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Summary: Grisham should just forget that whole law thing.
Review: I went to the bookstore and picked up a random Grisham novel. Little did I know that this book had nothing to do with the law. It took me a good two hundred pages to figure it out. The biggest surprise was the fact that this book was the best book I read from him. Grisham proves his worth as a storyteller by providing the simplest story of all - a seven-year-old farm boy's autumn.While Grisham's greatest strength is his knack for telling a good story, his law novels often go beyond the usual and norm to present an almost unlikely scenario. This book simply relies on the accounts of a boy whose life is extraordinary by being almost ordinary. And Grisham pulls this off very well. A boy, living with his parents and grandparents, deals with a typical farmer's struggle - picking season. The family deals with debt, Mexican and hillbilly laborers, townspeople, neighbors, secret affairs, and even a murder. Grisham expertly depicts the simple life of the farmer intermingled with the complexities of rural survival. From the murder of a brutish laborer, to the kid's first glimpse of television, the book's range from action to touching. A simple book by a great storyteller, I recommend this book to all.
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Summary: a sequel please
Review: I loved this book. I hated to finish it and leave the Chandler family. If you have never read a John Grisham book A Painted House is a great place to start. It is described as a story of loss of innocence , but it is so much more. It's also a story about rural America in the 50's and family loyalty. If your family always lived in cities, this is required reading...if they were country folk you may see your grandparents in this book. Enjoy Reading!
Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: I have always been a fan of lawyer novels but John Grishams book about life on a cotton farm from the viewpoint of a seven year old boy is incredible. I could hardly put the book down. Several parts brought tears to my eye's, both from the humor and from sadness. Excellent book Ray
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Summary: Wonderful
Review: Having read all of Grisham's works, this ranks as one of his best. Seeing the world thru the eyes of the seven year old main character, the reader can really feel what he is experiencing. A wonderful story line- actaully laughed out loud at the Yankee lady in the outhouse!
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Summary: An Excellent and Interesting Book
Review: I have always been a long standing John Grisham Fan. Every book written by him has been devoured by me only hours after I got them. It's not just his writing though, but stories that take place in courtrooms, so at first I was not sure if I would enjoy this book that much. After reading it, I found that he's just as talented out of the court room as in it. I found that my palms became close to sweating at points, and I couldn't stop reading until it was completed. Even though Grisham is often consider the master of legal thrillers, I think that he has definetely began to clear a path in a new field with this book.
The characters are interesting an realistic, and the plot keeps you on your feet through the whole book.
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Summary: Different then most John Grisham's books
Review: Good book , a little different from most of his books. More about cotton farming then law.
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Summary: Nice change of pace
Review: This book reminded me of why I used to like John Grisham's books so much. "A Painted House" is set in the past, not the present and is stripped of all lawyers and political issues. What's left is Mr. Grisham's storytelling skills and his subtle sense of humor, and it turns out that those are the traits that made him one of my favorites many years ago. "A Painted House" takes place during the 1952 harvest season on a cotton farm in rural Northeastern Arkansas. The narrator is little Luke Chandler, a 7-year-old who lives with his parents and paternal grandparents on the farm. During harvest season, they also host Mexican farm workers and a family from the Ozarks (the "hill people", as Luke terms them) who help pick the cotton. There are all these little social categories in Luke's world... the Mexicans, the hill people, the sharecroppers, those who rent their farm land (like his family does), those who own, the merchants, the Baptists, the Methodists and those with painted or unpainted homes. Luke's family is horrified when one of the hill people living in a tent in their front yard mocks *them* because the outside of their house is unpainted. It turns out that some of their itinerant workers live better than they do. Grisham does a really great job of making you care about this little kid, so much so that you really feel bad when he's embarrassed because he strikes out during a makeshift baseball game, you're thrilled for him when his grandfather arranges for him to see a World Series game on tv at a friendly shopkeeper's house and you fear for him when he's threatened by a truly bad dude after he saw way too much one night. I enjoyed "A Painted House" a lot and I hope that Mr. Grisham writes more lawyer-free books in the future.
Rating:
Summary: The Painted House
Review: This book was excellent in a way so different from the author's usual line of interest. I didn't want the book to end. The young boy was wise beyond his years while at the same time still remained a child, with child-like needs and qualities. If John Grisham writes a novel such as this again, I will be the first one in line to purchase the book!
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the paper it is printed on
Review: Have read and loved all the books Grisham has written in the legal genre. But this one and The Brethren are horrible. Just filled with prose, prose, prose and slow, slow, slow. I couldn't finish either of these books - just TOO BORING!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhat Disappointed in Grisham
Review: Finally, after 50 some pages Grisham grabbed me with "A Painted House". But I am somewhat disappointed because my expectations were for the usual Grisham which is fast paced and an "I-can't-put-this-down" book. After I admitted to the honesty of Grisham's new style & new characters I began to delight in this book. But if you're looking for the usual kicks, try a different
Grisham book. I really hope this author's style hasn't mellowed out. I turn to his books for a thrill ride.
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