A Belated Holiday Book Review

Sparkly Shoes To Make Heaven Brighter

During the past Christmas season, I had decided to read all those books on my shelves relating to the holidays. I had seen "The Christmas Shoes" as a TV movie starring Rob Lowe and thought that would be a good place to start. After reading the book, I can now report that the TV movie was much better than the book. I think had I read the book before seeing the movie, I might have felt differently. There were things that were added to the movie that weren't in the book and I kept waiting for these things to happen and, when they didn't, I found myself disappointed.

I know I shouldn't expect too much when reading these seasonal books and I make sure, when reviewing them, not to compare them to great literature. I try to compare them to similar books in that genre. With that said, this book really did not move me and, as a result, I ended up putting all of the other holiday books back on the shelves. Perhaps next December, I'll start with a better one like "A Christmas Carol".

One of my main problems with this book was the change from one point of view to another. It was not done seamlessly and sometimes I found myself having to reread paragraphs because I thought I was reading one person's thoughts only to find out it was someone else's. I'm actually writing this review a few months after finishing the book and that is not the best thing to do as there were numerous other things the author did that didn't flow well for me, which some good editing might have helped.

With all that said, I think the story, of a young boy losing his mother around the holidays and a very busy attorney almost losing his family because he doesn't have the time to give them his attention, is one that has been told before in many different ways. There's no question that the innocence of a boy, wanting to buy shoes for his mother so she will look pretty when meeting Jesus, will tug at your heart. The part of the story that affected me more was the kindness of the teacher who knew he needed a few extra hugs and much more of her time than any of her other students. It's usually the goodness of someone not attached to the family that gets to me moreso than the natural goodness that would be forthcoming from a relative. And then the defining moment, when the boy meets the attorney while Christmas shopping and the attorney offers to help pay for the shoes so that the untimate gift can be given to the boy's mother, is surely a magical one.

I think if you're looking for a read that is quick and easy and defines what the meaning of Christmas is all about, then you might enjoy this book. I'm sure I'm being a bit more critical than I should be but I sometimes can't let poor editing go unnoticed.