A Painted House

Rating:
Summary: Not his best work
Review: Just finished A Painted House and seeing as I have read all of Grisham's books I can honestly say "Not his best work". This books drags to a point of bordeom, however you keep reading thinking it will get better since all of John's books do at some point. Not sure what he was trying to do with this story, but he failed.

Rating:
Summary: Cotton-picking good!
Review: At the time I was reading, I thought, "This is slow! All they do is pick cotton." Now that I've finished, I realize that that was what life was like for them..... cotton....sunup to sundown. I am very glad to see that Mr. Grisham has moved back to a more literary style, similar to "A Time To Kill", his finest work. I don't believe that a 7 year old thinks at quite that involved a level, but I'll allow him some leeway. A nice story... almost demands a sequel. A Hallmark movie in the making! I hope he writes more like this... let the others write the "I gotta write a book so they can make a movie" books.

Rating:
Summary: JOHN GRISHAM'S BEST!
Review: I was just totally blown away by this book! I could not put it down! Having originally come from Arkansas and also being a small child in the 50's, I fully identified with the story line. Although I would not consider this book a "mystery" nor a "thriller" in the traditional sense, there was certainly that feeling of being "on the edge of your seat" all the way through it. Excellent, excellent book!

Rating:
Summary: East of The Firm
Review: This reads like Steinbeck. Maybe a diluted version of Steinbeck, or a conflation of Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. It's hard to make Arkansas sound interesting, and this story starts slow. But he captures some of the distinctive manners of farm people, and constructs an interesting story. Of course he puts way too much penetrating analyses into the perception of the 7 year old kid who is the protagonist, but you're gonna get that with these types of books. There I go, lapsing into Arkansas-speak. Also hits the backwardness of hillbillies, without offending. So it's Steinbeck plus Tom Wolfe at that level. Nice to see Grisham can transcend the legal stories.

Rating:
Summary: An all-nighter book! :)
Review: I read this masterpiece in two days. It was a refreshing change from Grisham's usual law books. I laughed out loud, cried, and read with my mouth wide open! It is a classic I will read again and again!!

Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: What a delight! Thank you Mr. Grisham for taking us to another time and another place. Quite a few events took me back to my childhood and I found myself engulfed in the cotton fields of Arkansas. This book is a welcome change from the legal thrillers.

Rating:
Summary: A time for pseudonyms
Review: When I buy a book, I read the blurb and reviews and try to figure out if it's going to be a good read. When I buy an Author, I grab and go. John Grisham is no longer a grab and go. I am very disappointed by the lastest offering by Mr. Grisham. It's a bad as opening a new Clancy and finding poetry. It's like I've been robbed of time and money. If Grisham wants to experiment with style and genre, I think he should use a pen name. It's a cotton picking shame he had to flood the market with a dirt poor, down and out, out-of-character work. Now I've got to start vetting his work before buying.

Rating:
Summary: Great Change of Pace for Grisham
Review: After being a huge John Grisham fan for the last 10 years, I wasn't sure what to expect with this new book. I had heard that it was outside of his traditional mold. I thought the book was a great read. The story was well told from the point of view of a 7 year old. Grisham fans will not be disappointed. Buy this book. It's worth having on your bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: What happened to Tallie?
Review: I had the audio, which was well presented. I enjoyed the story with the rich description of life in that era. I had a little trouble believing a seven year old could be as mature as described. (Minor plot issue.) My only regret is the lives left dangling, especially Tallie's. Sequel?

Rating:
Summary: I would rather paint a house......
Review: ...than read this book again. As a Grisham fan, I was sorely disappointed by his latest effort. I fully expected a deviation from his "traditional" writing style, but this was too much. I kept waiting for something to happen, but in the end was left with unfulfilled expectations. The book is roughly 380 pages, but could have been shortened significantly - much of the dialogue is repeated. For example - the treks out to the cotton fields were descriptive but repeated often.

If this was an "unofficial autobiography" of Grisham's childhood, I feel sorry for him. What a boring life. Why write about it?