A Painted House (Limited Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Watching paint dry
Review: I have read all the John Grisham books available. I love them. I recommended them to all my friends until I read this one. This book is about as exciting as watching paint dry. I kept reading and reading waiting for the plot to pick up. It never did. In my opinion John Grisham needs to stick to the courtroom and lawyer storylines.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite southern lit novels
Review: John Grisham does an excellent job of decribing the harshness of life on a cotten farm in the rural south of the past, and weaves an intriguing story from that backdrop. Being from the south and having parents who grew up on a cotten farm in Alabama, I can assure you the story is authentic, but that's not the good part. The good part is the downright pleasure of watching the tension build among the powerful charachters in this novel and the thrill of turning the page to find out what happens next.
Told in the voice of a little kid in Arkansas who dreams of playing baseball for the Cardinals when he grows up, he witnesses much more adult stuff than he should, and tries to make sense of it all. The characters in this novel are so real, I could spot them in a police mug shot book. Hank Spruel, the hateful redneck throwback, Cowboy, the sneaky Mexican with a switchblade knife who likes his revenge served cold make for a pair of enemies to remember.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham is back
Review: Thank you John Grisham for giving us a glimpse of life in rural Arkansas in the early 1950's. Grisham paints such a vivid and realistic picture of the day to day life of these people that at times I had to remember I was reading a novel and not watching a movie. I hope John Grisham finds the time sometime in the future to let us know what happens to these great characters.