cover image Revenge of the Christmas Box: A Parody

Revenge of the Christmas Box: A Parody

Cathy E. Crimmins. Audio Literature, $9.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7871-1037-6

As the authors of this parody suggest in their introduction, sentimental Christmas stories can move us ""either to tears or to nausea.'' Addressing themselves to those who have the latter reaction, they have produced 21 very short tales that may entice those who prefer vinegar to sugar syrup. Most of the tales use the same device as the original Christmas Box story: a poor couple and their child move into a house whose elderly occupant reveals the true meaning of the holiday. In ""The Christmas Jar,'' a body-piercing specialist and his wife board with an old lady in her trailer home and learn that the ultimate gift of Christmas is to love your goldfish. Among the other scenarios: an embalmer and his unfaithful wife lodge in a deranged cardiovascular surgeon's mansion, where they discover his dismembered (but still articulate) wife in a box in the attic; another couple become boarders in Jewish comedian George Burnside's Beverly Hills mansion, where a bonanza awaits them. The humor here is broad, derivative, sometimes in bad taste (""The Christmas Black Box"" involves a plane crash) and often raunchy: ""The Christmas Vox,"" a takeoff on Nicholson Baker's erotic novel, features a heavy-breathing Mrs. Santa; in another story, a sexy octogenarian improves her young lover's virility with the gift of boxer shorts. Completely irreverent and somewhat sophomoric readers may, however, consider this a box of Yuletide cheer. $50,000 ad/promo. (Nov.)