In the expert hands of Oscar Hijuelos, Mr. Ives' Christmas speaks eloquently to the most basic and fulfilling aspects of life for all of us. The Mr. Ives who is the protagonist of this novel is an … Mr. Ives is a deeply religious man who as a child was a foundling adopted by the senior Mr. Ives, who himself was a foundling and got his surname from a priest who looked at a Currier and Ives print and declared the child’s name to be Ives. The book, Mr. Ives Christmas, is about a man whose life rotates around the axis of Christmas, in both its tremendous joys and immense sorrows. "Mr. Ives' Christmas" is a beautiful story, the people are real, and the theme is profound. Part love story--of a man for his wife, for his children, for God--and part meditation on how a person can find spiritual peace in the midst of crisis, Mr. Ives' Christmas is a beautifully written, tender and passionate story of a man trying to put his life in perspective. Ives met his wife at an art students' Christmas party, and-most importantly-it was during the 1967 Christmas season that Ives's 17-year-old son was senselessly gunned down as he left choir practice. Mr. Ives is a foundling, the son of an orphan named for the second-half of Currier & Ives, the lithographers now best known as a slurred lyric in the unavoidable Christmas song "Sleigh Ride." Overwhelmed by grief and threatened by a loss of faith in humankind, Mr. Ives begins to question the very foundations of his life. But Mr. Ives’ Christmas is not a light holiday read, nor does it have that rhythm of the previous novels by Hijuelos I’ve read. Mr. Ives' Christmas NPR coverage of Mr. Ives' Christmas: A Novel by Oscar Hijuelos. The author has made a powerful statement in a calm & quiet manner. It is a novel unique in its depiction of the power of Christian faith, specifically as it pertains to the Advent season. ( ) 1 maryreinert | Aug 16, 2013 | I loved this book. Mr. Ives' Christmas. In a sense, "Mr. Ives' Christmas" turns "A Christmas Carol" on its head, portraying a good man transformed by the spirit of evil, rather than an evil man transformed by the spirit of good. Pulitzer-winning Hijuelos's fourth sails close to the shoals of sentiment but remains an honest, moving account of a man, his family, and the changing city they live in. Ives has never fully recovered from the killing, and his unshakable depression threatens to destroy his marriage, as does his strange obsession with rehabilitating the murderer. Overwhelmed by grief and threatened by a loss of faith in humankind, Mr. Ives begins to question the very foundations of his life. Mr. Ives has a successful career in advertising, a wife and two children, and believes he has achieved the typical American dream. MR. IVES' CHRISTMAS. Part love story—of a man for his wife, for his children, for God—and part meditation on how a person can find spiritual peace in the midst of crisis, Mr. Ives’s Christmas "is a magnificently sad and enchanting novel, a celebration, ultimately, of giving and of grace." by Oscar Hijuelos ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1995. News, author interviews, critics' picks and more. Title: Mr. Ives' Christmas By: Oscar Hijuelos Format: Paperback Number of Pages: 248 Vendor: Harper Perennial Publication Date: 1996: Dimensions:.8 X 5.23 X .6 (inches) Weight: 7 ounces ISBN: 0060927542 ISBN-13: 9780060927547 Stock No: WW27542 And though there is nostalgia here for the New York of the fabulous 40's and 50's, the novel ends not very nostalgically in the nasty 90's.