John Grisham: Rozhdestvo s neudachnikami (Russian language, 2005, Izd-vo "AST")
221 pages
Russian language
Published Nov. 19, 2005 by Izd-vo "AST".
Luther and Nora Krank decide that, just this once, they'll skip Christmas altogether. Theirs will be the only house on the street without a rooftop Frosty the snowman; 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.
The ending is nice enough and I read this one yearly because it's one of the less saccharin Christmas books available, but Luther Krank is generally unlikable and the whole tone of the book is far more "conform because Christmas is What We Do" and less "Christmas is a wonderful reminder to think of your fellow man". The focus seems to be on money rather than spirit.
