Rating: 
Summary: Paint dries.
Review: A novel centered around a 7 year-old boy, Luke Chandler, growing up on a cotton farm in 1952 rural Arkansas in an extended family (parents, grandparents, one cousin in Korea, even the hillbilly and Mexican farm workers sometimes serving as family surrogates), a novel in which this family battles the elements (natural and economic) on an everyday basis and in which having a "painted house" is the feature that most readily distinguishes the comfortable from the struggling, a novel in which the special weekly event is the Saturday afternoon bath (!!!) and the trip into town for the matinee - such a novel has to have a lot of good things going for it.Especially when baseball is a recurrent theme. There's a sandlot game that figures into the story and a picnic that features the annual game between the Baptists and the Methodists. But nothing brings to the reader the sights and sounds of rural America in the Truman/Eisenhower era more readily than a big old-fashioned radio tuned into KMOX on a summer evening and the raspy voice of Harry Carey (announcing for the Cardinals and not the Cubs!!!) drowning out the sound of the crickets chirping in the hollers and the box fan whirring in the living room as he dramatically announces the approach of the great Stan Musial to home plate before a cheering crowd at Sportsman's Park. The author, John Grisham, himself is no mean painter, and there is something quite elegant about his use of the radio to connect the Chandlers not only to baseball but to Edward Murrow and rest of the outside world, particularly the war in Korea where Luke's cousin is stationed. Luke has never even been so far from Black Oak, Arkansas as to have seen a Cardinal game. But the radio enables him to use his imagination to "see" every dimension of Sportsman's Park; to "see" the ball explode off of Musial's bat and bounce off of the right field wall, and to "watch" Musial slide into third base with a triple. "I could see him get to his feet as the crowd went nuts," Luke reports. "Then with both hands, he slapped the dirt off his white uniform with the bright red trim." Of course, as Luke "sees" this on the radio, the reader "sees" it too. I'm sure there's a literary term for the device that describes how Grisham makes both his literary creation and the reader concurrently use their respective imaginations, and I only wish that I knew what this term was. Grisham does an excellent job of drawing the reader into this world. You can see the endless rows of cotton that make up the Chandler farm; you can feel the rain that threatens to bring the flood that will wipe out virtually an entire harvest and the back-breaking effort that went into growing it. You can hear the drone of the hard-shell Baptist preacher scolding his parishioners for a host of sins, real and imagined, and squirm uncomfortably at his tirade in the heavy air of a summer afternoon. You can taste the fried chicken and ice cream at the picnic preceding the Baptist/Methodist baseball game, though I'm at a loss to understand why the players are eating that huge meal BEFORE the game. However, the main theme of the novel are the moral dilemmas that engage Luke as he learns a number of secrets of life-or-death importance which the dictates of conventional morality would have him disclose. Offset against this are the dire consequences that would result to his family if Luke followed those dictates. Yet while Luke and his family are engaging, if taciturn, characters, Luke's dilemmas never quite piqued my interest as much as did his surroundings. I might be unfairly comparing this novel to Grisham's "The Firm". I don't remember "The Firm" having such colorful imagery, but its relentless pace, underlied by the pace at which the young attorney sacrifices himself for the firm, shows how he is inexorably being bound by its insatiable demands and hints at a revelation that will spark the novel's climax. The bucolic summertime tempo of "Painted House" is not so taut, and no such revelations are promised or delivered. The struggle for survival that challenges Luke's family at the beginning of the novel is not fundamentally different from that which occupies them at the end. For a prepubescent ball hawk, Luke seems far more interested in the opposite sex than he has a right to be. How can he possess both a 7 year-old's naïve certainty that future stardom with the St. Louis Cardinals will liberate him from farm life and a 17 year-old's interest in long brown legs? Modernity has poked its nose into Black Oak by the novel's end. Farmers are picking up and heading for the assembly lines of Detroit. A television set actually makes its way into one resident's home, and Luke, like millions of real-life contemporaries, is awed by the fact that he can REALLY see the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees in the World Series. But I'm inclined to think that our worldly-wise youngster should display some brief foreboding that this wonderful new device deprives him of the ability to use his imagination to "see" the game on the radio. If one could insert oneself into the text of this novel, would it be fair to tell Luke that he has another 12 years to wait until his beloved Cardinals make it into the Series? That this new brightly-lit oracle will create a breed of athletes and executives corrupted by the almighty dollar? And a generation of chicken-hearted pitchers unwilling to manfully challenge the Stan Musials of their era - hello, Barry Bonds - to display their talents? To say nothing of the other evils that the post-war era has in store for American society in general? And for the state of Arkansas in particular? 4 stars are gladly awarded to John Grisham for this contribution.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent book from beginning to end!!!
Review: The book is told from a 7 year old boy, Luke's, point of view. He is growing up on a cotton farm in Arkansas and goes through many experiences, big and small. He lives with his parents and grandparents, while his uncle Ricky is off in Korea fighting in the war. During the summer they must hire Mexicans and people from the hills to help pick the cotton so they will get it all picked. Throughout the way, problems, big and small arise with the help, such as one of the hill men, Hank, kills a kid from town, and one of the mexican men runaway with a hill girl and get married. Throughout the book Luke's mother wants to get away from the farm life and move to something better. Well when they have a shortage of money at the end the family has to move up North to the big city to start a new life and make a lot of money.
Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: I thought this book was great! There was alot of details and great figures of speech. I loved how there were many stories based in the plot of A Painted House. There was alot of suspence in this story and that made it even better! This was the first book I have read in along time and now that I have read it, I keep lookin for more books like it to read. John Grisham his a geat author and I would love to read all of his books. I thought it was great that he would go through everything to get along with the Mexicans and the hill people. Work his hardest in the fields. he done everything possible to finish painting the house even using his own money to buy the paint. I would love to read more books like this.
Rating:
Summary: Finishing made me sad
Review: Wow...this was an amazing book! Way different than I expected. I was actually disappointed in finishing because you fall in love with the characters, and you dont get to know what happens in the end. Hopefully there will be a sequel! But if you have time, its a must read. I have never felt so close to book characters...all of them will grow on you. Especially Luke, i just adored him!
Rating: 
Summary: In Plain Sight
Review: I'm a big Grisham fan and I love that he's changing his writing style with each book; however, this novel is not his best work. The "painted house" is such an obvious and overused metaphor for the events in the story. He even states it in the title, which I guess is because he underestimates the intelligence of his readers. The story gives it away in the first few chapters, so there's no reason to explain it again in the title. I just hate when author's create a metaphor, but then feel the need to explain it literally point by point. The point of the metaphor is to allow the reader to interpret the meaning on his own based on the word picture presented. My point is that while this novel has some interesting characters and a well-researched historical background, the plot is predictable and hardly a page-turner. The good thing is it's short enough to not take up too much of your time. If you're looking for something simple to pass a few hours, then pick up this book; if you're looking for something to sink your teeth into, or something that will be worthy of a book discussion, then pass this one by. I guess even Grisham has to write a bad novel eventually.
Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: I discovered another side of John Grisham. He is a great storyteller. I found this book different than other Grisham novels. And it was in fact, very hard to put down. Another 5 star work by the author.
Rating:
Summary: The easy style of Grisham, with a great new storyline!
Review: I've always found John Grisham's writing style a nice, comfortable read. His legal stories have been great books to read on the plane or when traveling. "A Painted House" continued in that easy, comfortable style, with a storyline that was more personal and intriguing to read. Told through the eyes of a 7-year-old, this story demonstrates the demons that can haunt a child when they are thrown into a grown-up world, full of secrets and tough decisions. I loved the way Grisham supports the child as often the wisest one in the family regarding when to "tell the secrets" and when it is better to not share things with anyone.
Rating:
Summary: A painted house
Review: This book was riveting; I could hardly pull myself from it. It was about a 7year boy living on a cotton farm with his parents, grandparents, and sharecroppers in the middle of Arkansas. It is harvest time and its turning out to be probably the worst crop ever. Rains prevent harvesting, and eventually floods wipe out the crop. The story has many twists and you don't know why. Luke's being 7 was difficult to believe when he is years matured. He grows a lot throughout the book. It also has a rather weak ending. It's more like another twist in the plot than an ending. The Spruills sure got the short end of the stick, losing two of their kin in the same summer. All in all, the story was entertaining and balanced, lots of good transitions of topics. The story goes back and forth to all kinds of places. It's a pleasurable read; you'll like it.
Rating: 
Summary: Unfortunate Ending
Review: A Painted House was pretty good until the final chapter; it's as if Grisham grew tired of the story, as the ending leaves many questions unanswered. It was however refreshing to read a Grisham book that had nothing to do with lawyers or courtrooms.
Rating:
Summary: A Painted House
Review: A Painted House by John Grisham was an excellent book. I was really able to get into the book and relate with the characters really well. This story tells about a young boy growing up in Arkansas. He lives on a farm with his parents and grandparents. Although many would think this way of living is different, he couldn't think of any other way of living. Throughout the story Luke obtains many secrets that he has to debate over whether or not to tell anyone. There are also many difficulties this family has to go through living on a farm. This is a book that keeps you anxious as to what will happen next. I wasn't able to read fast enough the book was so interesting. This book was a real page turner. I highly recommend anyone to read this book because it will make you think about what is important in your life and what you value most.
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