A Painted House

by John Grisham

Book Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - 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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 038550120X
• ISBN13: 9780385501200
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Absolutely loved this book

So well written. Memorable characters and very well describes life that revolves around getting the crops in .. I hope you buy it you won't be sorry I love the book.

Felt like I was in the story

The way this was written is impeccable. So much happens without the typical “rising action, climax, falling action, resolution” format of most other books. I wish there was more because I wanted to keep following along with the characters!

Book was not in “good” shape

Book had a lot of water damage and was close to falling apart. Definitely not in “good” shape as it was described. Very disappointed.

Did Grisham REALLY write this???

So depressing, I folded it up after 45 pages. Unnecessary commas slowed the story line; maddening clichés. The very last Grisham book for me.

Item great vs. dealer bad

The item/book that I ordered came in perfect condition! However, I was not impressed with the service of the seller. I was not provided any tracking information and was told that none was available. I also read that the item would be shipped from NJ, but when it was actually shipped it came from the UK. I would have been fine with this if it was presented this way and not in a misleading way as it was on the site. I just ask that this seller make sure that the information provided on the site is the most accurate, and that he/she might consider adding more accurate shipping information as well.

A Hard Life Through Young Eyes

As an ex-country boy, now living in the city, A Painted House really struck a chord with me. Farm life is tough. The people who live on farms have to be tougher or they won't survive. I felt John Grisham captured this observation beautifully.We look at cotton farming in Arkansas in the 1950s during harvest. We experience the many different apprehensions involved with this season. That of hiring hill folk and the Mexicans, what the weather will do, whether the price will be high or low, will the Cardinals have a winning season.The big strength of this book is the way the characters are brought to life so wonderfully. We experience their joys over simple pleasures such as sitting on the verandah listening to baseball, the loneliness of farm-life, despair of ever finishing harvest, wariness of the strangers employed, intermingled with the acceptance of the life they lead.Sure it's not what you'd normally expect from a Grisham book and yes, we're not glued to our seats with heart-hammering courtroom drama, but so what? We experience the drama of racing to bring the crop in, the troubles that come from mixing people of different backgrounds together, and life on the land as it was in the 1950s.I can't recommend this book highly enough for anyone who enjoys looking back on simpler times.

Good

A change of pace, but not quite as much as the reviews would have you believe. The tone is not that dissimilar from other Grisham novels, and it is still a thriller (probably the best thriller I've read since Craig Furrnas' THE SHAPE) involving a murder, which is very Grisham. And it takes place in the South. So I recommend it highly.