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. ( )

First edition as new

A lot of nice and unexpected twist to the plot line. Held my attention to the end. I little disappointed that the Cowboy gets away with murder by escaping North with Tally. Ending left open with regards to what happens with Ricky. Lots of unanswered questions like does he come home from Korea, what's his reaction to the Latchner child. Sounds like this could be a subject for a second book in a series? ( )

What I liked most about this book is that it wasn't formula Grisham. I have enjoyed most of this "lawyer" books as a fun read...but this book has more depth than that and pleased me in another, entirely different, way. ( )

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