With Boo Humbug, Rene Gutteridge returns to Skary, Indiana (her own whacky version of Mayberry) for a delightfully twisted take on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Lois Stepaphanopolis, director of Skary's local theater group, decides to bring A Christmas Carol to Skary residents as it's never been seen before - as a modern horror story. Jacob Marley is recast as Jae Cobb-Marley, a ruthless...
more With Boo Humbug, Rene Gutteridge returns to Skary, Indiana (her own whacky version of Mayberry) for a delightfully twisted take on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Lois Stepaphanopolis, director of Skary's local theater group, decides to bring A Christmas Carol to Skary residents as it's never been seen before - as a modern horror story. Jacob Marley is recast as Jae Cobb-Marley, a ruthless businesswoman in the fashion industry - and that's just the beginning of her attempts to "update" the classic tale. Add quirky cast members who don't "get" Lois's vision, like a pair of stressed, overtired new fathers seeking to escape diaper-duty for a few hours, and the stage is set for a comic clash of creative differences. When Skary's local "Scrooge," struggling literary agent Alfred Tennison, starts trying to promote the production in nearby towns, the word gets out that Skary is putting on THE Christmas story, as in angels, shepherds, and the baby Jesus - not Scrooge, ghosts, and Tiny Tim. When the mix-up is finally realized, Lois & Co. are left with just a few hours to pull off a miracle staging of the nativity story.
Boo Humbug is a super fast, quick read, but thanks to Gutteridge's strong storytelling skills it's full of surprising emotional depth. Her trademark humor shines in the story and her characterizations are as laugh-out-loud funny as readers of her novels have come to expect. I was somewhat surprised that in a novella Gutteridge's characters felt more fully realized than in some of her previous books (such as Scoop (The Occupational Hazards Series #1)). Her characters can tend to come across as caricatures which is both a strength (they're funny, quirky, and relatable) and a weakness (they can lack depth and realism) of her writing. For example, Wolfe Boone's struggle to cope with the duties of being a new father (like the "ick" factor of diaper duty) ring hilariously true. There's a wonderful depth to his character and his relationship with his wife and new daughter that balances the stock humor of his attempts to cope with the duties of being a new dad.
Boo Humbug is a clever, funny tale that's a sweet reminder of refocusing on the true "reason for the season" and finding peace in the midst of the chaos that the trappings of the Christmas season brings.
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