Rating: 
Summary: Very Good Story
Review: You will notice that reviewers loved or hated this book. My interpretation is that those who hate it don't like the slower pace of this story. The book is more literary in style and not Grisham's usual page-turner fare. If you enjoy a good story and don't insist on a constant high tempo, then I think that you'll enjoy this book.If you have kids and/or remember your own childhood well, then it is easy to enjoy the book's perspective (told by an intelligent 7-year-old). It's funny to see how he senses the adults' mood, knowing that he can get away with some things on certain days and how only the best behaviour will be accepted on others. The boy can be so perceptive in many ways but just have a young child's understanding in others. There may have been a few too many loose ends at the end but perhaps Grisham is leaving the door open for a sequel. I'd certainly recommend the book, if you enjoy a good story (not written in the thriller style).
Rating: 
Summary: I am still waiting for an ending
Review: I am an avid reader and enjoy all of Grisham's books. I think he is a good writer, but not a great writer. I do however have a major problem with every one of his books. It seems as if he reaches a point toward the end of his books and decides he doesn't want to write anymore, so he just ends it. I think A Painted House is his best example of this. I truly loved the book until the ending. In fact, I am still waitng for it to end. There was so much left un-written.. ie. what happened to Ricky?Did Luke and his folks ever get back to Pappy and Gran? What about the Latchers? I felt this book was going to raise Grisham to the next level. Though most of his books are commercially successful, I felt only two were excellent. A Time to Kill, and A Painted House. This could have really been his greatest work, if he had only given it an ending. Oh well John, you keep writing and I'll keep reading.
Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding!!!!!!!!!
Review: Splendid! Captivating! Moving! Entertaining! All of these describe Grisham's latest work. Absolutely one of the finest works I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable and Entertaining
Review: The characters were excellently developed with some jumping off the pages. Cowboy and Hank were particularilly menacing. The dialogue was crisp and the story was beleivable. The zeitgeist was captured beautifully, 1952 being made available to the reader with each turn of the page. Young Luke's POV seemed a tad advanced for a 7-year-old, but perhaps some children grow up faster in the conditions described? In my mind, this novel rates as one of Mr. Grisham's top achievments . . . an outstanding work of fiction, and one of the best reads I've indulged in this year.
Rating:
Summary: Where's the lawyers???
Review: This book is not John Grisham's typical work. It wasn't bad, just not what I expect of him so I was quite disappointed. There were no lawyers or courtrooms full of suspence. Actually, I found the story quite boring and felt the main character, Luke, at age 7,was entirely too young for his role in this book.
Rating:
Summary: Live every moment of this book
Review: I am an avid reader and I have to tell everyone that this is the BEST book I have ever read! I could not put this book down. I read it in 6 hours and then I was disappointed that I was finished with it. It is so moving and heart warming. You will laugh out loud and then find yourself crying seconds later. The characters and the way the story is told has you living with them in every sentence. I just can't say enough about this book except it is one book that everyone should read.
Rating:
Summary: FABULOUS-A new Grisham genre. Move over Jim Lehrer. Encore!
Review: At first I was a little hesitant to read a Grisham that was not about lawyers and courtroom suspense. But after I got started, I couldn't put it down--finished it in two days at the time that I was testing my college algebra class for finals. Grisham carefully weaves his story around the grinding poverty of mid-1900s Arkansas cotton farmers. Racial & socioeconomic stereotypes are used liberally, but he is telling it "like it was." If you like Jim Lehrer's "One-Eyed Jack", you will love Grisham's Arkansas cotton farmers. It is about people and touches the heart. He develops characters you can care about--and some you can't wait to see meet their just desserts. And the one thing I really liked about it was the way he handled Ricky at the end of the book. One resolution would have been so pathetically predictable that I was hoping he wouldn't use it.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful slice of history
Review: A beautiful, insightful journey into the past before the small Delta farms were taken over by mechanization. What other opportunity did children have to learn and accept the differences found in other good people?
Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted story......
Review: This was a beatifully crafted story about a young boy who lives on a cotton farm. The story is told from the point of view of this young, 7 year old boy named Luke. The entire story takes place over a two month period of time, during September and October of 1952. It is the story of a little boy faced with a lot of harsh realities and how he learns how to deal with them. Luke, his grandparents and his parents share a small unpainted home beside the cotton fields. They raise the cotton on rented fields, and the life of a poor cotton farmer is clearly pictured for the difficult life that it is. When the cotton is ready to be picked, Grisham details the hiring of others to help Luke and his family harvest the cotton and the tough conditions of the work that it entails. The living conditions of everyone from sharecroppers, migrant workers, farmers with rented land and the townspeople are intimately described. The love of baseball, particularly the Cardinals, runs through the novel. The beauty of this story however is in the observations of Luke on daily life, the Saturdays in town,listening to baseball on the radio as a family, his first love/crush, the family traditons and faith, and the clear perceptions of all the new people that enter his life. Also critical are his reactions to a fight that gets out of hand, a birth of a baby to an unwed young girl, the unchecked violence that spews from one the hired hands, and the absence of a favorite Uncle fighting in Korea. He has to learn when and why to keep secrets and when to tell them. There is a lot of humor in Luke's story as well, especially funny is his reaction to a relative by marriage from the North,("Why does she sound like that?") and how he handles his feelings concerning her. This is really a wonderful story that Grisham has created based on his experience as child in Arkansas. It is about faith and family and about what people are capable of doing, both good and bad. It is a slice of life that fills all your senses. This was a big change from all the other Grisham novels I have read. This is a wonderful new genre for Grisham. Absolutely wonderful!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: A refreshing change from lawyers, courtrooms, murder, etc. However, the ending left me with many questions - did Ricky come home from the war, what happened to Tally and Cowboy, did Luke fulfill his dream to play for the Cardinals? Hope there will be a second book and answer some of these questions. Enjoyed the narrative through the eyes of 7 year old Luke.
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