Rating: 
Summary: Just my speed.
Review: Counting back I was about 2 years older than the 7 year old narrator. I recognized every character in The Painted House from my past except the Mexicans who did not exist in North Carolina when I was growing up.I knew the harshness and the warmth Grisham describes. My family lived just a bit more of an urban life style but it was a short trip to encounter all these people.
Enjoyed it and wish there were more books in this category.
Rating: 
Summary: A Different Grisham
Review: Whether you liked the book or not, this is definitely new territory for John Grisham. Courtroom suspense in his previous novels is traded in for a 1950's story that doesn't seem to be fiction. A story about the all too familiar farming operation in the southern U.S. places a common family in the middle of small-town gossip. The main character, 7-year-old Luke, is faced with decisions that normally wouldn't be part of a young boy's life. From the war to the constant threat of bad weather, this book has it all. Some of us never know Grisham was capable of describing anything other than courtroom politics. A great buy.
Rating:
Summary: Painted House
Review: Although this book was not Grisham's usual, it still kept me turning the pages quick. This is a fast read and you get so involved you just want to finish it to know what happens. It has suspense and I would recommend it to Grisham's fans.
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Summary: AWFUL, terrible, how could anyone like this book?
Review: I don't get it, John Grisham puts his name to something and everyone says it is good....This book was nothing. Nothing happenned, I waited 450 pages for something, I am still waiting. I can't remember feeling more empty after finishing a book that I do now.....The only good thing is that I finished this in a few days on the train.....I read everything by Grisham and usually like most things, although, he has not come close to his first 3 novels....This one was NOTHING................don't waste your time.....I look forward to any feedback from people who liked this....
Rating: 
Summary: Ending? What ending?
Review: This started out very interesting reading. The world from a 7 year old's view was natural and refreshing and the could reader empathize with fantasies of the Cardinals, the hot sun while picking cotton and his fears and curiosity about the hill and Mexican people. Tension builds between groups, the little boy is burdened with secrets no adult could reasonably cope with, from violence to outright murder, yet in the end, there is no resolution for the reader to "end" the story. Just a resolution that grandpa and boy will carry a secret to their graves....oh, come on! It seemed the author just had to foist on some simplistic conclusions at the end that Mexican and hill people really are basically nice people, all in the same boat to struggle, and work and survive Arkansas in the 1950's. Very disappointing. I would not recommend this to others.
Rating:
Summary: exciting and action packed
Review: Some of us might think that a story about farming and cotton would be rather dull. I thought so myself. I was used to all of the legal thrillers Grisham wrote. It is true that this story has absolutely nothing to do with lawyers. There are no courtrooms. There are no aspiring lawyers like McDeere working for corrupt tax firms (The Firm). There are no judges engaged in letter writing to steal gay's money (The Brethren).
Nevertheless, the story is exciting the pages turn effortlessly. The story is about Luke, a seven year old who aspires to be a Cardinal. Luke is the eye of the story. We see everything through this young boy. Some may think it ridiculous that a seven year old can talk like ... an adult. But why underestimate a seven year old? When I was seven I underwent the feelings he had-worry, fear, and fascination with the opposite sex.
The story starts out on a farm. The Chandlers, Luke's family, must pick cotton. Cotton is their life. Cotton is what is talked about. That and the weather. The story runs along quite nicely. They are in perpetual debt. The Chandler's hire Mexicans and hill people, the Spruills, to pick the cotton. Trouble is brewing quickly. Hank is a big, mean Chandler who quickly establishes himself as the bully. Cowboy is a Mexican who has a knife that has killed many people. Luke fears them both. Luke's passions are ignited when Tally, a seventeen year old girl, allows him to watch her in the buff, bathing. The story's tension is based on secrets. Luke knows secrets that can disrupt and change his way of life. What will happen? I guess you have to read it to find out! I already ruined some of it for you, but hardly anything. There are so many stories in this novel. There's the house painting, the fair, the murder, the scandalous affair, the teenage girl having a baby...
Rating:
Summary: If you like Grisham's other books, you'll hate this one
Review: Having wasted numerous hours with "A Painted House", I figured I'd better warn others of doing the same. While I've enjoyed almost everything else by Grisham so far, "A Painted House" was a huge disappointment. It's not just the lack of suspense (in fact, this book's most thrilling aspect is the summary on the cover). It's a total lack of a plot, a message or anything else that would justify 400+ pages. If that particular style of story-telling aims at getting the boredom of life in rural America across, THEN Grisham has certainly succeeded.
Rating:
Summary: John Grisham's A Painted House
Review: Grisham's writing is like an experienced lover - slow, gentle, virulent and afterwards he tells you his soul.
Rating:
Summary: Happier (?) Times
Review: Although the Grisham Law Thriller Fans will be disappointed, this is a very good tale of the type associated with Steinbeck. A must buy for those like myself who were kids in southern Mo. or northern Arkansas between 1930 and 1940. You will experience the memories of a different time, a different moral code, a different set of values. The same goes for others who long for the simpler times of the past, or just like to remember what it was like to be a kid, especially a poor but happy kid. Mr. Grisham did this one for his parents, to whom it is dedicated, and it sounds autobiographical, but may not be. There is enough excitement and blood spilled to please those who need it, and a surpising amount of church related activity, daily prayer, such as some of us wish could find it's way into more novels these days. I suppose Mr. Grisham will go back to the law thriller now, but we Ozarkians say "thanks for the memories".
Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: This was the worst book I ever read. The book was very slow and boring. I thought around page 200 it was going to get interesting but I was wrong. I would not recommend this book.
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