A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd
When I was growing up, A Christmas Story was one of my favorite movies. We had a bootleg copy of it that we watched nearly every time we went to my grandparents' house. To this day, my family watches it at least twice on Christmas day. So, when this book came up as a book I could get on my Kindle, I jumped on it.
While it was nice to see the background on some of the episodes that make up this classic movie, the book didn't have the same feeling for me that the movie does. Maybe because I have seen the movie hundreds of times, I don't know.
There were some differences, of course. One is that the bully in the book is Grover Dill and not Scut Farkas. Not a big deal, but picturing the character in the movie as the one Ralphie beats the tar out of instead of how it is portrayed in the movie just didn't work for me. Another difference is the Bumpuss hounds. They eat an Easter ham, not a Christmas turkey. Again, not a big deal.
Something I wish was included in the book was Flick getting his tongue stuck to the flagpole. I would have liked to have seen that in print. In fact, Flick and Schwartz didn't figure into the book too much. I mean, they don't figure into the movie a whole lot, but they are definitely more of a presence in the movie.
Am I glad I read this? Yes. It made a movie I love that much more special.
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