Grishams' novel is not his typical suspense fare, but instead suspense takes a slight backseat to this literary novel. Written with a calming, soothing style, the world weaved is almost a breathing poem.

Narrated by the seven year old Luke Chandler, it's easy to lose yourself in his world. A world filled with tedious labor, strained financial times, small town quibbles, and baseball magic. As a very southern family, the concern of the hour is cotton, vegetable picking, canning, and drinking iced tea. His mother wants nothing other than a different life for her son, while the grandparents are the kind that will live on the land and die with the land. This bittersweet reality was a true one to swallow, and while it's a completely different situation than I was raised in, it was easy to emphasize with.

Character wise, five stars. Suspense wise, not as much. It's obvious Grisham didn't want to dish out his usual stuff, and while I kept turning the pages to find more of the suspenseful plot, it kept dying down for life to be led, then later picked up again. Really the suspense was only tight and knuckle binding in a few scenes; otherwise, it was a slowly paced novel which entertained a more leisurely level.

Thankfully not predictable, I was a bit surprised with the turn-out between two rivals in the story, and Grisham did not hold back on the harsh, unfair realities of the hard life these people led. Rather than the plot focusing on a suspenseful murder or an unsettling event, it's really an unfolding of a seven year old who must keep secrets to protect both himself and his family, witnessing the extreme sacrifices his parents and grandparents make for the family, what the town itself must endure to survive. A family holding onto a tradition that has passed and that it should move on from to survive with the rest of the world, teaching the lesson of what happens when you don't accept inevitable change.

While an enjoyable tale that caught my attention and held it, I was disappointed with the ending. There was not a wrap up with two large subplots that dominated the book, and the boy's life. The outcome of one in particular, which worried the family throughout the entire story, would be an important one in Luke's life. Besides not having these wrapped up and left wondering, I felt a bit more suspense and play-up of such important events as the murder and tension resulting from it would have added to the story's strength.

While flaws ARE present, it could never be argued that Grisham's literary style is not clever and downright beautiful. The man really is a master with his words, better than the amateur painting of the story's house in question. If you're a fan of this writer, you owe it to yourself to indulge in this delightful story about a boy who sees all he should - and shouldn't.

Most of us know and like Grisham due to his legal thrillers. Even those that are just occasional readers know of Grisham's genre bend; yet every now and again he chooses to dabble in other genres like sports (Playing for Pizza, and Calico Joe) and the (semi-autobiographical) slice of life, coming of age, drama novel that is this book, A Painted House.

Here, the reader follows one harrowing summer (of 1952) in the life of a seven-year-old farm boy, Luke Chandler. That summer was packed with epiphanous events: a potentially huge cotton harvest, where grandfather Pappy must hire two groups of migrant workers to help with the picking of cotton. Luke witnesses a murder by a migrant worker, a fatherless baby is born into a scandalized family, Luke witnesses a second murder, and the house in which they live is getting anonymously painted.

Inexplicably, Luke has become a focal point in the happenings of the novel. The writing is strong and svelte. (When the words of the narrative are first person and told from a seven-year-old perspective, they better be.) Luke's precocious, but when he asks questions, the reader gets to listen to the careful and misleading answers adults sometimes use to explain complex concepts to children.

This was a great read (IMHO) despite my expectation for the legal to take hold somewhere along the line. Still, sometimes it's a good thing / great thing to have expectations surpassed, altered, and ultimately expanded.

I’ve heard great things about this book. But I could not get into it at all.

This is, so far as I know, Grisham's second or third departure from his legal thrillers. I have read several of his previous works and I found this novel to be a refreshing change, for the writer.
Until that September of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers—and two very dangerous men—came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke’s world. A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born. And someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly, bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives—and change his family and his town forever

I never write reviews, but this story was so good that I can’t help myself. I’ve read 17 of his books and I think I like this one the best even though it isn’t a legal thriller. This book was all about telling a great story and I loved it. I got to experience cotton farming in 1950s Arkansas through the eyes of a child. Every part of the culture was woven into the story including religion, education, racism, poverty, and even baseball. This book is a standout for Grisham because of his ability to make you know, understand, and care about the characters.

I really enjoyed this book. It tells the story of Luke Chandler a 7 year old who lives on a cotton farm and dreams of playing for the Cardinals. A delightful story that is different to the usual John Grisham books that is more about relationships than the usual mixture of court cases etc but it is so well written and flows so well.

Inspired by his childhood in Arkansas, this was Grisham's first major book (CR 2001) outside the legal thriller genre. Set in 1952, the story is told through the eyes of a 7 year old boy, Luke, who is the youngest of a family of cotton farmers struggling to harvest their crops and earn enough to settle their debts. It is a coming of age story; an evocation of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic slice of Americana. In addition, it captures how difficult a farmer's life was at that time - being at the mercy of the weather that could make or break a year's crops as well as the very hard physical labor that is involved.

An incredibly wholesome, down to Earth, All-American tale.

This is a different book compared to what John Grisham usually right. It is a story about a young boy growing up on a farm in the early 1950s. Definitely love this book and sometimes read it a couple times a year.

Es el tercer libro que leo de Grisham y me sorprende el cambio en la temática de sus libros.

Está historia puede definirse (desde mi perspectiva) como un libro costumbrista. Es cierto que hay conflictos, pero como lectores únicamente nos adentrarmos en la vida de esta familia y estás personas desde la perspectiva de un niño de 8 años, Luke. Y eso es el libro, un vistazo a su vida en el transcurso de la cosecha de algodón de 1954.

Me gustó mucho, ya que no es el típico caso de niño irreal maduro de 8 años. Es un niño y la forma en que piensa y actúa es de un niño.

Me cansó un poco el exceso de texto sobre El baseball, pero al final como Luke lo dice ¿En qué otra cosa podría distraerse de un trabajo tan pesado como lo es la recolección de algodón?

4 estrellas bien merecidas.

"The hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day. It was a Wednesday, early in September 1952. The Cardinals were five games behind the Dodgers with three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, over my head, and he and my grandfather could be heard before supper whispering words that were seldom heard. It could be a `good crop.'"

This was a really pleasant surprise. When asked about John Grisham, most of us immediately think of his wide catalogue of legal thrillers and their film adaptations. A Painted House is nothing like his other work (I admit to having read only one title - The Firm - a fact that I intend to change in due time) because it in no way relates to his traditional formula of legal thrilers. There is not a single lawyer in A Painted House; the best we get is a single policeman, because this story is set in rural Arkansas in 1952.

The novel is narrated in first person by a certain Luke Chandler, who also happens to be seven year old. The Chandler family are cotton farmers, and the book chronicles their struggles from late summer to early fall, when they harvest their crop with the help of Mexicans And Hill People. Luke will spend many hours picking cotton and living a boy's life; he'll hear things he shouldn't hear and see things he shouldn't see. These experiences will change him, as he'll have to grow up and face the dangers of adult life. But there will be many pleasant moments, too; the carniva;, first crush and many sweets from the stores in town. The people on farms have to be tough, or they won't survive. We experience their simple joys like listening to a baseball broadcast, but we also experience their despair with difficult harvest, their variness of people from other regions, the town gossip and the ever present preachers.

This book is the testament to Grisham's ability to tell a meaningful, sweet story that has nothing to do with the law. As he himself grew up in Arkansas, the novel has a certain autobiographical feel to it, and many events might have occured to the 7 year old John as well (I think many of them dealt with snakes). Grisham's narrator's voice is precocious but not offensive; easy to read and very desriptive.
This is not a coutroom drama, but the book is just as suspenseful, if not even more; the events and the characters are well drawn and memorable, and we only wish we could spend more time with them. This is a very sweet coming of age story, dealing with universal themes, which is also a real delight to get immersed in. Forget the chambers, appeals and clients; check in at the Painted House.

This was the first John Grisham book I’ve read in years. It was different than what we normally see from him; it wasn’t a legal thriller. I really enjoyed it. It wasn’t fast-paced; it’s not the type of story that’s meant to move along quickly. It was a realistic story about the everyday life of seven-year-old, Luke. He lives with his parents and grandparents on a cotton farm in a small town in rural Arkansas. They wake before the crack of dawn – tend to the animals, eat breakfast – then it’s off to the cotton fields to work in the baking sun for a twelve-hour day. This is the type of story that really makes you appreciate the luxuries of modern-day technology.