Debbie Jacob
Our Sunday Arts Section (SAS) December Book Club choice, Skipping Christmas by John Grisham, drives home this burning question: Exactly how jolly is Christmas?
Loyal Luther, who goes by the book when it comes to celebrating Christmas, grapples with this question after he sends his daughter Blair off to her Peace Corps job and then packs his bags to go on a Caribbean cruise with his wife, Nora, who is horrified by the idea of skipping Christmas.
Skipping Christmas raises many pertinent questions about how we choose to celebrate it.
"Why do we eat so much and drink so much in the celebration of the birth of Christ?" he asks.
Good question.
The idea comes to Luther while he's shopping. "How nice it would be to avoid Christmas...A snap of the fingers and it's January 2. No tree, no shopping, no meaningless gifts, no tipping, no clutter and wrappings, no traffic and crowds, no fruitcakes, no liquor and hams, no office party, no wasted money," he says aloud.
Escaping the trap of holiday spending is not so easy, as Skipping Christmas shows, but Luther ends up making a case, in a very Grisham kind of way, for a Caribbean cruise. A cruise would be cheaper, Luther argues, than buying presents.
But Luther's wife worries about how people will react to them if they cancel Christmas.
Making the decision is only the first step in a difficult process. Next comes breaking the news to people there will be no Christmas gifts from Luther and Nora. This is where readers really see people's bad and selfish side.
Readers who wonder how it is possible to keep a sense of dignity, pride and self-worth while breaking the news of cancelling Christmas to those who expect extravagant gifts will be happy to note that Grisham spells out strategies for many different scenarios. On some level, this is really a self-help book for people who plan to skip Christmas.
In many ways, Skipping Christmas is about finding oneself in the midst of all that discarded Christmas wrapping and being an individual in a season that tends to push a sense of selfishness and often destroys a sense of responsibility.
Talking points:
There are many points and many issues for SAS Book Club readers to discuss in Skipping Christmas:
1. Is Christmas too commercialised?
2. Do you feel pressured to buy gifts for friends and family?
3. What are the best Christmas gifts?
4. How do you determine which gifts to buy the people on your list?
5. Do you feel guilty if you don't buy gifts or do you feel guilty for spending too much money?
6. By the end of the Christmas season, do you feel happy or sad?
7. How does the image of Scrooge define your Christmas?
8. Would you ever cancel Christmas?
9. What would make you consider cancelling Christmas?
10. What Christmas expenses could you trim from your season?
Next week:
A twist in Skipping Christmas leads readers to ponder Christmas on a whole new level.
Next year:
?The SAS Book Club kicks off January 2014 with The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak so that readers will be prepared for the movie version of the book.