This story told by Luke Chandler, the youngest member of the Chandler family. They were cotton farmers in Arkansas. They hired Mexicans and the Hill people from the Ozarks to pick their cotton.

The Hill people felt sorry for the Chandlers, since their brown wood house had never been painted.
Tally with brother Trot bought white paint every week with their earnings. Trott started the painting while the rest of them were picking cotton.

Luke saw a lot of things that a little boy should not see and witness. Luke would hide from the grownups because he was a curious boy.

The burden of witnessing just got to much for him. He confided with his grandfather. Making a promise between them to tell no one else.

That was the summer Luke grew up and matured

I loved John Grisham’s earliest books, but his later ones left me ambivalent, For that reason, I hadn’t read his books for a while. A Painted House was suggested by an online reading club, so I checked it out of the local library. I’m so glad I did.

Seven year old Luke Chandler lives with his parents and grandparents in a small house on an Arkansas cotton farm. Their land does not have the best location, nor does it produce consistently good crops. There is too little rain, too much rain, or a bad market almost every year. His mother’s garden is what keeps the family fed.

This year, the cotton crop looks like a good one, and the family hires a “hill family” and a group of “Mexicans” to assist with the harvest. One day Luke witnesses a violent event that shapes the rest of the story. The author perfectly describes life on a farm, including the gamble of men who wouldn’t dream of sitting at a poker table, and yet who lay their cards on the table every year at the mercy of the weather. The writing is superb, the descriptions are spot on. If you have to read a book with the intensity of The Pelican Brief, this is not your book. But if you enjoy a wide range of books, you should definitely give A Painted House a try.

I read this some time ago. I love the story. The setting is in the 50s, a much simpler time and yet a much more difficult time. The story is told through the eyes of an eight-year-old. I'm not sure, but I understand the story is based on John Grisham's childhood.

This is not a fast pace book. It is so much more. John Grisham told a very heart moving tale of the hard times as a farmer through the eyes of a young boy. The boy had me laughing at times with some of his silly pranks. It was a time that you didn't dare get caught using a cuss word, although the young boy would from time to time sneak off and practice curse words that his older brother had taught him.

The story took you to a place and time where folks lived off the land and the hardships that each day brought. I love this story. Great read and there were times you laugh and times you sat on the edge of your seat. There are surprises that keep you turning the pages. This book is a wonderful read for any age.

I read one review stating that the title of this book should have been "Watching Paint Dry". While it's not as exciting and riveting as Grisham's other works, and it took me about six chapters to get into the story, it was still an enjoyable book.

Set in 1952 Arkansas, 7-year-old Luke Chandler is forced to grow up quickly when he becomes exposed to several adult situations. It seems as though everyone in the story has a secret to keep and they all manage to confide in Luke.

The yearly ritual of hiring "Hill People" and Mexican aliens as temporary laborers on their cotton farm turns out to be a dangerous proposition this year. Luke is not pleased when the hill people set up camp in the front yard, right in the middle of his baseball diamond, but is even less pleased when one of them turns out to be a bully and is involved in a fatal fight in town one Saturday. Luke was unfortunate enough to be a witness and is torn between telling the truth or incurring the bully's wrath.

Luke also witnesses a brutal murder and the birth of an illegitimate baby, both turn out to be secrets he keeps and issues that cause him to wrestle with right vs. wrong. Throw in a schoolboy crush on a girl 10 years his senior and the constant worry about how the weather will affect the cotton crop this year, and you get a story with several different situations and angles.

Grisham's writing style is easy to read and very descriptive. Even though the plot didn't move too quickly, I still enjoyed this book and will continue reading Grisham's work.

I seldom understood what Brother Akers was preaching about, and occasionally I'd hear Gran mumble over Sunday dinner that she'd also been hopelessly confused during one of his sermons. Ricky had once told me he thought the old man was half crazy. (PG 104)

This wasn't Grisham's usual political thriller but it was my kind of story. It's more in the category of a coming-of-age novel. We are taken back to the year 1952 in Arkansas during cotton picking time where we meet little seven-year-old Luke Chandler. The book was written in a way where the narrator was looking back at being seven not writing as a seven-year-old, and that makes a big difference to me because he seemed very mature (worldly?) in the book, and if you now any seven-year-olds you know that they are immature little know-it-alls, childish, and whiny.

It was a good yarn of a story especially since I know nothing about Arkansas or its background as a cotton picking state and what a difficult time the farmers have had throughout the years. I enjoyed how Grisham incorporated the Mexicans with their hard work and the small town vibes where everyone knows your business.

As a bonus to myself I also like to read how Grisham incorporates Christianity into his works ie. The Guardian. It's nice to read about characters that are sinners and full of flaws but try to be better in his stories.

Not a crime novel at all. I started this book thinking it was another one of those much appraised courtroom crime novels that've made Grisham rich and famous but no- it is a simple yet an effective book about the paradox of human choices and relationships, not only amongst themselves but with each other in a society too. I read somewhere that after having written so many courtroom thriller, it was only natural for Grisham to want to write something with no juries or trials or nagging conspiracy issues. This was his first attempt and I cannot say I'm disappointed. There were all kinds of wrong-doings in the book but not all criminal. A murder or two did take place but unlike his other works there wasn't a trial here.

The book is about a poor farming family living in the little town of Black Oak, Jonesboro, Arkansas, where the author happens to have been born. It is the picking season and they are looking for Mexicans and "hillbillies" to work their farm. Luke, a smart 7-year old kid, goes out with him Pappy, grandfather, to pick them. It was almost a good crop but as it turns out, "the land is as unforgiving as it's people". The harvest and the good weather did not end long and in the one and a half month of it's longevity, their lives changed in ways they couldn't have imagined all those days ago. Luke was a simple, good Baptist boy who prayed like one and believed in sin. He was a smart kid in the sense that he could understand all that was going around him whether or not he was supposed to. Sometimes a little too much for his own good. The story goes on smoothly with no particularly important event unless one Saturday on a 'ritual' trip to town a beating takes place that ultimately results in a death and then after a while another gutting that no one has any clue about but the Little Luke.

Sometimes you cannot help but feel sorry for the poor boy. He's seen more than even a little farmer boy from a small town with all sorts of people, was supposed to have seen. And he's forced to keep them all a secret. You feel sorry for the poor boy because you know the mental state all this "knowing the things he shouldn't" have put him in and yet he's burdened with more secrets to keep as the days go by. He longs for a companion since he was an only child and his only friend, his uncle Ricky, was away fighting the War in Korea. By the time it all ends, or gradually draw towards it, he feels he's had enough and cannot hold it in any longer when he starts unraveling some of them one by one to either his mom or Pappy. You're both happy and sad for Luke who's both happy and sad to be going away to a better city with a better future but at the same time away from his grandparents and the house he's never spent a night away from. It's amazing how the small little town of Black Oak constitutes for most of what the world really is to him. He's also kinda funny! He's a bit too curious for his own good sometimes. He's burdened with responsibilities from an early age but it's refreshing to watch him indulge in little mischief that a boy of coming age is more than often expected to get himself in. Not only was it a murder that he'd seen, he'd also sneaked around to see the birth of an illegitimate child and then explaining his mother how it wasn't his idea at all.
His mother is a feel-good character in the sense he portrays a "ray of hope" that Luke ever has in the form of a real future.

The book portrays quite many human emotions and reveals a lot about our relationships. It borderlines on the topic of paradox of human choices but does not go very deep. Grisham is believed to be as good a storyteller as US has in the recent times and I do not beg to differ. As good as his legal thrillers are, this book has been written with equal brilliance and his style is just as easily distinguished. Even though the story of a simple farmer boy with dreams of playing for the Cardinals when he grows up, the book never just drags on. The choice of words is interesting (specially where he tells us that his hometown Black Oak, "was too small to be divided''-- an interesting phrase to choose!) and keeps you turning pages after pages. When you've finished the entire book, it's then that you realize how touching the title actually is. It touches you because you realize the value the not so big now a little less than entirely-painted house- holds to Luke. He might've been coy in completing the task but he's took great pride in it for it was the first time in 50 years that their house was painted. And he did it. Although the project was started by someone else but it ultimately fell on his shoulders to complete the project and it was an achievement of remark that he was almost able to finish it all. When you look at it that way, the title falls in line perfectly with the essence of the story.

John Grisham's novel A Painted House met with mixed reviews when it was first published in 2000. Many derided his pacing, one of the work's greatest strengths. And some thought he was in over his head after fleeing the safe harbour of the legal thriller that he had come to dominate.

I really like the book. Told in the first-person through the eyes of seven-year-old Luke Chandler, A Painted House chronicles three generations of cotton farmers and their trials in Arkansas in the 1950s. The story is as much about the transition between eras--an agricultural economy toward a commodities-based economy--as it is about the brutal murder that stands as the story's central conflict.

I classify this book as a literary novel, and Grisham is right at home here in taking his time to really describe life in rural Arkansas. The major difference in this project and, say, A Time to Kill (a classic, in my estimation) is the different ratios of expository writing. In ATtK, Grisham sends the plot down the chute at break-neck speed. Here he can indulge in some very engaging characterization (I love the family patriarch, Eli Chandler) and really focus on the tedious, risky prospect of relying on a crop to remain afloat. Farm life is depicted with care and reverence and the audience's emotions rise and fall with the Chandlers as elements outside of their control--namely weather and work ethic--impact their ability to harvest the cotton.

I think Grisham doesn't get enough credit as a stylist, and if you haven't looked at A Painted House I think you should. I finished J.G. Ballard's The High Rise last night and it was also good--though the second act had some major flaws. Fans of dystopic science fiction will no doubt devour Ballard's caustic appraisal of social class in exurban London...

This is my first Grisham novel and it’s everything everyone has always said about his writing. This story was inspired by the author’s own life. He grew up as the son of a cotton farmer in Arkansas. It’s a slow, well-written story that brings you back in time, yet he keeps you interested with the events that take place on the cotton farm. At times, I found myself chuckling at the thoughts that went through this 7-year-old's mind, but I also found myself in tears a time or two because of the compassion shown in the story.

Set in 1952 rural Craighead County, in northeastern Arkansas, right outside of Black Oak, the closest town of about 300 people, little 7-year-old Luke Chandler is narrating. He is the son of a cotton farmer, and like all other children of cotton farmers in the area, they are let out of school two months early to help their families pick cotton. Luke’s family lived with his grandparents, Pappy and Gran. His number one love was baseball. All he ever dreamed about was being a Cardinal’s baseball player. And during baseball season, every evening after supper, the family gathered around the radio to listen to the games. They all took part and farmed about 80 acres every summer along with the help of migrant workers: Mexicans from Mexico and hillbillies from up in the Ozark hills.

This summer Luke was about to find out just how hard and risky life can be on cotton farms with rains that threatened to flood out their crop. He would also learn some valuable lessons in hate, love and caring for others even less fortunate, such as the sharecroppers, the lazy Mr. Flatcher, his worn-out wife, and their many barefoot kids, who had even less than his own family. They hired 10 Mexicans and the Spruill family from up in the hills. There would be trouble between the groups, especially between one rough Mexican nicknamed Cowboy and big Hank Spruill. You have 7-year-old Luke, scared for his and his family’s life, having to make some hard, grown-up decisions about what he sees and hears on the farm. He’s got to wrap his head around seeing their worker, big, mean Hank, stop an unfair fight between other hill kids while at a festival, but then his uncontrollable anger also caused him to pointlessly kill one of the kids. Hank was definitely a bad seed. He was the cause of all the friction between his own family, the Chandler family, and between him and Cowboy, which caused Cowboy to want to kill Hank.

When the grownups weren’t around, Hank was demanding to Luke and constantly sneering at him and putting him and his family down in front of the other Spruills, “You think you’re better than us, don’t you? Well, you don’t even have a painted house. Our house is at least painted.” Of course, they would all laugh at him. Well, before the story is over, his grandparent’s house does get painted with the help of mean Hanks autistic brother, Trot, who secretly started on the house, one board at a time, when no one was looking, and the rest of the Mexicans, all except Cowboy, who chipped in at the end to show their appreciation and respect for the Chandlers for how they were treated this summer on the farm. He also got help from the lazy sharecropper, Mr. Flatcher, who the Chandlers had to rescue his family from the flooding rivers and put up in their barn. A painted house was a rare thing to see back then in rural Arkansas, but this house’s paint represented so much more than just paint.
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MOVIE: A Painted House (2003), starring Scott Glenn & Logan Lerman, John Grisham (the author) narrating.

A surprisingly good book. For me anyway because usually I'm not into the legal courtroom thrillers (which this book is not) so I have avoided Grisham. And I have to also humbly admit that I have only read one of his novels, The Firm, and I liked it. So, I think I will give the guy a chance and add another of his books.

I only read this because my mom recommended it and I felt like I needed to reciprocate because she usually reads my recommendations. Well, thanks mom. This was a pretty darn good read. There were some thrilling moments in the story but mostly it was just a down to earth story about a family's struggle and eventual overcoming of life's hardships.

Even though there were a couple of pretty harsh moments in the book I think I would have to call this a 'feel good' story. It's easy to read, entertaining, and I would recommend it to any of my friends.

n  n    A Painted Housen  n by John Grisham

Plot Summary

A Painted House takes place in rural Arkansas in the early 1950's and as we enter the story, Luke Chandler and his family are preparing themselves for another long season of cotton picking. Young Luke Chandler (about 7 years of age) has grown up on a farm all his life with his parents, Jesse and Kathleen Chandler, as well as his grandparents, Eli and Ruth Chandler, who Luke naturally refers to as "Pappy" and "Gran". The Chandler family is one that is fairly poor, lives in an unpainted house, and works extremely hard simply to pay the bills. However, Luke's mother Kathleen grew up in a fairly well-off family, so it seems she has different plans for her son Luke; conversly he has different plans as he dreams of becoming a part of the St. Louis Cardinals.

In order to harvest all the cotton in this particular summer, Luke and Eli go to pick up two groups of migrant workers. One being a family called the "Spruills," a group of "hill people" full of diverse personalities, and a bunch of Mexican workers who travel there anually in search of work. Both these groups include characters that have a dramatic effect on the Chandler family and their community as the story progresses.
Life goes on in the cotton fields and Luke becomes smitten with the Spruill girl named Tally, but is scared because of her brother Hank who seems to be very aggressive and violent. This suspicion proves to be true when Hank decides to take matters into his own hands one day in town.

While enjoying one of his days off in the town with his family, Luke witnesses Hank beat a kid to death with a two by four for tormenting one of his brothers. Luke is terrified of what Hank might do if he squealed on him, so when questioned by the sheriff, Luke keeps his mouth shut and uncharacteristically begins shutting in secrets.
Afterward, Hank continues to cause trouble on the farm even when he's not working. During a baseball game, a Mexican who goes by the name of Cowboy, gets one of his ribs broken by Hank. This definitely does not sit well with Cowboy and it does not sit well with his pocket knife either.

While Hank is causing trouble, his crippled brother Trot uses his earnings to buy paint for the unpainted Chandeler house. The house slowly begins to be painted and is noticed by Luke, but the identity of the painter remains unknown to him and his family for the most of the book.

As this is all happening, rumours begin to spread about the impregnated, unwed Libby Latcher who happens to be close to neighbors with the Chandlers. Libby is only fifteen years old and this pregnancy becomes a scandal in the town, mainly because she refuses to name the father. Finally, one night "Gran" and Kathleen Chandler are called to help deliver the baby and it is found out that the father is Luke's uncle Ricky, who is off at war in Korea. This truth is kept a secret by Luke and his family to keep them away from the drama.

Later in the story, the carnival comes into town and becomes a rather large event for everyone, especially Hank Spruill. When Hank catches wind of a circus wrestler offering large sums of money to anyone who can beat him, he is immediately in the ring with confidence. Hank proceeds to beat the wrestler and take his promised amount of money. Hank, now loaded with cash, suddenly realizes that he has no interest in picking cotton anymore and plans to leave town. No one has a problem with this seeing as he was causing so much trouble at the farm. Hank begins to leave town, followed closely by a curious Luke, but Cowboy has other plans for Hank's future. Cowboy, still angered by the baseball incident, wants revenge for his broken rib and attacks Hank on his way out of town. After fighting for a while, Cowboy plunges his pocket knife into Hank's midsection several times until he is dead and proceeds to dispose of his body in a nearby river. Luke, who once again was witnessing a brutal murder, tried to vacate the premises before Cowboy had a chance to catch him, but he was unsuccessful. Cowboy threatens the lives of Luke's family if the word of this murder should ever leak out. Luke of course agrees to keep quiet, but it didn't really matter seeing as Cowboy would soon run off with Luke's love, Tally Spruill. This breaks the heart of Tally's family and Luke himself.

Finally, all the violent characters are gone and no longer play a role in the lives of the Chandler family, but there is more misfortune to be had. Rain becomes very heavy on the farm and due to flooding, the cotton was ruined. Seeing as the cotton was no longer available for picking, the hill people and the Mexicans decide to move on. The Chandlers are now left alone and in significant debt, but Luke continues to buy paint and finish the work of the "mysterious" person who decided to start painting their unpainted shack. With the house now almost completely painted, Luke's mother announces that the Chandler family, leaving the grandparents behind, will be moving up North to start a new life. Eli, Kathleen, and Luke Chandler bid Pappy and Gran goodbye as they leave to begin a successful urban life elsewhere.

Collection of Quotes

1. In this quote, tough guy Hank Spruill ironically expresses his thoughts about Cowboy after the baseball incident.

"I'm gonna kill that boy." - Hank Spruill

2. In this quote, Luke decribes his "nightly ritual" to the readers.

"We would turn on the radio and Harry Caray at KMOX in St. louis would deliver the play-by-play of our beloved Cardinals." - Luke Chandler

3. In this quote, Luke describes what he is seeing as Hank Spruill displays his incredible aggression before killing one of the Sisco brothers with a two by four.

"The fight should've been over, but Hank had other plans." - Luke Chandler

4. In this quote, Luke expresses his desire for his life to return to normal after all the murders and hatred have taken place.

"I wanted everybody off our farm and out of our lives."

5. In this quote, Luke's mother gives a final hint of hope and happiness foreshadowing the life that awaits them.

"I looked at my mother. Her head was resting on the back of her seat. Her eyes were closed, and a grin was slowly forming at the corners of her mouth."

Critical Book Review Response

I read a book review from EntertainmentWeekly.com and I find it to be very similar to a review I would write about the book. Having read many other Grisham novels, I am familiar with his other writing styles and genres which was a main vocal point in the review. " 'This is not a legal thriller,' John Grisham writes in an introduction to A Painted House. 'In fact, there is not a single lawyer, dead or alive, in this story.' " Bruce Fretts also points out how well-written and action packed this story is even though the storyline sounds rather boring. I totally agree. I found this novel to be extremely exciting despite my preconceived notions of a boring book beforehand. "Lest this sound too sleepy, like some fictionalized version of 'The Farmer's Almanac,' fear not: In addition to floods and tornadoes, the plot packs in an illegitimate birth, an interracial affair, and a couple of gory killings. Never let it be said this man doesn't know how to spin a good yarn." I completely agree with everything said in this review; this novel was definitely one "you read slowly because you don't want it to end."

When I finished Ch. 36, the audio stopped. Part II is apparently not available on YT. However, to this point, shades of 'Of Mice and Men' coupled with 'The Grapes of Wrath, a look at the trials and tribulations of early 1950's cotton farmers. The setting is Black Oak, AR and is focused on the Chandler family, small town God-fearing, devout Baptist 3rd generation family scratching out a living, a very hard living. No legal battles in this one, just an incredible story of grit and perseverance.
So many of us take so many things for granted, right, most of us don't or will never truly understand that we truly have it made. Running water, job security (hopefully), food on the table and most importantly, sanitary waste facilities.
By the way, I remember a rock group from the 70's, Black Oak Arkansas. The only song I recall (w/o Googling) is Jim Dandy to the Rescue. It was good when I was 12, not so much now.

I always enjoy a good historical fiction that gets the historical setting right. There was one part, like in Taipan, that I had to go back and reread over and over because it was so good.