A Christmas Story: The Book That Inspired the Hilarious Classic Film

This book is a compilation of the five short stories that were used to create the 1983 Christmas classic “A Christmas Story”. The tales of Jean Shepherd are semi-autobiographical as he drew heavily from his youth, even though it is officially fiction. In the fictional Indiana town of Hohman (vs. Shepherd’s Hammond, Indiana), Ralph Parker and his family embarked on these five tales that will become the beloved movie:
- Ralphie’s unwavering Christmas gift wish of the Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range BB gun
- Ralphie’s desire to be in the Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring club
- Mr. Parker winning a contest where the major award is a lascivious leg lamp
- Ralphie discovers his Tasmanian devil inner self after being bullied
- show more The Parker family being tormented by the neighbors, the Bumpus family, and having their Easter ham stolen by their dogs (in the movie, it’s the Christmas turkey)

I have watched the movie and the musical, and the book is just as wonderful. I recall much of the words used verbatim in the shows, but reading the original words, published 17 years before the movie, brings about a more potent image – a childhood through the lens of an articulate adult who understood the circumstances and implications. I felt the innocence of youth but wrapped in the intellect and appreciation of the adult. The writing is excellent prose that depicted warmth, humor, and nostalgia for a past that was less-than-ideal but well-loved nonetheless. Despite the BB gun being the main story which depicted the best childhood Christmas angst, I drew little hearts next to the lamp story and the bully story; those touched me.

In the lamp story, I was so amused:
“Before us in the heavy, fragrant air of our cabbage-scented kitchen stood a life-size lady’s leg, in true blushing-pink flesh tones and wearing a modish black patent leather pump with spike heel. When I say life-size I am referring to a rather large lady who obviously had dined well and had matured nicely. It was a well filled-out leg!”
“A monstrous, barrel-shaped bulging tube of a shade, a striking Lingerie pink in color, topped by a glittering cut-crystal orb, was lifted reverently up and put onto the table. Never had shade so beautifully matched base”
“From ankle to thigh the translucent flesh radiated a vibrant, sensual, luminous orang-yellow-pinkish nimbus of Pagan fire… It was alive!... The living room was bathed through the long, still, silent hours with the soft glow of electric Sex.”
“He was almost overcome by Art. ‘What a great lamp! Wow! This is exactly what we need for the front window. Wow!’” (In the book, the adult Ralph identifies his dad as the first Pop Art fanatic.)
“…the lamp itself had attracted a considerable personal following among cruising prides of pimply-faced Adolescents who night after night could hardly wait for darkness to fall and the soft, sinuous radiation of Passion to light up the drab, dark corners of Cleveland Street.”

In the bully story, I felt for him and all who has been bullied and cheered for his inner devil:
“I was an accomplished Alley Runner who did not wear sneakers to school from choice but to get off the mark quicker. I was well qualified to endorse Kids Champions… ‘Yes, our new Bully-Beater model has been endorsed by skinny kids with glasses from coast to coast. That extra six feet may mean the difference between making the porch and you-know-what!’”
“All I knew is that I was tearing and ripping and smashing at Grover Dill, who fought back like a fiend! But I guess it was the first time he had ever met face to face with an unleashed Tasmanian Devil. I continued to swear fantastically, as though I had no control over it. I was conscious of it and yet it was as though it was coming from something or someone outside of me.”
“I learned then that Bravery does not exist. Just a kind of latent Nuttiness. If I had thought about attacking Dill for ten seconds before I had done it, I’d have been four blocks away in a minute flat. But something had happened. A wire broke. A fuse blew. And I had gone out of my skull.” show less

Simply the best Christmas tale. Why did I wait so long to read this?! I grew up loving the movie and being proud that it was written by a Hoosier who lovingly wrote about where I grew up (the "region"). Reading this collection of short stories (taken from another short story collection by Jean Shepherd) that inspired the cult classic Christmas movie, I was in awe of how truly funny it was. I literally laughed out loud on multiple occasions much to the annoyance of my cats. I can't praise it enough. It's fantastic and I want to reread it every holiday season. It's too damn good to read just once. For fans of the movie adaptation, humor, and Hoosiers. Not to be missed!

Simply the best Christmas tale. Why did I wait so long to read this?! I grew up loving the movie and being proud that it was written by a Hoosier who lovingly wrote about where I grew up (the "region"). Reading this collection of short stories (taken from another short story collection by Jean Shepherd) that inspired the cult classic Christmas movie, I was in awe of how truly funny it was. I literally laughed out loud on multiple occasions much to the annoyance of my cats. I can't praise it enough. It's fantastic and I want to reread it every holiday season. It's too damn good to read just once. For fans of the movie adaptation, humor, and Hoosiers. Not to be missed!

I adore the movie, and I wanted to like this collection more than I did. Unfortunately, the movie has primacy in my head, so I got taken out of the storytelling a little by recognizing some parts and having to reconcile others. Shepherd's writing is darker than the movie, less Norman Rockwell-ian in recalling the Great Depression. There’s a lot to like in his humor and I think I might enjoy his stories better if I didn’t already think I knew them, but the overall tone is substantially different.

More of a 3.75. I have the ebook and the audiobook. I listened the the audiobook and it was the most disappointing part of the book. Being used to hearing Jean Shepard's narration, it was a shock to the system to hear someone else telling the story. Especially because their narration was bland and a little momotoned. All of the movie is there--with minor changes here and there. The story switches back and forth between older Ralphie's present day and him flashing back to memories from his childhood. It isn't all one long story based on Christmas like in the movie. It was funny and a little weird considering I have been watching the movie multiple times a year since the 80's. The story of the movie is ingrained in my memory, so it was show more odd hearing the story as a mish-mash of seperate memories. Not a bad story, though I do regret purchasing the audio version. show less

This is a fine book, but if you really want to get into Jean Shepherd the way he should be read, buy a copy of "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash." Most of the stories in this book are culled from that book.

I grew up listening to Jean Shepherd's radio show in the 70s, and actually attended a book-reading at the A&S book store in downtown Brooklyn when In God We Trust was first published. Shepherd just sat on a stool and read from the book, talked a bit, then read from the book some more. My mother finally told me we had to leave, and I said, "But we just got here!", and it turned out that we'd been there for three hours. He was that enthralling!

This is a collection of the short humor pieces that appeared separately and then were collectively the inspiration for the 1983 movie of this name. "Duel in the Snow, Or Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid," which is the piece that all the BB gun stuff (and all the specifically Christmassy stuff) comes from, is the best. Some of the others go on a bit--and contain some attitudes that don't go down so smooth now as they might have when they first were written.