Bryan Burrough
This is the consummate "Young Writer Discovers Middle America" book (or rediscovers, given that Stuever appears to be from Oklahoma, poor guy). By and large Stuever pulls it off, in part because he eschews (most) condescension and embraces these happy, bustling Christianized Texans for what they really are, not what he thinks they ought to be.
—The Washington Post
Kirkus Reviews
Washington Post pop-culture writer Stuever (Off Ramp: Adventures and Heartache in the American Elsewhere, 2004) searches for the meaning of Christmas in the Texas heartland. In 2006 the author went to live in suburban Texas, with return trips in 2007 and 2008, to pursue the cultural meaning of Christmas in America. He tells the stories of three Christmas-obsessed Texans: Tammie Parnell, a mother of two who runs a holiday decorating business; Jeff Trykoski, a computer engineer who becomes a local celebrity each year as he decorates his house with nearly 50,000 Christmas lights; and single mother Caroll Cavazos, who, along with a mob of other bargain shoppers, camps out in a Best Buy parking lot the morning after Thanksgiving. The Dallas suburb that Stuever documents-Frisco, population 90,000-is a fairly stereotypical example of suburban sprawl, dotted with megachurches and stripmalls, with all the garish tackiness and consumerism that entails. Though the author aims to empathize with his subjects, he can't resist taking some shots, singling out shallowness for special ridicule. Parnell, for example, fantasizes about doing Christmas decorations for the Bush White House, but is absolutely clueless about the wars Bush is waging; after learning of an earthquake in China that killed some 10,000 people, Trykoski worried about whether the Chinese Christmas-light factories were destroyed; Cavazos, the ultimate American consumer, overspends on Christmas presents and attends a church that features a Starbucks in the vestibule. The mockery here is a bit obvious, perhaps, but it does have a certain wicked charm. The problem occurs when Stuever tries to raise the tone of the narrative-quotingstatistics about consumer spending or dwelling on the emptiness of suburban living-in an effort to transform the book into a more serious study. As a result of the tonal shifts, his sociological conclusions about the meaning of Christmas in America are somewhat muddled. A pleasant but uneven look at Christmas in suburbia. Author appearances in Houston, Dallas, Austin. Agent: Heather Schroder/ICM
BookPage
An utterly charming yet sobering profile of the music, traditions, money, pressure, and sheer nuttiness of the city’s seasonal celebration…Stuever is part sociologist, part psychologist and always a perceptive observer, placing American holiday rituals in a new light. ‘Our sense of Christmas is nothing without the narrative of heartbreaking need,’ he writes. ‘Mary needed a place to give birth and nobody would give her one. This need for need exists so that our children can distinguish it from the concept of want.’”
Tampa Bay Times
Fascinating…Stuever unwraps both appalling consumerism and genuine holiday spirit—sometimes in the same package—and treats the people he writes about with respect and affection, even when they’re doing things he can’t quite believe.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer
A nice antidote to the blizzard of obligations, expectations, and traditions that bury us at the end of each year.”
Austin American-Statesman
Marvelously written and sharply observed.”
San Antonio Express-News
Scrupulously observed, deeply revealing, and very, very funny.”
New Yorker
Cultural anthropology at its most exuberant.”
Minneapolis Star Tribune
What stands out most in Tinsel is Stuever’s genuine interest in his subjects…[His] fascination with and empathy for the human experience are abundant.”
San Jose Mercury News
I knew Christmas in today’s America was out of control, but had no idea just how much before reading this book…Tinsel is crammed full of data and insights that illuminate how far we’ve strayed from a family holiday to the commercial and economic abyss we have created for ourselves as a country…A snapshot of contemporary America in search of meaning.”
USA Today
Laugh-out-loud funny…Stuever’s keen eye misses very little.”
Huffington Post
Wry, compelling, and telling commentary on the state of giving, getting, and celebrating in the holiday season.”
Booklist (starred review)
Stuever also offers up a fascinating history of how Christmas has evolved across cultures…A sometimes hilarious, sometimes cynical, but always heartfelt look at the meaning of Christmas to Americans. Completely wonderful.”
Publishers Weekly
With impeccable research and solid reporting, Stuever has written the gift book that keeps on giving—Christmas consumerism wrapped together with traditional family values.”
Palm Beach Post
[Stuever’s] spot-on observations about how modern America celebrates the holiday—in all its retail madness—are satisfying and illuminating…He has a knack for keeping you engaged. His gift for ending chapters and segments with startling visual images, pithy summations, a fabulous quote or his thought of the moment creates a glide effect that makes the book difficult to put down.”
From the Publisher
"In this dazzling feat of reportage, Hank Stuever gets at what's best and worst not just about Christmas but about us as Americans. Hilarious, insightful, compassionate, and hugely entertaining, Tinsel is a gift (holiday or otherwise) to anyone who loves great writing."
—Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife and Prep "Insightful, funny/sad, filled with poetry and despair, who better than Hank Stuever to take on the Christmas Industrial Complex with such ultimate humanity, given that he writes like an angel."
—David Rakoff, author of Don't Get Too Comfortable and Fraud "Hank Stuever could have gone the obvious route in writing about Christmas—mixing the coy with the condescending—but bravely chose to take the road less traveled. The result is a book that is thoughtful, illuminating, compassionate, and even affectionate, and very funny. Mr. Stuever is one of those increasingly rare creatures: a journalist who has his heart in the right place." —Joe Queenan, author of Closing Time "Hank Stuever wades bravely into that strange, terrifying maw that is Christmas, returning from the McMansionvilles of the fly-over territories with a book that is not just hilarious but is suffused with the unexpected sweetness and warmth of dare I say it? A hundred yule logs. It’s not just about plastic trees and other garish frontiers of decor. Tinsel is a bigger tale, about what America has become while Santa wasn't watching." —Sandra Tsing Loh, NPR commentator and author of Mother on Fire "Laugh-out-loud funny... Stuever's keen eye misses very little." —USA Today "Wry, compelling, and telling commentary on the state of giving, getting, and celebrating in the holiday season." —Huffington Post "Fascinating... Stuever unwraps both appalling consumerism and genuine holiday spirit — sometimes in the same package — and treats the people he writes about with respect and affection, even when they're doing things he can't quite believe." —St. Petersburg Times "What stands out most in Tinsel is Stuever's genuine interest in his subjects . . . [His] fascination with and empathy for the human experience are abundant." —Minneapolis Star Tribune "Marvelously written and sharply observed." —Austin American-Statesman "A nice antidote to the blizzard of obligations, expectations and traditions that bury us at the end of each year." —Cleveland Plain Dealer "Stuever's clear-eyed examination of America in holiday orgy-mode is energetic, acerbic, and informative . . . Tinsel is well-written journalism about unexceptional people doing (for the most part) unexceptional things, but Stuever's generosity finds the extraordinary everywhere." —The Stranger "[Stuever's] spot-on observations about how modern America celebrates the holiday — in all its retail madness — are satisfying and illuminating. . . He has a knack for keeping you engaged. His gift for ending chapters and segments with startling visual images, pithy summations, a fabulous quote or his thought of the moment creates a glide effect that makes the book difficult to put down." —Palm Beach Post "I knew Christmas in today's America was out of control, but had no idea just how much before reading this book . . .Tinsel is crammed full of data and insights that illuminate how far we've strayed from a family holiday to the commercial and economic abyss we have created for ourselves as a country . . . A snapshot of contemporary America in search of meaning." —San Jose Mercury News "Scrupulously observed, deeply revealing and very, very funny." —San Antonio Express-News
