A Painted House

Rating:
Summary: A trip back to a different time.
Review: John Grisham did it this time. A real life story of a simplier but harder time. When the family unit was strong and close but not too close. I guess you would have had to be brought up in that era. His descriptions of the mornings, meals, hard work in a hot Southern sun, trips into town, and the magic of the modern world starting to intrude into rural America. I, for one, could not put it down. A truely gripping story of 80 acres of cotton to be picked, as experienced by a seven year old boy. Who would have thought it?

Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: Having been a long-time fan of John Grisham, I was curious how his writing style would transfer from legal suspense to a different type of story. After having read this book, I can tell you that his talent is not relegated to legal suspense novels. A Painted House is definitely a page-turner. It is as thrilling and suspenseful as any of his earlier works. The story moves at a rapid pace and keeps you wondering the outcome to the very end.

The story is set during a long, hot, 1950's rural Arkansas summer and is told through seven year old Luke Chandler. Don't be fooled by this. The storyline is as thrilling and suspenseful as any of Grisham's legal thrillers. Luke shares this summer with two groups of transient workers. The shiftless Spurills and the volatile Mexicans. As these two groups interact on the family farm Luke is exposed to events and aspects of human nature that are totally foreign to him. He begins to question his own values and beliefs. After meeting the beautiful and willful Tally Spurill, he feels the stirrings of puberty. His youthful innocence is destroyed as he witnesses a brutal fight, a murder, the birth of an illegitimate child, and he learns you sometimes have to keep secrets.

In the middle of all of this, someone is secretly painting the Chandler house, one board at a time. A painted house is practically unheard of in this section of the South. The paint comes to signify the many changes taking place around Luke; not only within his own family but also across the country as rural farm families are torn apart by financial problems and many move to the industrialized North.

Grisham brings each character to life through his words. You are filled with disgust, hate, lust, and terror along with Luke. You empathize with the Chandler family as they fight the elements and financial stresses to keep the family farm.

By the time you have finished reading this book, you will feel as if you too grew up in the rural South and you will feel a part of the Chandler family. Long after the book is finished you will wonder what happened in the character's lives.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant story of life in working poverty
Review: Grisham has a smooth, engaging, easy-going writing style. There is a significant pleasure in the reading experience itself as he relates two months in the life of seven-year old Luke Chandler in September and October 1952 in Black Oak, Arkansas. Having spent some time in Arkansas myself, the story rings true.

The story has elements of "To Kill a Mockingbird". But there was more. There's a bully, an outcast, a beautiful teen-age girl, a gruff Pappy, an uncle fighting in Korea, a mother longing to get off the farm, and a heroic, stoic dad. In two months, young Luke witnesses two murders, a birth, tornadoes, and flood.

Grisham details the life of the working poor, an impoverished farm family who, by the grace of God and their hard work, keep their heads just above the even more destitute around them. Cotton farming in the Mississippi Delta was a daunting task, and Grisham's story of the hired hands, the harvest, the early start to the day, the oppressive heat, the aches of the work, a ball game on the radio at the end of a hard day, the Saturday market, and the Sunday church service is as interesting as many of the characters themselves, some drawn in simple stereotype.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham proves his writing ability
Review: This book was great. It's proof that Grisham can write stories other then legal thrillers.
When I am referring this book to friends, I say it is in the tradition of Catcher In The Rye, it atleast had the same feel for me as I was reading it.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who can read, from teenagers to their grandparents. I could relate to his characters, far easier then any of his other works.

Rating:
Summary: Expecting something more .....
Review: Maybe it's me but I was hoping for some cymbal clashing, climatic ending to the book I invested a few days and 400 pages in.
Possibly because the other Grisham books I have enjoyed have had a beginning, a middle and an ending I thought I would get the same from A Painted House.
Knowing that the book would have gone on endlessly to wrap up the loose parts (does Ricky return safe and sound, does he marry the mother of his child, does that last part of the house get painted, what is the reaction to the 'hill people' when they find out their son never made it home, does the trip North work out, do Luke and his parents ever see Gran and Pappy again and what about his baby brother/sister?) doesn't lessen the curiosity.
Many times there is a follow up chapter - a 'where are they now' type of ending.
I would have liked one here just to satisfy the curiosity.
As others have said, it's the type of book that floats you along a lazy river, never hurrying but never providing the type of waves that makes the trip so much fun and a memorable adventure.

Rating:
Summary: WOW! excellent book
Review: I can honestly say that I couldn't put this book down. Believe it or not this was my first Grisham book ever so I do not know how it compares.

I was amazed at the detail of the story and not knowing Grisham's age and background, could only assume he spent a lot of time doing research. I really got a different insight into how important Harey Carey is/was to baseball fans and how lucky we have it today. Unlike "The Grapes of Wrath" which a person could draw some comparisons of the literary style, this book was lite and you couldn't help but be drawn into this character. this seven year old character.

This book also tells a wild story of a desperate time. It's a story of good and bad people in a time of innocence for a little boy.

Rating:
Summary: An unexpected find
Review: This book was given to me by my mother-in-law. I had my doubts, not being a Grisham fan in general because I dislike the genre of his books, not because he's a bad writer. Well, this was an unexpected find for me....I enjoyed every minute of the book. It was a story that kept you captivated and interested in finding out more and wanting to know what happened to these fascinating characters. I highly recommend it to anyone who would normally hesitate to read Grisham.

Rating:
Summary: A Painted House Paints a new Picture of Grisham
Review: I was pleasantly surprised with A PAINTED HOUSE. Grisham, in my opinion, showed a side of his talent that brought to mind Steinbeck or James Lee Burke. Very descriptive tale of a seven year old boy, and life on a cotton farm in rural Arkansas in the early '50s. Not a lawyer in sight!

Rating:
Summary: An Enjoyable Read
Review: I picked this up at an airport to bide my time while travelling. Grisham's novels generally read pretty easily, so they make good travel reading that way. The fact that it was by Grisham yet wasn't a legal thriller interested me, as did the description on the book's back. Now that I'm done, I give it a good rating...four stars. Here are my thoughts...good and bad.

First, on a mild down side, there are some story lines or descriptions that seemed repetitious. You'll read many times, in very similar words, how he feels about the tiring job of picking cotton, about his Uncle Ricky in Korea, about Tally--a girl in the family of "hill people" helping his family on the farm. Not to a tremendous fault, by any means, and they all certainly lend well to a good story. There were times, though, when I felt like I had already read certain parts previously in the book.

Now on the upside...Grisham paints a very good picture in words. By the end of the novel you get to feeling like you know Luke's world very well, and you're happy to have visited. You know his house, the farm, his family, the season's helpers ("hill people" and Mexicans), the role of baseball in his life. You feel like a friend to these people, a fortunate witness to the life-shaping events in one child's summer. As stated by an earlier reviewer--I wanted the book to go on, to see new chapters in Luke's life.

I would recommend this book if you've read and enjoyed Grisham's writing style, and if the plot description on the back of the book interests you.

Rating:
Summary: A New Avenue for Grisham
Review: I've enjoyed all of Grisham's earlier writing, but I think this book really introduces his writing on a deeper level. His depiction of this era and the Chandler family is superb. The characters introduced were wonderfully wrought and I enjoyed visiting this period of history and this part of the country. It reminded me somewhat of Tobacco Road, but the characters were much more likeable and seemed to have hope. I definitely recommend this book, but with the caution that it is not at all like the law thriller books previously published by Grisham. Hopefully any reader has heard that by now, but it's important to know since there's a large chance of disappointment for anyone expecting more of the same in this book.