KEY WEST BED & BREAKFAST, Key West Lodging and Accommodation Guide: Florida Traveling Guides: Skipping Christmas

Location: Home » Florida Traveling Guides » Comic » Skipping Christmas

Similar Items:

•	Playing for Pizza
•	Bleachers
•	A Painted House
•	The Innocent Man
•	The Appeal

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
John Grisham turns a satirical eye on the overblown ritual of the festive holiday season, and the result is Skipping Christmas, a modest but funny novel about the tyranny of December 25. Grisham's story revolves around a typical middle-aged American couple, Luther and Nora Krank. On the first Sunday after Thanksgiving they wave their daughter Blair off to Peru to work for the Peace Corps, and they suddenly realize that "for the first time in her young and sheltered life Blair would spend Christmas away from home."

Luther Krank sees his daughter's Christmas absence as an opportunity. He estimates that "a year earlier, the Luther Krank family had spent $6,100 on Christmas," and have "precious little to show for it." So he makes an executive decision, telling his wife, friends, and neighbors that "we won't do Christmas." Instead, Luther books a 10-day Caribbean cruise. But things start to turn nasty when horrified neighbors get wind of the Krank's subversive scheme and besiege the couple with questions about their decision.

Grisham builds up a funny but increasingly terrifying picture of how this tight-knit community turns on the Kranks, who find themselves under increasing pressure to conform. As the tension mounts, readers may wonder whether they will manage to board their plane on Christmas day. Skipping Christmas is Grisham-lite, with none of the serious action or drama of his legal thrillers, but a funny poke at the craziness of Christmas. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk

Product Description
Luther and Nora Krank are fed up with the chaos of Christmas. The endless shopping lists, the frenzied dashes through the mall, the hassle of decorating the tree... where has all the joy gone? This year, celebrating seems like too much effort. With their only child off in Peru, they decide that just this once, they'll skip the holidays. They spend their Christmas budget on a Caribbean cruise set to sail on December 25, and happily settle in for a restful holiday season free of rooftop snowmen and festive parties.

But the Kranks soon learn that their vacation from Christmas isn't much of a vacation at all, and that skipping the holidays has consequences they didn't bargain for...

A modern Christmas classic, Skipping Christmas is a charming and hilarious look at the mayhem and madness that have become ingrained in our holiday tradition.

Customer Reviews: Read 903 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

Skip This December 11, 2008
I had to read this for a book group. The first part of the book brought up many issues such as non-conformity, group think, commercialism of the holiday....but the second half fell totally apart and there they were, right back in the thick of it, and very happy that their future son in law wasn't too dark. It read like a screen play, and read like the author had to write it. Im sorry he did, and Im sorry I had to read it.

By the way, if he is really going to skip Christmas, why not go the week or two before? Thats when the craziness is the worst. A story of spending Christmas on a cruise ship could actually have been a very interesting one.

5 out of 5 stars

A tale of Christmas, and how it comes whether you want it to or not December 3, 2008
Luther and Nora Krank's daughter, Blair, has decided that now, after graduate school, she will join the Peace Corps and head off to distant Peru. Blair departs just after Thanksgiving, leaving Luther and Nora with a heavy sense of empty-nest syndrome. Luther doesn't know how to face Christmas this year without his daughter. Digging through his past records (he's a Tax Accountant by trade) he realizes that last year they spent $6,100 on Christmas and have nothing to show for it. So this year, he decides to skip Christmas and take Nora on a ten day tropical cruise instead.

Nora, at first, is reluctant but finally agrees. There's so many things to miss; the gifts, the shopping, their home party, office parties, the decorating, the food, the donations, the policeman's and fireman's funds, the parade, and more. It becomes tougher and tougher for Luther and Nora to stick to their guns, especially when the entire world thinks that they've gone crazy.

With each new assault on his right to do as he pleased, Luther becomes more determined to ignore Christmas. Friends and neighbors, the whole town, act as if they'd discovered a new variety of sin. (Nora's bikini story at the tanning bed, where afterwards she runs into the minister of their church, is hilarious) They're decision even attracts the town's small newspaper. Despite the aggravation and opposition they face, Luther and Nora are ready to embark on a whole new phase of their lives. Until Blair calls home, with some startling news.

'Skipping Christmas' a short but very well written story filled to the brim with the brighter and darker sides of humanity, friendship, and frustration. There's plenty of humor along with the nuisances, some when you least expect it. The characters are fully fleshed, and could be your very own neighbors. This is the perfect little volume to give as a Christmas gift, heartwarming and whimsical. I highly recommend this book, especially during the Holiday Season. A solid 5 stars. Enjoy!

5 out of 5 stars

Perfect timing November 30, 2008
Don't you love when you read a book at the perfect time in your life? Thanksgiving was just a few days ago, and I always find the transition from feeling full and grateful on Thursday to crazed and stressed with Christmas shopping on Friday jarring. This year, with the economy in the toilet, I've been even more of a Scrooge, lamenting another year of increased credit card debt and whatnot.

I'm so glad I just finished Skipping Christmas. It starts as Luther and Nora Krank are saying goodbye to their daughter Blair at the airport - she's heading to Peru for two years with the Peace Corps. Christmas won't be the same without her, and Luther, an accountant, figures out they spent $6,100 on Christmas last year, "the vast majority of it down the drain ... And that, of course, does not include my time, your time, the traffic, the stress, worry, bickering, ill-will, sleep loss - all the wonderful things that we pour into the holiday season."

His solution: skip Christmas and use the money to go on a Carribbean cruise for 10 days. The cruise is only three grand, so they'll actually save money on the proposition. But the plan isn't well-received by the neighbors who expect to see Frosty on the roof, friends who will miss their annual invitation to the Krank's Christmas Eve bash, the scouts who sell Christmas trees, the cops who sell calendars...it's a hoot. I laughed - hard - and even cried at the end.

After I finished, I got up and it was snowing, and I made myself a sandwich with Thanksgiving leftovers and actually said to my husband, "I have the Christmas spirit!" (To which he replied, "I think I'll read that book before it goes back to the library.")

3 out of 5 stars

A FUN WAY TO KILL A FEW HOURS. NOT A BAD READ AT ALL. August 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I am one of those few readers in the known universe that is not overly fond of John Grisham's legal thrillers. I do like the way the man writes though, and thoroughly love his novel, A Painted House. This work sort of falls into the category of "this is not a book I would seek out, but hey, I need something light to read."

The basic premise of this story is a wear couple, a successful couple, which has just shed their only child to a stint working for the Peace Corps in some South American Country. Christmas is coming on, with all the usually frantic spending, party going, visiting, dinners and (I can relate to this) the pain of decorating. In short, Luther Crank decides to skip Christmas all together, and talks his wife into taking a cruise instead; not party, not cards, not gift giving, no donations and no decorating. Of course you know the old saying; "the best laid plans of mice and men...." Thereby hangs the tale.

This is a rather light read and should be read as the author intended, sort of tongue in cheek. It is a fast read, one that you do not have to think about all that much and is amusing, although I must say, shows quite a lot of insight in to our psychic and our forced interaction with community and family. Much of the silliness that surrounds Christmas, many of the little quirks of this holiday are rather exaggerated by the author; but this is simply good story telling. I will do feel though, that by overly exaggerating the situation, the author makes some pretty good points and certainly will give you some food for thought. The overall story moves along at a very nice pace. Some of the interaction with neighbors and business associates can be pretty funny, and I must say, pretty typical.

Overall, this is a fun little read but if you choose not to take in all that seriously, then it becomes even more fun. I like it when an author strays from his or her normal genre, even though it seems that many fans almost seem betrayed. Give Grisham a break...at least he makes the effort to write something other than his normal fare.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

2 out of 5 stars

I Don't Get It May 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I've read two very different books by John Grisham and I have to say, I don't get his appeal. Skipping Christmas has a decent premise: fed up with the expense and consumerism of Christmas, a couple decides to skip the celebrations and instead go on a Caribbean cruise. The news doesn't sit well with the neighbors, who for some reason feel they have a say in their decision.

As I said, the idea is not bad, but the writing is so mediocre (and in occasions, worse than mediocre) that the novel never engages the reader. The end is better than the rest of the book, and it manages to be moving, but even though this novel is only 277 pages, it feels very, very long.