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Summary: Tedious
Review: Most readers have favourite authors and buy their books without reading the reviews because they know the genre. If you're a Grisham fan and are intending buying this book for those reasons - don't. I find it difficult to believe that Grisham wrote this tedious and frankly boring book. The subject matter has been done to death, the plot - such as it is - goes nowhere and when eventually finished, you're left wondering why you bothered.
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Summary: A child's point of view
Review: It is refreshing to remember what I was thinking when surrounded by adults who seemed to move about me not noticing that I was there until they needed me. The child grows up in a time period of my parents giving a better insight into why they behave the way they do. Scary and yet warm. Covers universal themes of life and death and appreciating the present because things can change very rapidly.
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Summary: Modern Tom Sawyer
Review: Delightful book - we need more like this!
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Summary: Grisham's Best Yet!
Review: Grisham's latest novel is totally different from the usual legal thrillers he writes, which I also love. This story centers on life on an Arkansas cotton farm in 1952. The details of everyday life in this family are realistic and heartwarming--and sometimes heartbreaking. ~~ I think a lot of readers might not get some of the levels on which to appreciate the book. Being from the South myself, I found it very enjoyable with memorable characters. ~~ I hope Grisham writes a follow-up so we can find out more about Luke and his family. This novel is his best ever, in my opinion, and is right up there with Harper Lee, James Agee, and John Steinbeck in dealing with rural America.
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Summary: Simpler Times
Review: If you find your world filled with phone calls, work, and too much technology, here is a story that will take you back to simpler times.An endearing story about a family who lives on a cotton farm in Arkansas in the early 1950s, as told by 7-year old Luke Chandler. You get a true sense of the simple blessings in their lives. There are hardships but with love and determination, this family gets through it all. It's a story about family, faith, farming, dreams, baseball, and secrets. What an refreshing change of pace
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Summary: Not what your used to but...........
Review: It's great! Go into it with an open mind and you'll love it. I have heard so much negativity about this book that I felt I should write this. I've enjoyed all of Grisham's books and this one is in the top 3.
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Summary: Don't Bash This Book So Much
Review: I am not a huge Grisham fan being that I am only 16 years old. I read this book not because of the imfamous author, but because an older friend of mine had it and I am an excessive reader of everything. This book was good because it was easy to read. Over the summer you may find little to do, but I read this book. It was an easy plot with a story line you dont find in adult books today. Also, it gave an accurate insight to a life with different concerns then most. Floods, neigbors, not enough food to eat, all were tragedies wich filled my heart for this poor country family. So, don't bash this book because you feel betrayed by the author. I enjoyed it very much.
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Summary: Different but Excellent
Review: I loved this book I wasn't expecting it to be so different from all the rest. I really enjoyed A Painted House and I hope he writes a few more books like it.
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Summary: Kids and Grandparents
Review: Grisham reveals some often unreckonized relationships of family in A Painted House. The story is so realistically written from the point of view of a 7 year old on a Southern cotton farm in Arkansas. Towards the end of the book, it becomes evident that the grandparents play a very important role in Luke's life - and he in theirs. As his family prepares to leave the farm the meaningful love among all the family members is so well described - this is some of the most touching and heartfelt writing in the whole book. Too often we overlook what grandchildren mean to their grandparents - Grisham really caught it all.
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Summary: Not Grisham's best.....
Review: I have read all of John Grisham's previous work and knew that her decided to foray from his regular genre. Truly, The Chamber and Street Lawyer were more moral tales than legal thrillers, but this newest book is not about lawyers at all. The story is interesting and I like the idea of a child narrator, but it doesn't flow evenly throughout the novel. Luke is supposed to be a 7 year old and comes across as alternately whiny and wise. The book does deal heavily with the inticacies of cotton farming, but there needs to be more of a true story line. It seems more a narrative of Luke's summer. At the end I felt that not all of the issues had been resolved and that it just faded away. It wasn't all that bad, Grisham obviously wants to prove that he is more than just Pulp Fiction, but this is not the next To Kill a Mockingbird.
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