The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans fulfills the category “A Bestseller from the 90s” for the PopSugar 2021 Reading Challenge. I thought the title appropriate for the date of this post. And I’m sorry to end the year on a slightly sour note. Guess I should have chosen a different book.
The Christmas Box enjoyed a unique position of being number one on the New York Times bestseller list for paperback and hardcover at the same time. This happened in 1995.
The book tells the tale of a businessman, his wife, and child moving into a widow’s house. The young couple is struggling with life, work, and the cost of living when they stumble upon a good living situation—in-home companionship and care for an elderly woman. As the main character, Richard, explores the mansion, he discovers a box with letters. He can’t quite figure out what’s up with them. Mary, the elderly woman who owns the house, is an enigma, teasing Richard with questions about the first gift of Christmas.
Okay, I get it. A sweet story of Christmas, with connections to lonely people and building a family that is more than blood. Yup, but the first paragraph put me off. I’m not trying to be a curmudgeon, but to begin the book with “This story is not told enough, so let me write it down for all times.” Um, then the story sounds autobiographical. So the author is concerned we are not retelling his story?
What?
The story is not on the same level as the ’Twas Night Before Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Yes, people read and loved it, but it’s a little pretentious to reprimand us for not retelling this tale. I thought it dragged. There was no big moment. There was not a pile of love for Mary. There wasn’t a deep story in its one-hundred-plus pages that made me say, “Oh, my God. Everyone must read this and retell the story.”
I’m not trying to be a Grinch. It was cute, hopeful, and the love was there. But a classic to be retold to the generations—not so much. Plus, all that angel-speak in his dreams. I understand the concept might be part of Mormon beliefs that people become angels at death. I’m not religious and didn’t know this until I researched the book. Perhaps if I had more of a spiritual streak, the book would have spoken to me.
It wasn’t the holiday story for me.
I give The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans Four Angel Statues. (It was okay, just pretentious.)
We made it! Fifty books! Next week, I'll have a recap and then plans for next year. Thanks for sticking with me!
I don't agree with you--I love the story, not so much the writing--but appreciate the thoughtfulness of the review.
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