Christmas Special: Mini Reviews!

Hey Booklovers!

Surprise!!

So I took the time to read Three books from the ones I recommended including Seven Days of Us, Last Christmas in Paris and Skipping Christmas. I didn’t wanna write my usual review as I didn’t think it’s necessary. But here goes:

Seven Days of Us is a family drama about the Birchs. Andrew and Emma have been married for so long that they don’t communicate with each other as before and hold secrets of their own. Their daughters Phoebe and Olivia are pretty apart. Phoebe is younger and spoiled. Olivia is a doctor and a volunteer at an NGO for a life threatening disease in Africa. As part of a quarantine they have to spend time inside for the last week of December. How do they cope with each other? Will everything they have been holding away from each other spill out? Amidst all this drama is Jesse, Andrew’s long lost son who wants to reconnect with his birth father. Will he succeed? I loved the writing and characterisation but there was something missing. Maybe too much focus on their issues and no merry going around. But definitely encapsulates holidays with the family.

Last Christmas in Paris is about relationships and love amidst World War I. Will and his best friend, Thomas, leave for Europe to serve in World War I. Evie Elliott is Will’s sister and writes letters to them throughout their serving time. The three of them are very close and have never been separated. Evie is naive and believes that everyone will be together for a Christmas reunion in Paris. The three of them stay in contact via letters, and these communications become the fabric and timeline for the story. Evie is frustrated with her life as a young woman and not been able to contribute anything to help win the war. She channels her disappointment by writing a column for a local newspaper. As the war drags on, Thomas and Evie continue their correspondence while hoping for the elusive Christmas in Paris. The entire book is written in the letter format and you glimpse everything (their world) through these letters. I found myself a bit detached from everything, probably because of the format but the emotions captured were pure and beautiful.

Skipping Christmas is about Luther and Nora Krank who decide that Christmas is a burden. As accountant, Luther comes up with myriad reasons why the holiday is pointless and merely a drain on their bank account. The money they spend on the holiday could be more effectively put to use were they to go on a cruise instead. With their daughter abroad, the couple sees this as a viable option and set out to take themselves off everyone’s Christmas list. However, it may not be as easy as they hoped including situations where the towns people defy all reason to keep the Kranks from skipping town. Its a book one does not expect from Grisham who is famous for his legal thrillers. Yet he infuses magic and comedy deftly and weaves a Christmas story one can come back to. Its been adapted to the movie Christmas with the Kranks.

I couldn’t find the time to read the other two but heres a link from fellow book bloggers to what I think makes for a wonderful review of the last two books I recommended, if you are interested.