Skipping Christmas door John Grisham

The book Skipping Christmas of John Grisham
Doubleday New York in the year 2001
First edition in 2001
177 pages The Author John Grisham is born on 8 February 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas USA. He lived during his youth on different places, until his family settled in Southaven, a small city outside Memphis. First he dedicates himself on Baseball, but he decided to study at the Mississippi State University for tax-lawyer. When he graduated as a lawyer in 1981, he married with Renee Jones. John was now lawyer and had an office in Southaven. In 1993 he has been chosen in the Mississippi House of Delegates. During that time he started to write two books which he had never finished. But he finished the third book in 1986, A Time to Kill. The most recently books he wrote are The Broker (2005), The Last Juror (2004), King of Torts (2003), The Summons (2002), Skipping Christmas (2001) with screen-version name “Christmas with the Kranks” (2004) and The Brethren (2000). My first reaction I’ve chosen this book, because a friend of my parents recommended me to read this book. He said it was a funny book to read for English. I liked this book to read. It was a very funny book to read. It is a different Christmas book than other books, but this book ends with the same thought: “And they lived happily after”.
The Story The story starts when Blair, the daughter from Luther and Nora, went to the eastern of Peru with the Peace Corps. When Luther and his wife are home again, Luther went to his basement office to search on his computer what the Krank family spent last year on Christmas. When he saw the bill, he became a little bit depressive. They spent $6.100 last year on Christmas. It was horrible, $6.100 on nothing than stuff which you threw away three weeks after Christmas. The next morning Luther went to the travel agency with the marvellous idea to book a cruise, just to skip Christmas. After he booked the cruise he drove immediately home to tell Nora he booked a cruise to skip Christmas and to save a lot of money. Nora is very sad that Luther will skip Christmas, but Luther convinced Nora to go on a cruise with him. So that year Luther and Nora are going to skip Christmas and have a cruise through the Caribbean. When Nora goes to The Pumpkin Seed for her weekly purchases the owner of the shop asked her if she wants to order her Christmas cards already. It is inevitable that Nora has to tell the owner that she and her husband are skipping Christmas. She knows that the whole village will know it in one week that the family Krank is skipping Christmas. Christmas approaches and every society are selling something. Nora has it very difficult not to buy something. And every day there is someone who wants to sell her something; a Christmas tree, a Christmas calendar and much more. But then their friends ask her if she is still giving her annually Christmas party. After she had to say no, Nora is asking herself if it was a good idea to skip Christmas. She is saying it to Luther that it was no good idea to skip Christmas, but Luther is very self-confident and says that Nora have to calm down and have to think about the palm trees and the beaches in the Caribbean. But on Christmas evening their daughter Blair calls from Miami International Airport to say that she is engaged with a Peru man and that she is coming home with Christmas. In that way to her fiancé can experience American Christmas and also the snow. It is a big shock for Luther and Nora, but they didn’t want to say to Blair that they are skipping Christmas this year. After Blair’s call Luther realised that he has to buy a lot of Christmas stuff before Blair and her fiancé are coming home. He sends Nora to the supermarket to buy a lot of Christmas food and he went to the basement to get his Frosty out of the boxes to put him on the roof. He puts the ladder against the roof and raises Frosty on the roof, but then Luther felled down the roof and catches on the ladder. Happily one of the neighbours saw Luther felling down the roof and ran out his house to help Luther. When Luther was back again on the ground, and the ambulance brothers had helped Luther with his leg, Luther and Nora had something to explain to the neighbours why the suddenly put their Frosty on the roof and decorate their Christmas tree. And then Luther and Nora are telling the neighbours that Blair is coming home with her fiancé, but that they haven’t got any Christmas stuff in their house yet. And then the neighbours are doing something what real neighbours do, they give one of their Christmas trees to the Kranks, give some Christmas food and organize a surprise party for Blair (and invite their self). When Blair is home with her fiancé and every neighbour is at their party, Luther is missing two persons Mr and Mrs Scheel. Luther went to their house; ring the door-bell and wishing the family Scheel a happy Christmas. He gives the cruise to the ill Mrs Scheel, because this cruise could maybe her last vacation (she had breast cancer). The Characters Blair Krank: She is the daughter of Luther and Nora Krank. You won’t know very much about Blair. The only two times she is in the story, is in the beginning and at the end. Luther Krank: He has a daughter Blair and a wife Nora Krank. He is a selfish person who hates Christmas; because you give a lot of money on stuff you throw away after a few weeks. At the end of the story Luther is a better person and less selfish. He is the real principal person in this story. Nora Krank: She had a daughter Blair and a husband Luther Krank. You won’t know very much about Nora. The only thing is that she loves family parties and good food. Deepening You experience the story from the view of the writer. Sometimes Luther tells his thoughts and then is it from the first-person. The story endures one month, from the 1st of December until the 26th of December. It starts with Blair who travels to Peru and ends with Blair who is coming home. The story is set in Hemlock, a little village in the USA. The story could be enacted in this time, because it is a modern Christmas story. This story looks like A Christmas Carol of Charles Dickens, because Luther is such a skinflint like Ebenezer Scrooge. The climax of this story is at the end, when Blair calls her father and mother to say that she is coming home for Christmas with her fiancé. Luther and Nora have to buy all kinds of Christmas stuff in one day. The Title The title is “Skipping Christmas”. The Story is about Luther who wants to skip Christmas, because he hates all the things around Christmas and buying expansive things for Christmas which you won’t use. This is what the story is about and the author has made it the title of this book. Judgement I like this book; it is a good modern Christmas story. There are not much modern Christmas stories, only the old ones like “A Christmas Carol”. So this is a real new story and I think it is good that there is a new Christmas story. I can recommend this story to everyone. Or you can see the movie in the cinema or on DVD.