Review: Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

Skipping Christmas
written by John Grisham
published by Bantam Dell: A Division of Random House

find it here: (affiliate links) Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks, Book Depository, Goodreads

Why did I pick this book: It was recommended by someone in our book group. (probably Linda) *** Actually, Belinda, I think it was my suggestion! ***

Did I enjoy this book: I did.

There’s an old cliché about how one phone call can change everything.  Too bad no one told Nora and Luther, our main characters, about the old saying. If only they’d have known, their story might have been very different.

Nora and Luther are cute caricatures of typical Americans who get carried away during the last month of every year. With their nest recently empty of any reason to believe in Santa, miserly Luther decides Christmas is too expensive. He and his wife will skip it altogether and enjoy a cruise instead.

Almost immediately they realize that skipping Christmas is harder than just going along with tradition. However, our stubborn, but lovable protagonists simply dig in and get carried away with the idea of not getting carried away by the Christmas craziness.

And it looks like they’re going to pull it off until the phone rings and the laughs begin.

Would I recommend it: Absolutely not . . .  if you’re in public. When people see you sitting alone with your nose in a book giggling to yourself they give you funny looks and whisper to the person next to them. Or so I’ve been told. So don’t embarrass yourself. Read it alone and laugh out loud all you want.

Will I read it again: Probably.

About the book – from Goodreads: Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded shops, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on the street without a rooftop Frosty the snowman; they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences – and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.

A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that has become part of our holiday tradition.