Skipping Christmas

Inhoud

Luther unfolded a spreadsheet and began pointing. "Here, my dear, is what we spent last Christmas. Six thousand, one hundred dollars. And precious little to show for it. The vast majority of it down the drain. Wasted. An that, of course, does not include my time, your time, the traffic, stress, worry, bickering, ill-will, sleep-loss - all the wonderful things that we pour into the holiday season."
"Where is this going?"
'Luther dropped the spreadsheets and, quick as a magician, presented the Island Princess brochure to his wife. "Where is this going, you ask, my dear? It's going to the Caribbean. Ten nights, ten nights of total luxury on the Island Princess, the fanciest cruise ship in the world..." '
In their dreams.

Bespreking

A satire or a Christmas carol?

Luther and Nora Krank have seen it all happen too many times before: the ridiculous frenzy and overblown ritual of celebrating Christmas. This year it is definitely going to change: the Kranks are going to skip Christmas. But as easy it was to enter a travel agency and book a Caribbean cruise on the luxurious Island Princess instead, so difficult it becomes to withstand the moral pressure their neighbours on Hemlock Street are putting on them to keep the Christmas spirit alive. But Luther is determined to go ahead with his crazy idea, no matter what it takes.

With Skipping Christmas John Grisham is again trying out something completely different. Where he already diverted from his proven concept of legal thrillers to socially engaged drama with A Painted House, he now tries to expand his craft by writing a satirical novel. And a fine job he did, indeed. Skipping Christmas has turned out to be a well composed and warm fairytale that comes with quite some funny episodes. Don't expect anything as hilarious as the books of Terry Pratchett, to name but one, but for example Luther's quest to put a Frosty on his roof will sure cause some smiles.

Nevertheless what did disturb me is the topic addressed in this book. The first part of the novel gives a frightening view on a society that has made the commercially driven rituals of Christmas into a religion on its own. While reading the book it becomes clear that in the world depicted by Grisham escaping the Christmas frenzy is almost impossible. I silently hope that this is more fiction than reality, but you never know for sure. The funny part is that the ending is in complete contrast to the tone that was set in the beginning of the book. Now I do wonder if this venomous twist was introduced with just a commercial purpose. If not then this makes Skipping Christmas a wonderful masterpiece of satire that in the end makes fun of itself.

Actually, there are definitely two ways of reading this book: as a satire or as a Christmas carol. You decide. But your choice reveals a lot of who you are. beware!