CLOSING THE BOOK ON SANTA CLAUS is a collection of short stories connected by the common fabric of the Christmas holiday season. While the eponymous story deals directly with a town’s holiday celebration, the rest of the stories occur during the season but their plots deal with other issues. The first story in the collection, “The Slickest Road Ever”, is about the high-strung preparations surrounding a child’s birth and is a fitting Nativity Story to open this holiday collection. “Closing the Book on Santa Claus” follows with an interesting look at the “War on Christmas” as it plays out in small town America. Each of the stories has its own slant on issues in society ranging from the culture wars, immigration, homelessness or Christmas tree rustling.
Despite the gravity of some of the issues discussed in the stories, the author maintains a light hand by keeping away from polemics or the need for a narrative soapbox. This has the effect of presenting the plot directly in front of the reader while the theme gradually unfolds. Unfortunately, this seems to give a perfunctory discussion of serious issues like spousal abuse and attempted rape. The characters are at their best when they are pondering their plight, attempting to deal with the disparate plot elements. “Inside the Glamorous Life of Lady Plum” is one example of this technique. A working mother moves through her harried day by escaping into a daydream to lessen the burden of her home life and job. In two instances, the character development lies fallow, creating more of a caricature than a believable person would. For example, the school principal in “Closing the Book on Santa Claus” seems one dimensional, especially when she calls for more homework to be assigned during the children’s holiday vacation. As a whole, the stories are presented in a language somewhere between a folk tale and a morality tale. The final story, “Patrick’s Holiday Surprise”, has the feel of O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi”, but with far more hilarious consequences. The characters, with few exceptions, are decent, hardworking members of the middle class trying to wring some joy from the environment they share.
CLOSING THE BOOK ON SANTA CLAUS is an insightful collection of short stories made for that section of the bookshelf reserved for holiday literature.
~IndieReader.