Skipping Christmas

Luther is a middle-aged accountant, confronting Life’s Changes and Transitions with the departure of his daughter. He is now at a loose end, trying to build a new relationship with his wife and his community. Luther is an anti-hero in that he has a number of negative traits like misanthropy, grouchiness, and stubbornness that lead him into conflict with his community.

Early on, John Grisham establishes Luther as a cross between two iconic Christmas anti-heroes, Ebenezer Scrooge and Dr. Seuss’s Grinch (hence his name, Krank). Luther hates everything to do with Christmas—the crowds, the noise, the conspicuous consumption, the inconvenience and the stress, and he sets out to stop Christmas coming at all. He also echoes observations that Ebenezer Scrooge makes in A Christmas Carol when he says that the holiday has become a display of overspending and gluttony.

Luther has a number of redeeming traits that make him funny rather than despicable. He regularly gives to charity, he likes his neighbors most of the time, and many of his criticisms of the holiday are valid. When he sees one of his neighbors in distress, a man he finds excessively irritating, he makes a sacrifice to give that neighbor happiness in a time of grief.