Rating: 
Summary: Slow, but steadily grows on you
Review: This is a totally new John Grisham, telling a tale as slowly unfolding as the drama of life on an Arkansan cotton farm in the 50's. All of the characters rang true to me, with the sweetly childish narrator's 7 year old voice perfectly capturing the details of a life lived with hard work, little change and few rewards. At times I wished the book wouldn't drag, get on with the plot, but then I would realize that the pacing perfectly reflected the life being lived by Luke and his family on the farm, a life that would soon end and never be recaptured. I highly recommend this book, to be read on lazy summer afternoons to remind us in our busy lives of a different, more elemental time, not so long ago.
Rating: 
Summary: The Walton's Pick Cotton
Review: You know what this book is about, so I'll just say it's pretty slow going at times, unless, of course, you are into the romance of picking cotton. The tensions built into the novel are contrived and not always convincing. What's lacking is any kind of edge. It's like a movie script, no it's like a movie "treatment". This is the kind of book a rich, comfortable, established author would write. Does he really think he's Mark Twain? You aren't Blanche, you aren't.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a let down
Review: I had preordered this book, thinking it would be another one of JG's thrillers, sadly, it is more like reading a Romance Novel - one keeps thinking - Ah - now, there is going to be a court case or now a lawyer will enter the story - sadly - never happens !! Also, the book is more like leisurely reading and should be retitled "Farm Life in the United States - A documentary" .... good if you want to develop your knowledge about farm life in the US - but, if you have read any of JG's books earlier, then, shed all expectation while reading this one !! I think its his name that has sold more than the book itself !!
Rating: 
Summary: A Little Dull for Me
Review: I hate reading half of a book and then not being able to finish it so this time I kept reading it until the very end hoping that maybe something would happen and make the book interesting...but it didnt. I think that maybe John Grisham should go back to the layers and the courtroom.
Rating: 
Summary: Different for Grisham,.. but still a good read.
Review: Let's face it - How often do you get a chance to read a book that takes place in Black Oak, Arkansas? How American can you get? It was an interesting story, to say the least. - Grisham though? I couldn't help but wonder throughout most of the book when the attorney was going to enter into the story. There were plenty of lawful opportunities; it just never happened. Oh well... It's good to see Grisham change pace a little. The cotton farming Chandler clan of Black Oak, are all in all, an interesting American family. Of course, no lawyers come into play; there's no money. Barely existing in a world where your whole fortune is washed away in flash floods, where you can easily get away with murder, and the most exciting thing to do is turn on the radio and listen to the St. Louis Cardinals game. (Well,.. there certainly isn't anything wrong with that.) Young Luke never ceased to amaze me. He was the type of young character who could bring a smile to your face and make you realize that there is hope for us all. Definitely the sort of kid you could pat on the head, and say, "C'mon buddy,.. Let's go play some baseball". A wonderful story of the coming of age of a young boy and the hardships of his southern farming family. Although different for Grisham, it was a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Best in Modern Day Literature
Review: True Literature has not made its way into print in years. Grisham provides it with this book which proves his true versatility as an author.
Rating:
Summary: A great departure from his norm
Review: This is completely different than any other John Grisham novel I have read (namely The Firm, The Client, A Time to Kill, and the Chamber) and is by far my favorite. You won't find a lawyer within a country mile of this story. Set in the 1950's in rural Arkansas, it details one hot summer in the cotton fields from the eyes of a young boy. There are no courtroom battles in this story, but the interactions and conflicts between the Mexicans, hill people, farmers and sharecroppers held my attention as well as any drama. The one flaw in the book was a slightly slow beginning. The reader did an excellent job giving the many characters distinguishable voices (which had to be difficult since most characters were adult men from Arkansas), although I did think one farmer sounded like Dale Gribble from King of the Hill (especially when addressing another main character, Hank).
Rating:
Summary: Compares favourably with "To Kill A Mockingbird"
Review: Fans who buy Grisham strictly for legal thrillers will be very disappointed with this book. As it says on the cover not a lawyer in sight. However, this is an excellent book and in my humble opinion, possibly one of Grisham's finest. If you want lawyers re-read one of his old ones. If you want a well crafted story this is what you are looking for.
Rating:
Summary: A much better book than city people seem to recognise
Review: Having been the age of Grisham's protagonist on a crop-growing farm in Australia some 50 years ago, I recognise A Painted House's excellent picture of life in that period among marginal crop farmers relying on migrant workers. It's a remarkable piece of work, and with minor changes could be about crop farmers almost anywhere -- as they were then. I assume that the hand-run farm on which Grisham based his book would have been amalgamated into a much larger property probably owned by some corporation and watered and farmed with incredibly expensive machinery that only a corporation could afford; and that few members of the families he names would still live in the old rural neighbourhood with the rest having moved to the cities ... but Grisham got the whole thing right down pat. A shame that folks who expect only legal thrillers from him find that hard to understand, and value. The story has the accustomed easy Grisham narrative flow. People wanting to consider the universality of this book would be able to track down the Australian rural poem "Said Hanrahan" through a Google search. Poem and novel run alongside on the issue of farmers, talking about that everlasting preoccupation, weather.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham needed a breather
Review: I've read all of Grisham's books, some of them two or three times, and this book was needed. It is his first book without a lawyer present on any of the 388 pages. Although I am a fan of the law books, the last couple were getting tired and he needed a break. I'll spare you the details of what the book is about, since I'm sure you know, and give you my opinion. I thought it was a good read. Not a lot of action, or suspense, but a good story of about a boy growing up in rural Arkansas on a cotton farm. I was looking for a little more closer in the ending though. There were a few loose ends that I would have liked to see tied up. Such as how the Latchers and Chandlers situation resolved, and whether or not Ricky came back. Over all it was good though. I gave it 4 stars. Defiantly worthy of reading.
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