Author: John Grishan
Date published November 2001
Unlike most of Grisham's book, this is a nice fluffy read instead of a legal thriller. So the main characters are Luther and Nora Krank. He is in accounting and works in a small firm, she's a housewife, volunteers in several support groups, does charity and the like. So the year their only daughter Blair decides to go for a year with the Peace Corps and they will be alone for Christmas, Luther being at heart the financial guy does some math and comes up with the awesome idea that in the celebrations they spent around $6,100 the previous year and that it would be better if they don't do it. He has several good reasons to forgo Christmas: 1. Luther dislikes dringking, partying and the shopping craziness. 2. A vacation away from the house will distract Nora from missing Blari too much. 3. They do it every year and it could be a break from everything. It is hilariuos that the people from their neighborhood feel offended by their choice. The Kranks receive prank phone calls, people leave protests boards on their yard, the police department, the fire department and other people insist on them doing Christmas. It is simply not possible to skip it. The neighbors even call in a newspaper reporter to have them run the story. It is kind of funny how people can make such a big chaos out of a single family's decision. But that's not the best part. On Christmas day, the day the Krank's are to take their plane to the Caribean, they receive a phone call from Blair their daughter... oh boy do they get a surprise. The Kranks have seven hours to get Christmas to their house, organize a party and forget their cruise. Oh yeah Luther is not even close to being happy with the turn of events. It's hilarious the way they manage to get everything set. I goes form bribing teenagers, borrowing trees oh boy do they have it easy (sarcastic voice). In all the mess it's no wonder they don't have the normal reaction of their only daughter too young and for the first time aboard making life altering decisions that seem final only after a single month of being on her own. The nice neighbors and the people they had known and liked for years turn out to have very strong opinions against Krank's plan of skipping Christmas. But in the end, those same neighbors come united to help them out. It actually is a good story. I gave it a 3.5 stars out of 5 which I can round down to 3. A good Christmassy book indeed.
It would have been better if the library hold could have come in during December. Still it was a very quick read and I had a great time.
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