Rating:  Summary: Skip this one right onto the compost heap Review: This book would never have been published had it not been written by John Grisham. The characters in this book were one dimensional and lacked appeal. The story was predictable & boring. I couldn't wait for it to end.
Rating:  Summary: Skipping Christmas - Hey! That's not a Bad Idea! Review: Well, I guess all the John Grisham fans might find this story so totally outside his usual genre, that they won't like it, but I really enjoyed it. It's a cute, funny story that left me laughing, feeling good and even plotting how to pull it off, successfully! Skipping Christmas, when considered immediately after the Holiday, is a very attractive concept! And, of course I can see all the mistakes Luther and Nora Krank made. Maybe, just maybe, it can be done. The story starts a little slow and seems a bit repetetive for the first half of the book, but come Christmas Eve, the action (and the laughs) pick up considerably. It all sounds so simple at first. Luther's and Nora's daughter is off to the far lands for Christmas and for the first time, they will have the Holiday to themselves. Under the emotional stress of this big change, Luther, an accountant, can't sleep and decides to total up the costs of last Christmas. $6100! What a waste! The genius latches onto the notion that the whole thing can be done without and Nora gets taken in by the idea. Unfortunately, neighbors, Boy Scouts, merchants, and miscellaneous other charities, business associates and friends, see this as more of a personal insult than a great idea! The pressure builds. Every day brings some new test to the Kranks' resolve. But Luther is determined to get on that cruise boat, if it costs him every relationship he has. The deeper he digs in his heels the funnier it gets. Skipping Christmas is clever, witty and the way it both appeals and repels is really interesting. It was a good read!
Rating:  Summary: Recommend Skipping "Skipping Christmas" Review: Some hack writer has taken over John Grisham's body and wrote this junk to make a quick buck. Don't pay for this book. It has a great premise - the protaganists are "skipping Christmas" and travelling instead. How will their friends and neighbors handle it? But then the characters began behaving in ways that made little logical sense and the story becomes very repetitive and it just didn't go anywhere. It's just boring and implausible and disrespectful of the reader. Skip it.
Rating:  Summary: not typical, but good Review: This book is not what you would expect from Grisham, but it's still pretty good, lite reading. I enjoyed it very much, and found myself laughing out loud. It's great that Grisham can explore with the different genres and still be this entertaining. I recommend this book as easy reading while you are on vacation, or before bed time reading.
Rating:  Summary: Skipping Christmas Review: This book is best skipped! What a disappointment. I've read every book John Grisham has written and know that he is a fine story teller, so I'm wondering what happened to this one? It was boringly predictable and very disappointing. I hope his next effort lives up to his talent!
Rating:  Summary: Skipping Christmas Review: Absolutely wonderful!! My husband and son and I traveled from New Mexico to Grand Juction, Colo. for New Years and read this book aloud. Half of it on the way up and the other half on the way back. We found ourselves actually laughing out loud! The typical culdesac where everyone is into everyone elses business. Yea, for Luther, for trying to do something different,and trying to stick to it, for himself and his wife for their 1st Christmas together without their daughter. And thank goodness for all those neighbors that like to stick their noses in each other's business!!
Rating:  Summary: Lots of Holiday Fun!!! Review: Never having read a Grisham novel before, I found this book completely entertaining with a heartwearming ending. I went from laughing out loud to crying at the end with this sentimental story. I think it is a wonderful book and an easy read for "non" readers like myself. I intend to send a copy to my mother for her November birthday next year! What a delightful way to start the Christmas holidays!! I'll be waiting for the movie to come out!!
Rating:  Summary: A Grisham Gem Review: Grisham's new Christmas classic was written with a twinkle in his eye, a chuckle in his belly, and a dollop of Dickens satire. Our modern day Scrooge is named Krank and he's tired of nine percent of his annual adjusted gross income going to Christmas presents. That money, saved over 50 years could lead to a nest egg worth...well you see Krank's way of thinking. When I started this short book, I wondered if indeed, the Kranks would go on their cruise and it would turn out to be a National Lampoon's Christmas with the Griswalds. And in some very funny ways, Grisham does not disappoint with accountant Krank displaying comic relief by his conservative nature. The true irony in Grisham's tale is it shows our shortcomings, our childish ways of conformity, how even us thinking outside Stephen Covey's "nine dots" becomes a cliche. Like John Denver once penned so well, "as different as we are, we're still the same." This is a delightful read that I intend to include in my annual Christmas traditions.
Rating:  Summary: Depressing Review: I have not read any other Grisham book so I had no expectations when I bought it. Fortunately it was short and an easy read so I was able to finish it in a couple of days. I read the book a few days after Christmas and it just reminded me of all the craziness of the holidays which by then I had conveniently forgotten. The prevailing of the Christmas spirit at the end of the story was certainly not enough to justify the long "adventure" leading up to it. All in all, the story was depressing.
Rating:  Summary: Fun Read Review: This is a fun book with a sweet ending. It was easy to read and made me laugh. It would be a great movie. It pokes fun at our societal norms, but still sends across the real meaning of Christmas. Loved it! I recommended it to my friends.
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