For once, there is not a lawyer or courtroom in sight in this
engaging novel by John Grisham. The story opens in September 1952,
in rural Arkansas. The cotton is ready for picking and
seven-year-old Luke Chandler, the narrator, is preparing to help
his family with the chore of harvest. From this simple setting
there develops a strong narrative in which we see Luke growing up
rapidly while recording many crises. His family and their hired
band of Mexicans and hill people must struggle not only against the
elements but also against the past. The writing is wonderfully
evocative, silky smooth and with just the odd colloquialism to
remind us that this tale is told by a small boy. There is a deep
sense of warmth, of family life, of kinship and mutual respect for
those of the clan. Outsiders, meanwhile, must prove their worth.
Not all is bucolic and wholesome, however. Through Grisham's
polished prose we see God-fearing, hard-working people living on
the verge of poverty with all the attendant worries this involves.
It is a thoroughly American story, set in the early 1950s but
redolent of lingering Depression. The pace is deceptively easy,
disguising a poignancy that gives the tale a tougher edge as young
Luke discovers the farm's many secrets. The one flaw is Grisham's
portrayal of Luke, some of whose observations and choices of words
would be more appropriate to a 30-year-old than to a child.
However, this is an absorbing story that will win Grisham many new
fans. (Kirkus UK)
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 two weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist high to my father, almost 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." Thus begins the new novel from John Grisham, a story inspired by his own childhood in rural Arkansas. The narrator is a farm boy named Luke Chandler, age seven, who lives in the cotton fields with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm eighty acres that they rent, not own, and when the cotton is ready they hire a truckload of Mexicans and a family from the Ozarks to help harvest it. For six weeks they pick cotton, battling the heat, the rain, the fatigue, and sometimes, each other. As the weeks pass Luke sees and hears things no seven year old could possibly be prepared for, and finds himself keeping secrets that not only threaten the crop but will change the lives of the Chandlers forever.
A Painted House is a moving story of one boy's journey from innocence to experience.
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