Entah mengapa, diantara segudang buku Grisham, buku-bukunya yang tidak bertema hukum justru yang menjadi favorit saya-kecuali yang 'The Rainmaker' dan 'A Time To Kill'--
Seperti halnya di buku 'The Bleacher', dengan lihainya Grisham mengaduk emosi pembaca dengan kehidupan getir sang tokoh utama. berbeda dengan 'The Bleacher' dimana tokoh utamanya adalah mantan pemain baseball terkenal yang kemudian hidup 'gagal', di buku APH, tokoh tamanya adalah sang tokoh cilik yang baru berusia 7 tahun, Luke Chandler

dengan gaya bicara ber-aku, Luke Chandler bercerita mengenai kemelaratan keluarga mereka yang hanya berprofesi sebagai petani kapas di daerah Arkansas era 1950-an. Hidup di tengah kemskinan, Luke dengan polosnya menunjukkan kecerewetannya dalam memandang dunia. ada saja yang dia komentari yang tak jarang membuat ingin tertawa, tapi saat yang lain justru membuat tercenung karena kisah getir yang dilihatnya.

ketika musim panen kapas pada tahun 1952 tiba, seperti keluarga petani miskin lainnya, keluarga Chandler menyewa pekerja untuk memetik kapas milik mereka. para pekerja ini tentu saja lebih miskin daripada keluarga mereka yang berasal dari pegunungan atau pendatang Meksiko. dan selama 2 bulan para pekerja ini tinggal di tanah keluarga Chandler, kisah suka duka di buku ini bergulir.

Tapi, musim panen tahun ini tidak seperti tahun sebelumnya. selain para pekerja yang lebih 'aneh', tapi musim panen mereka tahun ini terancam gagal panen karena banjir. padahal, bahkan saat sukses panen pun keluarga ini mesti hidup dengan cara super hemat, gagal panen jelas merupakan mimpi buruk.

Hasil kerja keras selama setahun musnah begitu saja padahal utang menjerat mereka. dan si kecil Luke, terdorong karena ingin membuat rumahnya indah seperti rumah para petani kaya, ngotot ingin mengecat rumahnya. padahal, cat merupakan benda mewah bagi keluarga itu...

Yang menarik di buku ini adalah bagaimana polosnya si Luke cilik dalam menghadapi kemiskinan yang menghimpit mereka, kemiskinan tidak harus dihadapi dengan keluhan dan kemiskinan bukan hambatan untuk bisa berbahagia.

Tapi, ada sesuatu yang aneh di buku ini. untuk seorang anak yang baru berumur 7 tahun, Luke jelas terlalu cerewet dan kritis. gaya bahasa yang ber-aku menurut cara pandang anak 'ingusan' terlalu kritis bagi seorang anak. bahkan saya sering menganggap bahwa tokoh Luke sebenarnya jauh lebih tua daripada yang ditulis Grisham memngingat buah pikiran Luke terlalu instens. seharusnya, untuk cara berpikir anak berumur 7 tahun, Grisham bagusnya memakai cara bercerita ala 'Forest Gump'-nya Winston Groom atau 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time'-nya Mark Haddon. walaupun tokoh dalam kedua buku tersebut memiliki keterbelakangan mental, tapi cara berpikir mereka masih polos kekanakan. dan itu juga yang harusnya digunakan Grisham dalam menggambarkan si polos Luke. Bukannya Luke yang terlalu cerewet ala nenek-nenek.

Bagaimanapun, kepiawaian Grisham dalam meramu cerita kembali hadir di buku ini. kekurangan yang ada di buku ini tertutupi atraksi pamer kepiawaian bercerita. Dan juju, ada hal ucu lain mengenai buku ini. Untuk menggambarkan sebuah keluarga petani melarat, Grisham, harum memutar waktu dengan mengambil setting waktu era tahun 1950-an. dimana Amerika masih terseok-seok ekonominya. Grisham tidak mengambil setting waktu masa sekarang mungkin karena para petani mereka sekarang tidak ada yang miskin lagi. Coba kalau Grisham tinggal di Indonesia. Pasti cerita yang dibuat bakal lebih dramatis lagi, dan tak usah repot-repot memutar setting waktu ke belakang...T_T

John Grisham’s legal thrillers were a big part of my high school reading repertoire. A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Client; I read them all and looked forward to each new book as part of my summer reading list. After a while, Grisham’s books became formulaic and rather than anticipate his next thriller, I put him aside for years, choosing instead books with a literary bent. John Grisham, the baseball fan? Most men of his generation are, but I did not make the connection until Grisham came into the Cubs television broadcast booth during a game to promote his new book, Calico Joe, which featured baseball and the Cubs front and center. As much as Grisham enjoyed taking in Wrigley Field, he grew up in the south as a die hard Cardinals fan. While Calico Joe had been a thought provoking book, I found out from friends in the baseball book club that Grisham had written another book featuring baseball, only this book was more biographical in nature as it takes the reader back to the south in the 1950s when cotton was still king and the Cardinals were the only baseball team that mattered. Still starving for baseball, I decided to pick up A Painted House and view the world from John Grisham’s childhood point of view.

In 1952, the Mexicans and hill people arrived on the same day. The Cardinals were six games back of the Dodgers with six weeks to play, the season all but over. To seven year old Luke Chandler, baseball was his world. The only child of cotton farmers living outside of Black Oak, Arkansas, Luke’s year centers on cotton and baseball season. He constructed a makeshift field in the front yard and played catch with his father and grandfather almost every night. We find out that both his father and grandfather had what it took to be major leaguers but after serving and being injured in World War I and II respectively, their baseball dreams were cut short, although his father could still play well. Luke, on the other hand, dreamed of getting off the farm. He was not going to plant cotton for the rest of his life because he was going to to St Louis and play for the Cardinals, every boy’s dream during that era. In the meantime, Luke would have to settle for a Cardinals jacket from the Sears Roebuck and Co catalogue. If he picked enough cotton during the harvest, he would have enough money to purchase the same jacket that all his favorite players wore. The thought of wearing the same jacket as his idol Stan Musial was enough to get Luke through another cotton harvest, even in a year when the Cardinals would not win the pennant.

Although Grisham tells this story through the eyes of a child, A Painted House is not without controversy. Small time farmers like the Chandlers rely on hired help to get them through a harvest. Each year, Black Oak families hired both Mexicans and hill people from Ozark country. In 1952, the Chandler’s hill people invited trouble. The Spruill family set up their camp on the Chandler’s front yard, the place where Luke had designated his baseball field. The family did not know their place and expected Luke to respect them as elders even though every hill family in the past treated their employers with reverence. Hank Spruill was a menace and scared not only Luke but everyone in Black Oak. His sister Tally was seventeen and invited Luke on many an adventure that was not appropriate for child viewing. That was just the hill people as Mexicans brought their own set of problems to Black Oak, including the inevitable showdown with the hill people, leading to tension during the cotton harvest. Yet, for cotton farmers, this is the risk they took when hiring help each year , although how many more years the Chandlers would farm remained to be seen.

Luke’s mother was a city girl and educated. She did not expect to live on a farm for her entire life nor did she expect her son to be a farmer. She grew up, said Luke, in a painted house. After his father was injured in World War II, he moved with his new wife to his parents’ farm to assist with the farming. Although married for ten years, one could see that the tension was always there, as it was a foregone conclusion that one day they would leave. Her pride and joy was the garden that could feed the entire Black Oak for an entire winter. Yet, one could sense that Kathleen Chandler wanted more, perhaps to teach school in a city or to give a better life to her son. This would never happen in Black Oak where the biggest thrills were going to the general store once a week and the annual Baptist vs Methodist picnic and baseball game. Kathleen desired a life where her son could attend Major League Baseball games and where his schooling was not interrupted each year by the cotton harvest. From the first descriptions of Kathleen Chandler, one could sense that this entire story was looking back at 1952 through Luke’s point of view and that eventually his family would leave the farm. Grisham had to create tensions from both the harvest itself and outsiders to make this happen.

Grisham takes a page from his formulaic thrillers to tie this book up neatly. Each event that occurs would be a blip in a larger community but dominated the chatter in Black Oak for weeks. Grisham himself grew up the son of cotton farmers and then left to attend law school, deciding on writing for his profession. One could tell that he wrote from the heart for this book but being used to his thrillers still wanted all the plot lines to end without controversy. One could sense that slowly the future was coming to Black Oak when Luke got to watch the 1952 World Series on a neighbor’s new television set; however, it was still too slow for his mother. A Painted House takes a look a southern farming community during a simpler era. The entire book was told from a seven year old’s point of view and was comprised of simple sentences that did not take much effort to read. One gets a glimpse at how it must have been for Grisham growing up, so one can appreciate how much effort it must have taken him to achieve academically to make it to law school. Although not a literary gem, it made for relaxing reading on a lazy, baseball starved summer afternoon.

3.5 stars

I have no idea why this has good reviews. I have no idea why I actually read it all. I guess I was hoping SOMETHING might happen, but no, just a boring story. I know it's based on John Grisham's upbringing but I'm sorry to say it was nothing exciting to write a book about.

At first glance,cotton farming in rural Arkansas doesn't seem like a likely subject for a John Grisham book,as he specializes in legal thrillers.

However,Grisham spent his childhood in such a setting and there is a touch of authenticity to the proceedings.

It starts rather slowly,but then the tempo picks up.It is about poverty,struggle and adversity.Cotton farming is a tough life.

But as would be apt for a thriller writer,the book has its share of crime too,in the later part.

As usual for Grisham books,it goes on for a bit too long.A hundred pages less,and it would have been better.Still,pretty entertaining.

John Grisham paints a very clear picture of what life on a cotton farm in the 50's was like. Unfortunately, what that life was like, was BORING. I can honestly say I have never read a more boring, or ultimately pointless book in my life. The only thing that kept me from giving up completely were finding out how the only interesting threads tied up. Would Luke ever come clean about Sisco? Was Ricky really the father of Libby's baby? Would Ricky even make it home alive? Will the Spruills(or anyone) ever find out about a murdered Hank? Cowboy and Tally? Why is this story told from the the limited perspective of a seven yr old? I had thought an epilogue of a grown up Luke answering at least some of these questions. But no. After endless, repetitive chapters of cotton picking, and wishing I could just say, "I quit,"... in the end, right as something was ACTUALLY happening, the characters said, "I quit. Let's go North. The end." And all plot points left completely, and frustratingly unresolved.

John Grisham, best known for his thrilling novels about some enterprising attorney who uses jurisprudential gymnastics to outwit his "foes" in a courtroom drama, examples being "The Firm"; "Pelican Brief"; or "A Time to Kill". This is not that kind of novel.

A Painted House is a wonderful story about the Chandler family, especially the seven year old Luke Chandler. The story takes place in 1952 Arkansas. The Chandler's are farmers and their crop is cotton. This is a story about their life during a crop picking season in 1952. The Chandler's are rent-farmers. In the social hierarchy of the Southern plantation society the top of the pyramid belongs to the large-tract farmers. These are followed by people like the Chandler's-they do not own the land but rather they rent the land. They range from poor to break-even. The bottom of the barrel are share-croppers who are essentially hired help.

What makes this such a wonderful story is the prose and the setting. Rural Arkansas in the early '50s was not a place that is familiar to someone like me who grew up in Chicago. It shows us what a hard-scrabble life a cotton farmer of their standing had. The entire goal seems to be to break even after the crop is in (this means after subtracting the costs of seed, fertilizer, etc at best you might have a meager profit- but usually you just cover your debts).

During the picking season two groups of people come to the farm to help out. One group comes from the Hill People who live in the various backwoods of Arkansas. The other group are Mexicans who are trucked in to work during the picking season. But among each of these groups is a very dangerous person. The simmering conflict between these two is present all through the story. But this is a story about the life of the farmers. You see the long hours, the (to me) boring and tedious work, the lack of money and all the social norms that were in place during the 1950's in the rural backwoods Arkansas. This story draws you in with wonderful characterizations of the Chandler family from Pappy, the Grandfather, to Luke's mother- who wants nothing more than for her husband and son to move up north and find good jobs.

I was fascinated, and a bit nonplussed, at the daily grind of their routine. The lack of entertainment (only a radio) and the lack of books and other diversions make for a, to me, depressing and truly boring existence. The most to look forwards to, after a 12 hour day of hard toil, seems to be a radio broadcast of the Cardinals game. As to the conflict brewing between the two dangerous characters, I shall not spoil it for you. While this really is a story about rural farming life, it is a great look at 1950's rural Arkansas Americana.

What fascinated me about this book, is that it reads and feels completely different from anything he has ever written. The prose and the dialogue was superb. With the exception of an incident or two (again-no spoilers) this is just a story about the life of a seven year old growing up during this time. All of the characters come off as real, the conversations smack clearly of the hopes, wishes, desires and failures of this prototypical family. But, while this may seem like a dull and boring book due to the topic- Mr. Grisham shines in telling this tale. At it's heart it is a coming of age tale set in the deep South. It is a story worth reading and one that will entertain with its plot, which is just as gripping as his legal thrillers while feeling and reading completely different from anything he has ever written.

This is not the usual John Grisham fare, but instead is a beautiful story told with great warmth and compassion. I have always enjoyed Grisham's books as good airplane reads--but never expected that he would write a book that I would list as one of my all-time favorites.

Set on a cotton farm in Missouri, 1952. Told through the perspective of a farm boy. Murder occurs several times in this book, but this is not a murder mystery, police procedural, or legal read. A house is painted for the first time, ever, but this is not a fixer-upper book. Not quite. Baseball and the St Louis Cardinals come up frequently, but this isn’t a sports book, either. Not sure how to describe it. Mostly, what struck me was the cotton picking, the migrant workers, and the hill folk. I found it interesting, appalling, and occasionally heartwarming. Not sure I buy the boy’s characterization.

Dit is een heel ander soort boek dan ik gewoon ben van deze auteur.
Het is 1952. Black Oak, Arkansas. Het is hier dat de zevenjarige Luke Chandler opgroeit op de boerderij van zijn grootouders, waar katoen verbouwd wordt.
Het is plukseizoen, en er komen een familie Hillbillies (mensen uit de heuvels) en een groep Mexicanen op de boerderij helpen met de oogst. Iedereen helpt mee, ook de ouders van Luke en hijzelf.
Het verhaal vertelt de gebeurtenissen van deze nazomer, hel leven op de boerderij, en de sfeer tussen de heuvelmensen en de Mexicanen en hun werkgevers.
Dan zijn er ook nog hun naaste buren, een familie erg arme deelpachters. We maken ook kennis met enkele mensen uit het dorp.
Luke is verzot op honkbal. Verschillende keren in het boek wordt een wedstrijd beschreven.
Als de oogst iets meer dan de helft klaar is, verandert het weer, en uiteindelijk overstroomt het landgoed van de Chandlers. Nu moeten er moeilijke beslissingen genomen worden...

Het boek was aangenaam om te lezen, hoewel er niet echt een plot in zat. Speciaal is wel dat het verhaal verteld wordt vanuit het standpunt van een zevenjarige jongen.

Inspired by his own childhood in Arkansas, A Painted House is John Grisham'S first major work outside the legal thriller genre, the genre for which he is so well known.

Grisham’s trademark is suspense. If this isn’t a legal thriller, does the book at least have suspense? Yes, but only to the extent you can see the events of the summer of 1952 through Luke’s eyes. He is the central protagonist. He is seven, and it is he telling the story. In my view, Grisham captures remarkably well the world of a seven-year-old, a cotton grower’s son living in the South in the 1950s.

The longer I could stay in Luke's head, the longer I enjoyed the book. Occasionally though, I was jogged from Luke’s head back into my own, back into an adult’s way of thinking. The strength of the novel lies in its ability to show you the events of Luke’s summer through his eyes, not your own.

The events of that summer are not light and frivolous. They go beyond what a child of seven can be expected to fully understand. There are brawls and deaths, the birth of an illegitimate child, tornados, rainstorms and floods. The floods threaten economic ruin to the cotton growing families. There are also love affairs and a carnival and jokes and pranks. There’s a Baptist priest preaching sin and damnation. The fictional town where these people live is Black Oak. It is situated in the Arkansas Delta near the St. Francis River, a real tributary of the Mississippi. The farmers grow cotton. There is Luke and his family, sharecroppers and migrant workers from Mexico and the Ozarks. These are people struggling to survive. All are attempting to eke out a living as best they can, in a world where cotton prices, credit, the weather and the availability of labor are vital factors over which they have little control.

Through Luke’s eyes, the summer can be seen as a succession of secrets. If I were to give the book a title, it would be The Summer of Secrets--A Seven-Year-Old's Summer from the Cotton Fields of Arkansas . Luke has been raised not to keep secrets, at least not from his parents.

Beside capturing the mind of a child, the author also captures well the class hierarchy in a small southern farming community. Everyone is fully aware of their social standing. Even a seven-year-old will be aware of this too, but a seven-year-old is not going to analyze or philosophize. A child cannot be expected to draw adult conclusions. That the book’s narrator is a child of seven thus limits the scope of the book. On the other hand,that the book has a young narrator makes it suitable for young adults and kids. I think the events, as they roll out, will interest such an audience more than they did me. I became bored.

The audiobook is narrated by David Lansbury. His reading reinforces the child perspective. The whole feel of the book became too childish for me. Lansbury's narration makes not only Luke, but also his mother and grandmother, sound like kids. His reading was not to my taste. The most I can give the narration performance is two stars.

******************

If you are looking for a Grisham book that is not a legal thriller, my GR friend Philip recommends these:

Skipping Christmas
Bleachers
Playing for Pizza
and maybe The Last Juror

I thought I would pass this information on to you. Thank you, Philip!

This book is a delight to read and even better when you listen to the Audible version of the book. The characters are full and their personalities leap off the page. The story has twists and turns that are not predictable, but some you will figure out along the way. Characters are three-dimensional. You will laugh out loud at some of the humor. Please don't watch the movie by Hallmark. They butcher this beautifully written book.

A sweeping tale of the epic South back in the days when a glass of root beer cost five cents and lynchings were sort of the hick racist equivalent of Netflix. Back when the Sears Roebuck catalogue was the big news on the street and the women’s undergarments sections were quietly removed by the local pastor, back when a family grew most of their own food and a man did an honest day’s work for his supper, and a hired hand knew his place in the world, where children prayed after “practicing” their foul language, where one set of white trash ruled over lesser versions of trash.

If this is John Grisham’s attempt to create a modern Gone with the Wind, a new southern novel, he’s making the same mistake of not really knowing what he’s talking about and trying to make something of an era that’s probably better left forgotten.

A hired hand who has been working in the hot sun has the temerity to tell a boy to go get him a glass of cold water. Why, I do da-clair, trash have no right to ask for a glass of cold water, specially when they’s a mud puddle right in front of him.

At page 80 of a 340-page book, I was wondering if he was ever going to get around to telling a story, or if the entire book was going to be a sepia photograph of some shit-hole backwoods in the south.