A Painted House (2001, Paperback)

Synopsis
It's harvest time at the Chandler family farm in Arkansas, and there are two groups of workers on hand to help pick the burgeoning cotton crop. There are the Spruills, a large family from the Ozark mountains; and there is also a group of migrant workers from Mexico. When beautiful young Tally Spruill becomes romantically involved with Cowboy, a dashing Mexican, tensions begin to build. The flames are fanned by Hank Spruill, an adolescent boy who is perfectly capable of beating a man to death with his bare hands. The story is told from the point of view of 7-year-old Luke Chandler, and is based on Grisham's own recollections of his boyhood. More than just the story of mounting tension between the Spruills and the Mexican migrants, it is also a meditation on childhood in a bygone rural America.

Key Details
Language:	English
Format:	Paperback
ISBN-10:	044023722X
ISBN-13:	9780440237228

Size
Length:	465 pages
Height:	6.9 in
Width:	4.3 in
Thickness:	1 in
Weight:	8 oz

Publisher's Note
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....

Industry Reviews
"Grisham tells his story at a languid pace but, like the good suspense writer that he is, keeps subtly building the tension. His portrayal of a young boy's harsh coming of age is sensitively done.... His transition out of the suspense genre is seamless and a pleasant surprise."
Chicago Tribune - Chris Petrakos (02/04/2001)

"[A]n absorbing, quietly impressive read."
Guardian (London) (02/04/2001)

"Far from tapping into anything real, the author seems intent on delivering an upright and safely predictable past in which his readers can take comfort."
New York Times - Janet Maslin (02/08/2001)

"Once again, Grisham has given us memorable characters and woven this fast-moving novel with the skill readers have come to expect. But by mining deeper into his own past and conscience, he's written a book that seems more personal, emotional and realistic in an artistic sense than previous work. This may be Grisham's best writing to date."
Houston Chronicle (02/08/2001)

"Unlike his 11 previous books, which Mr. Grisham says were designed to keep the reader flipping pages, this is a leisurely tale, offering an affectionate portrait of a lost era."
Wall Street Journal (02/09/2001)

"This is the kind of book you read slowly because you don't want it to end."
Entertainment Weekly - Bruce Fretts (02/09/2001)

"[W]hat A PAINTED HOUSE resembles most strongly is what Grisham apparently wanted it not to be, a thriller."
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review - Dennis Loy Johnson (02/11/2001)

"Luke Chandler is a sympathetic character. He inhabits a flimsy plot but gains our sympathy. If John Grisham is lighting out for new territory, this isn't a bad start."
Philadelphia Inquirer - Rebecca Pepper Sinkler (02/25/2001)

"Grisham has created a charmingly old-fashioned world..."
Times Literary Supplement - Justin Warshaw (03/23/2001)

"The new Grisham could not be more different from his row of thrillers. There's not a lawyer in the book. No glitz. No Gatsby-style cars. Instead there is a heroic story, told about people who mostly live well below the poverty line.... It is all so real that I have to keep reminding myself that I have never been in Arkansas..."
Washington Post Book World - Noel Perrin (03/25/2001)