The Greatest Gift by Philip van Doren Stern

 

What is a fun or weird gift that you have received in the past?

George Pratt is on a bridge contemplating suicide when a mysterious stranger shows up.  George tells the man his woes and how he wishes he had never been born.  The stranger tells him he has never been born.  George meets with his family members and discovers their lives are worse without him.  Will George come to value his own life?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I reread The Greatest Gift in November for the Back to the Classics Book Club.  We had a good discussion on this story as well as on classic Christmas movies in general.

·       The Greatest Gift is the story that is the basis of the classic Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life.  We discussed how in this case, the movie is even better than the original story.  It really took the story and built an unforgettable world.

·       I thought it was funny that in the short story Mary’s fate was to marry a terrible man and have terrible children that mistreat her as does her husband.  In the movie, she is an unmarried librarian.  That doesn’t seem so bad!

·       Philip Van Doren Stern sent his friends and family a Christmas card with a story he had written called “The Greatest Gift.”  The story found its way to a producer at RKO studios, and it eventually became It’s a Wonderful Life.

·       This is a small book.  The first half is the story, and the second half was an afterward by the author’s daughter about how the story came to be and how it became the classic movie.

·       Why are there so many mysterious beings in Christmas stories?  We also read “Markheim” by Robert Louis Stevenson for book blub and a mysterious being also appears in this story.  It’s not explicitly said it’s an angel in either story.

Favorite Quote:

“I understand right enough,” the stranger said slowly. “I just wanted to make sure you did. You had the greatest gift of all conferred upon you—the gift of life, of being a part of this world and taking a part in it. Yet you denied that gift.” As the stranger spoke, the church bell high up on the hill sounded, calling the townspeople to Christmas vespers. Then the downtown church bell started ringing.”

Overall, The Greatest Gift by Philip van Doren Stern is a look into the inspiration behind the Christmas class movie, It’s a Wonderful Life.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.

The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern (The Heartwarming Story that became the Christmas Classic It’s a Wonderful Life)

Title: The Greatest Gift
Author: Philip Van Doren Stern

Read by: Edward Herrmann
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 45 minutes (1 CD)
Source: Simon & Schuster Audio Review Copy – Thank-you!

I LOVE It’s a Wonderful Life.  It is not only my favorite Christmas movie, but also one of my favorite movies of all time.  Or according to my son Kile’s review, it is “Good.”  I love the theme behind It’s a Wonderful Life that each one of our lives have value and affects so many others, even if we don’t know it.  I jumped at the chance to review The Greatest Gift, which is the short story that It’s a Wonderful Life is based upon.

I’ll admit that I loved The Greatest Gift so much that I listened to it not once, not twice, but three times.  The first half of the audiobook is the story of George Bailey.  A mysterious stranger shows up on Christmas Eve to help George to see what life would be like if he had never been born.  George realizes that each person has worth and that he does indeed have a wonderful life.  The second half of the audiobook is the amazing story of how Philip Van Doren Stern got the idea for the story, wrote it, and was unable to get it published.  He sent it as a Christmas card one year, and then received a phone call from Hollywood asking for the rights of the story to make a movie.  It also talks about the making of the movie and how it impacted Van Doren Stern’s family and the world.   I loved it.  

Edward Herrmann did a good job narrating the story.  I believe Van Doren Stern’s daughter narrated the afterward. I enjoyed how the story had many of the same elements as the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, but also had some different elements that were intriguing to me.   I really loved learning the background of the story and the movie.  I thought this was such a great CD that I went out and purchased it for a couple of Christmas gifts.  Although it’s such a great inspiring story, it doesn’t only need to be a gift for Christmas!  

Overall, this is a wonderful audiobook that I am going to love to listen to each year at the holidays.