. Nothing in this book is funny or charming or pleasant. But perhaps the overall meta-joke is that Grisham created an utterly hateful fable packaged as a delightful little spree with the understanding that because it was labeled a Christmas book no one would realize they’re being conned. This might be a literary version of the Rickroll. I suggest this only to give Grisham some benefit of the doubt. There is little evidence to support this interpretation.

To the contrary, the weight of the evidence goes the other way. We know this because the lesson that Luther is forced to learn is that you don’t skip Christmas. Midway through, Blair, realizing that she has cut the cord of extended adolescence too quickly, calls and informs her mother and father that she is coming back for Christmas. She has been gone for only a month, but Millennials, amiright?

Not only is Blair returning to the roost, but she’s bringing Enrique, her Peruvian boyfriend that she’s known for three weeks. I mention Enrique only because the Kranks are obsessed with his skin tone. Don’t worry, though. The Kranks quickly discover, that if necessary, Enrique can pass for Aryan.

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!

Well, thank God we dodged that bullet! Let the bloodlines remain pure. Or something. I really don’t know what Grisham was getting at. It made me a bit uncomfortable.

Anyway, Blair’s imminent return means that the Kranks have to have Christmas after all. Luther is verbally bludgeoned by his wife, beat down by his neighbors, and finally surrenders to the joys of the season.

There are obvious parallels to A Christmas Carol. Both have wealthy men learning an important truth. For Ebenezer Scrooge, the lesson is social consciousness, to take care of the least of his brothers and sisters. For Luther, it is that any attempt to withdraw from the conspicuous consumption of Christmastime will be dealt with by public ostracism. Both receive this message through visitors. For Ebenezer, those visitors are three ghosts. For Luther, it is the Yuletide Gestapo coming to make sure the tinsel is on the tree.

I don’t write this as a cynic. I love Christmas. I celebrate Christmas. I started watching sappy holiday movies while my kids were still out trick-or-treating. My enjoyment, however, does not require everyone else to love it too. I know plenty of people who don’t get into the season like I do, for various reasons. It never occurred to me to bully them into line.

The sad truth is that I picked this up in the spirit of Christmas cheer. When I finished, I just wished it was Spring.

Fast read......chuckled at a few escapades of a couple trying to break out of Christmas traditions and go on a Caribbean cruise as their daughter will not be home for Christmas.....recommend this as a Christmas treat!

I have seen Christmas with the Kranks numerous times and finally read the book Skipping Christmas. The book is very similar to the movie, but of course the book is so much better. Why because you can see inside of Luther mind. Luther is wonderful. He doesn't want to do Christmas and go on a cruse instead, but the catch not to celebrate Christmas at all. His thoughts are brilliant. You will laugh out loud at that he is thinking. Nora unlike Luther struggles with the decision but goes along anyways. This is not a Christian book but throughout the book Luther struggles with Christmas becoming material and not the true meaning: Celebrating Jesus birth. This book is so much fun and another book you can read in a day. I highly recommend this book, even if you saw the movie. Trust me, its so worth it!!

Този път няма щастлив край :(: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/d...

А всъщност предисторията никак не е лоша. Гришам (или който там) създава убедителен тезис защо Коледа в САЩ си заслужава да бъде пропусната и че на точно половината разход за нея двама души могат да си прекарат райски цели 10 дни на тропически остров. И се заема да докаже тезата си – Лутър и Нора Кранк (фамилията е очевиден маркер какво трябва да мислим за тях) тъкмо са изпратили дъщеря си на друг континент и могат да си представят поне веднъж да пропуснат Коледа. Която в техния случай е смазваща тегоба – съседите им са откачени на тема кичозни украси, от тях се очаква да плащат наляво и надясно солидни суми, да киснат в безкрайни задръствания и на огромни опашки, да дадат голяма вечеря на Бъдни вечер и изобщо да положат чудовищни усилия за нещо, което трябва да носи почивка и радост.

Обсидиан ИК / Obsidian Publishers
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/d...

I don't often hate books, but every once in a while, a book comes along that... well, this is it. I loathe this book, cannot recommend it at all. I don't even want to spend any more time thinking about it.

What a way to end 2009: reading one of the worst books I've read this year, and I've read some real stinkers. Usually I have to at least contemplate giving one or two stars. I didn't even have to think about how many stars this deserves: one. Well, really zero, but that's not an option here.

Where to begin? First, I did not like a single character. The Kranks were aptly named. The father was surly and touchy and seemed annoyed by the entire world. The mother was weak and whiny. And the daughter was selfish and had no sense of reality, even though partly that's because Grisham decided to do absolutely no research into the Peace Corps. I have a friend in the Peace Corps right now and they get two days of vacation per month of work. So, no, little Blair would not be coming home for ten days of Christmas after less than a month of service. Plus, getting engaged and taking the fiance to a foreign country to meet her parents after knowing each other less than four weeks? Really, Grisham, you put so little effort into this book that you can't even be bothered to have a decent plot device to have the Kranks give up their skipped Christmas? Considering the fiance lived in Lima and Blair lived a 3-day bus ride into the mountains from Lima, they probably saw each other about twice between the initial meeting and coming to America engaged. I guess they called each other a lot? Plus, getting last minute plane tickets during the Christmas season? On whose money?

And don't get me started on the neighbors. We are supposed to feel all heart-warmed and mushy that they pulled together to give the Kranks a Christmas in the end. Except they completely harassed them for the previous few weeks. Their behavior was spiteful and rude.

I know this is supposed to be a book about the madness of the holiday season and crass consumerism or something, but, really, there's a line that most people walk between giving into the holiday frenzy and not doing a single Christmas-related thing. The Kranks were so unhappy because they went from one end of the spectrum to the other without attempting any decent moderation.

The best thing about this book--in fact, the ONLY good thing about this book--was that it was short.

Bookopoly 2020 – Friend Pick (Ana)
Ova knjiga mi je bila ugodno iznenađenje. Nisam zapravo znala što očekivati jer već dugo nisam čitala Grishama, a i kad jesam, to su bili njegovi zakonodavni trileri. Ovo je nešto sasvim drugo.
Prvi dojam nije bio baš nešto dobar. Mislila sam si koji luđaci. Ne znaš tko je veći luđak, glavni lik koji odbija sve božićno ili svi njegovi nenormalni susjedi. Međutim, kako je radnja napredovala, sve me je više uvlačila. Zanimalo me što će se dogoditi do kraja. I baš sam se dobro nasmijala, lijepo iznenadila jednim pozitivnim krajem i divnom porukom koju knjiga nosi.

Czemu końcówka taka pospieszona, liczyłam na powtórkę z filmu :((

Also, nie wiedziałam, że aż tak lubię tę historię. Nic niezwykłego pod słońcem, ale jako przerywnik między makowcem a krokietem - coś w sam raz.