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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
In A Painted House, John Grisham is less concerned with tight plotting and legal shenanigans than with the roots of that country life which taught him much of what he knows about being human. In the early autumn of 1952, seven-year-old Luke Chandler is helping his family pick cotton on his grandfather's Arkansas farm; times are hard--Luke's uncle Ricky is off fighting in Korea and rent on the land, interest on crop loans, is due. Tension abounds--between the hillbilly Spruill family and the Mexican labourers who between them make up the farm's workforce; between the bully Hank Spruill and the Sisco family, one of whom he has killed in a fight; between the Chandlers and their neighbours the Larchers over Libby Larcher's baby--which she claims is Ricky's. This is a tight and yet achingly nostalgic book about growing up and moving on--the few months it covers are ones in which young Luke learns some important lessons about the way of the world, and his place in it. Grisham writes here with a sensitivity and sense of time and place which have not always been his most obvious virtues--it is a remarkable book. --Roz Kaveney
Review
Worlds away from his usual legal dramas, this departure for John Grisham has produced a wonderfully evocative novel. Set in the late summer of 1952 in the cotton-growing regions of Arkansas, the story is told through the eyes of eight-year-old Luke Chandler. Born and raised on his grandfather's cotton farm, like his father before him, he dreams of a world beyond the cotton fields, only existing in his imagination from what he has heard on the radio. But first and foremost is the cotton picking to be done before the rains come.. Outside help in the form of Mexican labourers and hill people is recruited bringing with it antagonism and racism which will eventually culminate in murder. Within 20 pages you are hooked, watching and feeling this tough life through young Luke's eyes. Set against the strict Baptist upbringing of these poor farmers, Grisham gives an intense picture of a hard, insular life where everything revolves around the cotton crop. All the characters are memorable from Pappy who spends his life worrying about the weather to Hank, the Spruill's violent unstable son, to Cowboy the shifty Mexican. And he does not forget the women of this tough world who live in the background quietly ruling the roost and supporting their men without question. A memorable book marking a dramatic change of direction for Grisham - one which this reviewer for one hopes he continues. - Lucy Watson
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Having read quite a few of John Grisham's books in the past I was beginning to find the whole lawyer thing quite tired and boring. When I purchased "A Painted House" I thought I'd give him one more go and then give him up for a lost cause. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could not find a lawyer anywhere in in sight! The book is written with tenderness and insight into the hardships of the lives of cotton farmers many years ago. Although it would not fall into the category of your usual "gripping" novel, I just couldn't put this book down and finished it in a weekend. I would imagine that if someone still enjoyed John Grisham's usual style they would be bitterly dissapointed with this book but if you feel the need for something different and more mellow, this book is definitely for you.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you are looking for a legal battle with judges' witnesses and juries forget it.
A clear departures from John Grisham's Court Room /Lawyer Thrillers, A Painted House is a gem of a read. And in my opinion undeniably one of his best! But then I think that of all Grisham Books.
The hero, Luke Chandler is only seven years old, but can he tell a story. . Snippets of his life during the cotton-picking season in the early fifties in Arkansas are not soon forgotten. Luke introduces us to the field hands who arrive to help pick the cotton that is waist high. 'The Mexicans' and 'The Hill Folk', bring a lot of tension, (not to mention a murder) to this hard working family of Farmers.
The fact that the Chandlers' are avid Cardinal Baseball fans just adds enjoyment to this delightful nostalgic story of a bygone era.
A Painted House is simply one of the most dead on target depictions of Southern rural life in the fifties, poignant sensitive and thought provoking. It brought back fond memories of a simpler life style. One we would have a hard time returning after a taste of the highly sophisticated electronic equipment we now have now found necessary. If you want to escape and enjoy a good read, take my advice and read this with the thought in mind that this is how life used to be for many Americans. Not bad, not bad at all.
A clear departures from John Grisham's Court Room /Lawyer Thrillers, A Painted House is a gem of a read. And in my opinion undeniably one of his best! But then I think that of all Grisham Books.
The hero, Luke Chandler is only seven years old, but can he tell a story. . Snippets of his life during the cotton-picking season in the early fifties in Arkansas are not soon forgotten. Luke introduces us to the field hands who arrive to help pick the cotton that is waist high. 'The Mexicans' and 'The Hill Folk', bring a lot of tension, (not to mention a murder) to this hard working family of Farmers.
The fact that the Chandlers' are avid Cardinal Baseball fans just adds enjoyment to this delightful nostalgic story of a bygone era.
A Painted House is simply one of the most dead on target depictions of Southern rural life in the fifties, poignant sensitive and thought provoking. It brought back fond memories of a simpler life style. One we would have a hard time returning after a taste of the highly sophisticated electronic equipment we now have now found necessary. If you want to escape and enjoy a good read, take my advice and read this with the thought in mind that this is how life used to be for many Americans. Not bad, not bad at all.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book marks something of a departure for John Grisham. All of his previous books have dealt in some way with the law. "A Painted House", does not, but tells the tale of a 7 year old boy growing up in rural Arkansas in the early 1950's. It is, as the blurb in the front cover explains, in many ways autobiographical, reflecting Grisham's own childhood.
At first I was unsure if I was going to enjoy this book, I feared that a story about a young boy growing up on a farm during the cotton-picking season might bore me. I needn't have worried. Although this story differs from the author's previous novels, and the pace is slower, it is none the less an amazing read. With a murderous fight, a 17 year old girl running away with a knife wielding Mexican and an illegitimate child chucked in for good measure, this book is far from boring. Add in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a small town, where every body knows every body else's business and the interminable tension of a family under strain to harvest their crop before the weather breaks; and what you get is a real page turner.
What is most interesting about this book though, is that it tells the tale of a boy growing up. Whilst not exactly chronicling his journey from boyhood to manhood, it shows us how he becomes more self-aware. Aware of the world outside, his small town, of the change in technology as the TV and phone become more commonplace and begin to intrude even into little towns like Black Oak. In this way, it seems to me, that the book is also a microcosm, reflecting how American and indeed the Western world changed as the consumer society took over from the bleak war years and the fading ripples of the Great Depression.
This book is seriously good. If you liked John Grisham's books before or even if you've never read one, read this, you will not be disappointed.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read
Bought this book on recommendation and thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end...The first John Grisham book I have read and now very keen to read more of his work. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Juken
Is Grisham schizophenic - beautiful piece of literature - and...
You may like Grisham for his lawyer yarns. I do. They're great. Ripping, thrilling but unmemorable. I buy them all but I normally give them away when I've finished them. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Marc Gander
A welcome change of direction
I live in Spain and sometimes books in English can be hard to come by, I picked this book as the best of a bad bunch in a free book exchange run by a local estate agent. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Teruel
Enjoyable reading, but emotionaly disconnected
This is very different from John Grisham's earlier novels. Following his brief foray away from the legal thriller in The Testament, this book is a coming of age novel focussing on... Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. R. Johnson-Rollings
Grisham's Painted House
I never liked Grisham before - the potboiler legal-thriller style left me cold. Someone gave me the Painted House and against my better judgement I read it. Read more
Published 15 months ago by michael rampling
?? condition or book itself
Book in good condition with reasonable delivery time.
Not much else to say ?? Did not enjoy the book itself, it was recommended by my book Club but presumably this is not... Read more
Not much else to say ?? Did not enjoy the book itself, it was recommended by my book Club but presumably this is not... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Erda
While this book is read, it won't all have gone with the wind
John Grisham is best known for his thrillers. In a sense, this is a thriller, too, but without lawyers and courtroom dramas. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Geoffrey Woollard
A short review of a good book
I thoroughly enjoyed this. I'd run out of books to read and found this tightly wedged on the top of one of my Mum's bookshelves. Read more
Published 21 months ago by GeorgeB
A good read
I've read a lot of Grisham, but this is different to his usual writing. It's a good read, a tale told by a 7 year old boy. Read more
Published on 3 May 2010 by P. Horrex
A classic American novel, an unexpected delight
I haven't read any of Grisham's legal thrillers as they're not really the kind of thing I normally enjoy, but I picked this up because I'd heard it was different and it seemed more... Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2010 by Phil O'Sofa
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