Rating: 
Summary: Same brush, new colors for writer John Grishim
Review: "A Painted House," is an interesting story...very nicely plotted and subplotted and a nice change of pace for the author who is famous for writing legal tales of mystery and suspense.
I appreciate him stretching out his new legs on this story about a young farm boy and one particulary tough summer.
No law mentioned in here, which proves Grishim can write whatever he feels like writing about.
Yeah, buy the paperback. It'll paint some pretty pictures in your head....if you saw it on TV already, that's okay.
The book is much better .... really.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Storytelling
Review: This book is not at all typical for John Grisham. However it was a great read. His story telling ability is eloquent and captures the readers interest with its detail and nuances of character development. I found myself comparing (favorably) this book to some of the great American Storytellers like Willa Cather in her classic "My Antonia". I recommend this book to those who enjoy the craft of good, solid writing; as well as, those who simply enjoy a nicely, well-rounded, developed story with defined characters. Furthermore, I found it instructive in learning and thinking of rural American life in the past and how it reflects upon us today. For example, I never pondered the cost of paint on a house and how it would reflect on our class system or feeling/s of well being. This book is an instant classic along the same lines as To Kill a Mockingbird. Hopefully this book ends up on all school's English required reading lists. In 50 years, this will be the book that he is remembered for. A must read book.
Rating: 
Summary: What a Disappointment
Review: I love to read John Grisham's books, but here is one author who should stick to what he is good at; the law. "A Painted House" was one of the most boring books I have ever read. Characters were shallow and there was absolutely no plot. I wanted more. I expected more. It could have been a good story line.
Rating:
Summary: Expected More...
Review: Grisham leaves fan wanting more from the Painted House. Have way through the book, he lost me. The characters tend to just fall off without any follow-up. I was very disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: a good read
Review: this book's about a farm boy, luke chandler who lives on a cotton farm. it talks about his time on th farm and how he survives a particular cotton picking season when some troublesome hill people and mexicans come to town. you probably think farm = boring, but it isnt. it is actually quite dramatic in all the emotions and secrets that are kept throughout the book. however there is not a very clear major climax. the ending of the book is uncomplete and leaves you unsatisfied.
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Summary: A NEW AMERICAN CLASSIC
Review: I am very familiar with work of John Grisham. I read all of his books. All of his previous works had an extremely interesting plot, well developed charachters and it was delivered in an easy form of a friend telling the story. I always enjoyed very much but it was not great. This time it was different. This was not a story of the legal process in our country and the loopholes used to win the case. It was not a story of a crime and punishment where the attorney was a hero. This was a story of the simple people struggling to survive in the hardland of America during the Korean war era. And the whole story is told by a little boy, who does not know much but who can feel and maybe better than the others. When I was reading "A Paineted House" I was thinking of the best American writers and the struggle to creat the great American novel. I think this is the best work of John Grisham and it should be within the classics.
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Summary: A novel of rural America in the 1950s
Review: I picked up Painted House at an airport to help cope with a badly delayed flight and was pleasantly surprised. This is not the usual legally oriented potboiler for which Grisham is famous. Told from the viewpoint of a somewhat precocious 7 year old, Luke Chandler, Painted House is a hard yet sympathetic look at the America of the 50s. The Chandlers are a cotton farming family in rural Arkansas, battling weather and time to harvest their cotton crop. To get in the cotton before bad weather ruins the harvest, they hire itinerant Mexicans and a family of Ozark hill people. Within this bare framework, Grisham weaves a detailed picture of rural life : the strength of family ties, the central role of Sunday church, the growing impingement of the outside world through radio reports of baseball and the Korean War (where Luke's uncle is an army GI). Grisham's descriptions are excellent, for example the spreading fields of cotton and the back breaking labor they entail. In a way, this is the story of the coming of age of young Luke who not only watches pretty Tally bathing nude in the creek but also witnesses murder and violence galore. The latter in fact change his world for good as the tensions created mainly by an overly testosterone driven Ozark create division and fear in the community, particularly with the Mexican cotton pickers. Coupled with a run of farm killing weather, this is enough to drive Luke's family to the beckoning urban life and the book ends with Luke, keen and fearful in turns, anticipating his new life in the big city. I do not know anything about Grisham's antecedents but this book to me sounded very much like a nostalgic reminiscence of times gone by. Whatever the background, I found it an excellent time slice of rural America of the 50s and enjoyed my read.
Rating:
Summary: A Seven Year Old's Window into the World
Review: The author sets his story in Black Oak, Arkansas, in 1952. The main character is Luke Chandler, a seven year old son of a cotton farmer. The story is centered upon the summer of Luke's seventh year in which the hired labor (Mexican & Hillbilly) enliven the story. In an effort to stay away from revealing details to the reader of this review, I will comment on what I believe the author has best accomplished. What struck me with this book was not so much the plot-line, but the underlying current which deals with sin and human nature. Grisham presents a solid Baptist family which, not unlike the rest of us, suffers from blind spots in their faith. Thus, sin is expedient when it isn't obvious. While such things as adultery, fornication, alcohol, and tobacco stand out as scarlet sins, it becomes expedient to protect a murderer so long as the crops get harvested. Grisham makes the point that these moral questions are simply not so black and white. Rather they are nuanced, and this story is about how one boy and his family make decisions or fails to make them within this context. Be advised that this theme only underlies the progress of the story. As regards the main story line, Grisham truly has a talent for moving the story along in a compelling way. No, this book is not driven by action. It is driven by story. And the story is well told and should not be missed. To that end, I recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: A pretty good story
Review: This book was good if you enjoy reading about farm life, and people living with their in-laws and working hard. I did have a problem with the main character. We have a 7 year old boy who should have been about 12 or 13. I have never met a 7 year old with such maturity. he is even interested in teenage girls. The boy worried about everything under the sun and could keep secrets better than a priest. If you can get past the fact, that the boy is too young, and you enjoy a good story about farm life in the south, this one is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Reminiscing
Review: In _A Painted House_ Luke Chandler reminisces about being a seven year old boy living on his grandparents' farm in Black Oak, Arkansas in 1952. It is the last year that he lives on the farm. Luke must move with his parents to a city up north where greater economic opportunity beckons. In his young life Luke experiences events that a boy his age could never imagine, including his witnessing of two murders, both of which involve a man doing seasonal work on his grandfather's farm. What gives this book its special resonance is the sense of the passing of an era, the dying out of the American family farm which due to economic and continuous climatic problems causes the displacement of great numbers of rural families into the industrial north. Fewer people are choosing the backbreaking work of farming for which they may get so little if any profit in return. The subsequent problems that ensued in urban areas from this staggering influx of people could be the subject of other books dealing with that issue. Grisham beautifully describes the closeness of rural families of days gone by, where it was not unusual for three or more generations to live together under one roof. As depicted in the book, it was a society where, in rough times, one family who had little would help another family that had nothing. Where a shopkeeper would give free candy to a child of a family she has known for many years, and where nothing remained secret for long. While stepping into his father's truck in the first step in their journey up north, Luke yearns for that day when everyone in his family, his Gran, his Pappy, and his beloved nineteen year old uncle stationed in Korea, will be once again together. The book gives no hint whether Luke's wish will ever come true, which is how it should be. No one knows what the future holds for him. Grisham has written a wonderful, heartfelt story. While it may lack some of the subtleties of a John Steinbeck book, _A Painted House_ makes up for that and then some.
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