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Summary: lauras review at shs
Review: I think that John Grisham's A Painted House, was a good read. It gives a good look into the lives of people struggling to meet ends needs. The story was a quick read and I enjoyed it immensly. I would definitly recommend this book to anyone who might like a break from the usual Grisham novels. The book might have been a slow read at first, but the suspence grows and mysterious things happen on the farm with Luke and his family.
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Summary: A nice change
Review: A nice change from his other legal books. Still an easy read and very enjoyable.
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Summary: Loved It
Review: I am a big Grisham fan, thrilled with most of his books. I was skeptical of a Grisham book that did not happen in the court room but I was not dissapointed. I loved the view from the little boy and the constant references to the St. Louis Cardinals. Anyone from the midwest will enjoy this Grisham yarn.
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Summary: this book...
Review: i love J.G. and i've read most of his books..but this one, it was sooo bad. I hated the cotton picking... i hated the little boy, and what i hated the most was the lack of and ending..
i dont know how i finished reading this book. i just tought it was gonna get better, but it didn't. i could not believe how bad it was.
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Summary: Lies, Struggles, Triumphs
Review: "A Painted House" is an extremely good story about a young, seven-year-old boy, Luke, living in Arkansas who is exposed to many secrets. The story takes place in the early 1950's and revolves around a family of 5, the Chandler's, who harvest their own cotton field. The novel tells about the search in finding Mexicans and also hill people to work on their farm, to an annual festival that comes to Black Oak every year which ends in triumph as well as sorrow. The arrival of the Mexicans and hill people change Luke's life because what came with them were many secrets, emotions, threats, and betrayals. The story also focuses on dreams of the family. For example the Luke's mother, who grew up in a city, had many riches, and lived in a painted house, constantly dreamt of living again in luxury. Soon after Luke's mother confessed these dreams to Luke, a crippled hill boy began to paint the Chandler's house, and Luke realized that the dream of living a better life was not very far fetched. Luke himself also had dreams of playing baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals and moving away from the farm. He never let go of those two dreams throughout the entire story, and by doing that, put forth a very important theme in the book of never giving up.
I thought this book was very good being the first book that I read written by John Grisham. It taught me things that went on in the South that I knew nothing about for example that hill people and Mexicans are hired to work on farms during the cotton seasons. The book had all the aspects that should be in every novel. It had suspense, family, drama, secrets and lies, and failure and defeat. The characters seemed very real and I could almost feel the emotions they were feeling. The setting of the story also made the story even more interesting and also brought up many hardships on the farm because of for example, the weather and rural area of Arkansas. But I was disappointed in one part because, I did wish to find out what happened in the end of the story, as the characters moved on. But other than that minor detail, I would recommend this book to anyone that likes to read about a close knit family struggling to make a living. But along the way to a better life they encounter many mishaps that will eventually lead them to living a life completely different from what they are used to.
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Summary: The Best Grisham Yet
Review: I've read every Grisham book and this one is the best yet. I really enjoy books that play like a movie in my mind. Reading this book did that. I wasn't reading a book I was watching a movie as I read. Strong characters, right on description of the culture,and pride of the people from the area described. I reread it twice, and each time it's as good as the first.
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Summary: Americana With A Bite
Review: Seven-year old Luke Chandler lives on rural farmland outside Black Oak, Arkansas in September 1952. Besides listening to Harry Caray call out the baseball action of his beloved St. Louis Cardinals on the radio, Luke spends his time daydreaming, going to school, and picking cotton during the harvest months of September and October. As with every year, the Chandler family hires Mexicans brought up from Mexico and hill people who have come down out of the hills to pick cotton. All of these people, Mexicans and Arkansas hill people, live on the Chandler farm during picking season. This harvest, though, is going to see Luke face many changes, threats, and make choices that will affect his life forever. The cotton grows and the floods come just like always, but every year ushers in new people that change a young boy's perception of himself and the world. This year Luke encounters Tally-the seventeen-year old beauty that he develops a crush on and gets to watch skinny-dipping, Hank-Tally's hardheaded, hard-fisted brother who gets into a fight and kills a local boy, Cowboy-a fierce Mexican worker who has the best curveball Luke has ever seen and carries a switchblade knife, as well as a host of others. Luke also learns the dreadful secret of the Latcher family that ties into the Chandler family as well and promises possible shame for both families. His Uncle Ricky is off fighting in the Korean War and everyone worries about him. With all of these possibilities and problems looming before him, Luke knows the true deadline in his life is whether or not the Chandler family can get their cotton crop picked in time to make a profit this year to let them struggle again the next.John Grisham took a serious turn from writing the legal thrillers all of his fans have been clamoring for since THE FIRM in 1991 to do A PAINTED HOUSE. Nearly all of his novels since that time have been turned into movies, including PELICAN BRIEF, THE RAINMAKER, A TIME TO KILL, and THE CLIENT (which also became a TV series briefly). He's also written a holiday book called SKIPPING CHRISTMAS, which deals with family issues just as A PAINTED HOUSE does. He lived in the Arkansas Delta lands he writes so vividly of, and became an attorney before becoming a best-selling novelist. Luke Chandler's voice, his observation about the small town, rural community, and the people that inhabit them are electrifying. Readers that hail from small towns will know that Grisham lays down the bones of his story in the bedrock of those people and those places. He presents sharp and clever asides about human nature and religion, about gossip, and the explosive futility of man trying to tame the elements. The prose is clean and crisp, deliberately laidback and well paced, with evocative descriptions that unfurl murals of the landscape and seasons, and portraits of the people involved. Everyone who grew up in a small town knew a man like Eli Chandler and has listened to variations of the hometown hero stories and legends that are told. Several subplots are laid out like a spray of chicken feed for the fowl living on the farm. The novel is like coming home again for those readers who grew up there, and is a fine introduction to those who wondered what life might be like in such a time and place. Unfortunately, many of the novel's strengths also underscore Grisham's weaknesses in the finished work. Luke's voice is way too old for the age he's presented at. At times Grisham has Luke pegged correctly, but there are several times that he's thinking way beyond his years. Maybe a framing device, like a man sitting down to tell his memoirs of that time would have been better suited than just launching into the tale. The subplots also present another problem in that many of them are unresolved. The novel, although the intuitive reader will know ahead of time how the story ends, comes to a close rather abruptly. Several of the characters never quite made it to the plate (to use a baseball analogy as Grisham so often does in the book) and came across flat and unmemorable, never carrying out the promise they were imbued with. A PAINTED HOUSE might not be for most Grisham fans, but it will definitely strike a chord for readers looking to relive or experience the small town upbringing circa 1952. Baby boomers who are voracious readers will probably devour this novel in a short amount of time and be glad to visit that time and place again, and probably just as glad to be shut of it once more. For a taste of nostalgia and bittersweet memories, for a glimpse inside foreign windows, A PAINTED HOUSE delivers well.
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Summary: Best John Grisham .....EVER!
Review: Compelling storyline, rich characters. Grisham really shows us his storytelling abillites in this book. An avid reader of Grisham books, this is a fresh start. Definately a good new style and plot line. I hope to see him write more stuff like this in the future. I loved it!
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Summary: DIFFERENT FOR GRISHAM
Review: This was a pretty solid book a good read but a definite turn from the typical john grisham novel. If this is your first grisham novel to read do not judge the rest of them by it. Wish grisham wuld put out a book a little more often
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Summary: Grisham at a different pace
Review: Best known for high-powered legal thrillers, John Grisham slows the pace and tells a completely different kind of story in A PAINTED HOUSE. Although not autobiographical, A PAINTED HOUSE is inspired by John Grisham's childhood. Like Luke Chandler, the seven-year old who tells the story, Grisham grew up in rural Arkansas and dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. Luke lives on a farm with his parents and grandparents, and each year at harvest time, their lives change as migrant Mexicans and "hill" people come to help pick the cotton. During the fall of 1952, the groups who come to help the Chandlers alter Luke's life, adding the mental anguish of lies, secrets, and emotional involvement to the hard physical labor of picking cotton. Conflicts develop between the migrant workers and the hill people, and Luke is unprepared for the new experiences that come his way. Luke's parents and grandparents are faced with trying to make a meager living selling cotton while keeping their workers happy. Luke's mother, "almost a town girl" who grew up in a painted house, shares with Luke her dreams for a better life. When the crippled "not right" hill boy secretly begins to paint the Chandler's house, he doesn't realize that "paint is a sensitive word" around the Chandler house. Living in a painted house becomes a symbol of hope for a better life. All of John Grisham's books have become best sellers, and Publishers Weekly calls him "the best selling novelist of the 90s." Six of his novels (THE FIRM, THE CLIENT, A TIME TO KILL, THE RAINMAKER, and THE CHAMBER) have been made into films. All his books are legal thrillers except SKIPPING CHRISTMAS and A PAINTED HOUSE.
Grisham paints a landscape that depicts life on a cotton farm. He paints a picture of hard-working people who are often physically exhausted but who find pleasure in listening to a baseball game or going to the Fall Picnic in town. He shows us their worries as well as their hopes for the future. Pappy worries about unpredictable weather and problems with workers. Luke's father dreams of owning his own land, his wife longs to leave the rural life, and Luke dreams of buying a Cardinal's baseball jacket. Although the daily activities are mundane, the events that happen during this harvest add interest, and the realistic descriptions reflect the work of a skillful storyteller. Although Grisham writes an excellent story, he could have dabbed a little more "paint" to add depth to some of the characters and complete some of the storylines. Perhaps there is enough paint left on Grisham's palette for a sequel that gives more insight into the characters and events portrayed in A PAINTED HOUSE. John Grisham has moved beyond his legal thrillers with this book, and readers who appreciate his skill as a writer will enjoy this book.
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