Funny little story about skipping Christmas and then suddenly having to have a huge party anyway. ( )

First half of the story was great. 2nd half took the easy way out - too predictable (lots of lies, lots of wasted money, etc.) and ultimately unsatisfying. After such a great build-up, I was very disappointed. Grisham should go back to what he's good at - legal adventures. ( )

This is one of the few books where I'd say that the movie was better. ( )

Fun little Christmas story. Luther is such a great character. He's so funny, and yet somehow relatable. ( )

My first time ever reading Grisham, here—and unless the point of this little comedy was to say, "Don't be like any of the bigots and bullies in this book," then this wasn't at all a good introduction to the author.

The neighborhood's, and the Kranks', sentiments make it obvious that anything that isn't Caucasian, Christian, and Western doesn't jibe with them. I mean, the little pokes at Hindus and Buddhists in the characters' minds just weren't funny. Luther referring to Peruvians as "heathens" and thinking of their foreign children as "primitive," and he and his wife being utterly relieved to find out that the skin color of a certain Peruvian doctor they have to meet isn't too brown—and I quote, "Nora and Luther...looked beyond to see how dark Enrique was. He wasn't dark at all! At least two shades lighter than Luther himself!"—no. Just no. Just not funny.

The fact that one Pakistani family moved into the neighborhood once and moved away again a short time later is no surprise. Not when you see the way the Kranks' neighbors literally, collectively, blatantly, relentlessly shame and harass the Kranks for taking a non-conforming route this season by not putting up Christmas decorations and such.

Yep. Go on and browbeat folks into celebrating the birth of Christ (or whatever it is you're celebrating through this holiday) just the way you want them to. Gossip about 'em, laugh at 'em, get crowds together to publicly heckle 'em, bombard 'em with spiteful "joke" Christmas messages in the mail, etc....

Yep x2. That'll learn 'em that 'tis the season to be jolly.

I read the whole book because 1) it's short, 2) I absolutely love Christmas and reading Christmas books, and 3) I figured the Kranks were really going to learn something, or something, through choosing not to participate in the façade that calls itself Christmas rather than truly being Christmas.

But it seems the façade wins out, here. Not to mention the fact that none of the characters are likable. Even when a gesture of Luther's toward the end is apparently supposed to be magnanimous, it seems likely that he may be most concerned not about other people but about making sure a big chunk of his money doesn't go to waste, given his attitude.

Then with the outright racism going unchecked in the end, as if it's just supposed to be a quirky joke or some such...

Nope.

Again, unless Luther is supposed to be an Archie Bunker-ish caricature and the moral of this story is not to be like the Kranks or any of their nasty neighbors, I'm not exactly sure what the point of this book is supposed to be. ( )