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Essay on Analysis of "Skipping Christmas"
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, 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 Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty; 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 have become part of our holiday tradition. John Grisham, the creator of straight-shooting legal thrillers, is carrying on the thrilling work of Ayn Rand, and he has outdone the master of "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" by taking the standard sentimental Christmas redemption story and turning it on its head in "Skipping Christmas."
A fourth as long but eminently more readable, within its 177 slim, narrow-margined pages is a feel-good story about the residents of an upper-class neighborhood infused with themes of sexuality, racism and scathing criticisms of Christianity and Soviet collectivism.
It's Thanksgiving, and Nora and Luther Krank — and doesn't that witty last name signal the authorial intention at work? — have sent off their only child, their daughter, Blair, to help Peruvian Indians for a year as part of a Peace Corp mission. After floundering amid the incoming tide of Christmas commercialism at the grocery store, Luther conceives the idea of avoiding the holidays by going on a 10-day cruise, beginning on Christmas Day.......
