A Painted House,
by John Grisham
A Painted House is a departure from
Grisham's other works, which deal mostly with mystery and involve lawyers and
legal issues. It is a novel of the land. It describes life on a cotton farm in
the 1950s and what it must have been like living on that farm. It is inspired by
the author's own childhood. The story follows one boy's journey from innocence
to experience. Luke Chandler is a 7-year-old boy who works with his family
picking cotton for a living. This year, 1952, seems like it will be a perfect
harvest bringing more money, so that Luke's family will be able to buy their
land. Unfortunately, Luke's uneventful existence is broken apart when he
is forced to witness a killing and a murder and learns things that he would
rather have not known, and he grows up because of it. This story is warm and
wonderful and a nice piece of literature. Grisham is truly a master storyteller.
-Hoda
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