. I have pretty mixed, though positive feelings about this book, which should make for an interesting review. :)Amazon.com Summary
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 three weeks to go, and the season looked hopeless. The cotton, however, was waist-high to my father, 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.
My Review
For me, characters can make or break a book, and in this one, they made it. Luke is a terrific narrator, and through his eyes, you come to meet many unique characters. This book has a lot of characters in it, and I was pretty impressed at how really human many of them were. There are several antagonists over the course of the book (one of them was not a person), but none were really hateable to me. You only experience life as Luke knows it, and so you find yourself experiencing some of the characters as you would if you were a child. I'm having a hard time explaining exactly what I liked so much about the characters, but they are truly the best part of the book in my opinion.
The plot was good, though I would say that it is the weak link in this book. There was a point about half way through were I found myself just getting a little bored. There is not really an overarking plot, but more of an ebb and flow, which is very realistic, but not always as gripping for the reader. In the end, I was pleased with the story, and was happy I stuck with it, but be warned, there are some moments where you may be tempted to leave it for something a little faster. The plot is enjoyable, and there are some exciting parts, but many of the early conflicts get resolved rather quickly, and the new ones do not come up right away.
The writing was very enjoyable. I really liked how if really felt like it was being narrated by 7 year old Luke, and that part never felt fake. I think it worked because it was written in an almost nostalgic style, and so it feels more like an adult remembering and describing what life was like the summer he was seven. This keeps it from feeling too young. Also because of this, you can appreciate the characters in a way the Luke might not, because you can see the motivations behind their actions that a seven year old could not. The writing is easy to read, and felt real (for 1950's Arkansas) without feeling like historical fiction, where dialects and trends are often over emphasized.
At the risk of being a little spoilery, I am going to say that the end made me inexplicably sad. I was happy for Luke (and particularly his mother), but at the same time, it made me sad, since I know that everything Luke is saying about it is true. I don't deal well with change in my own life, even positive change, and things like this make me being to feel nostalgic. I felt particularly that way because of that one little corner of the house on the farm. They got so, so close.
Who Should Read This Book
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a thought provoking, unique glance at cotton farming in Arkaksas in the 1950's, or to those with a thing for baseball. This book is easy to read, but it really makes you think about the secrets you keep, and what it really means to be a child in an adult's world.
Do you have any question for me? Let me know and I will include them in a Q&A post soon!
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