A Painted House
by John Grisham

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Book Reviews of A Painted House

Book Review: bittersweet, evocative account of a tumultuous boyhood
Summary: 5 Stars

Black Oak, Arkansas, 1952, becomes of microcosm of impoverished rural America on the cusp of modernization. Isolated by geography and culture, the three generations of Chandler men, Eli, Jesse and young Luke, have been wed to subsistence cotton farming. Tenuously holding on to survival, the Chandlers depend on cotton; their lives are tethered to the land and are subjected to the vagaries of weather, the market and the availability of seasonal labor to harvest their precious crop. Against this backdrop of family and regional pride, the Chandlers encounter circumstances which compel them to examine their attitudes, behaviors and expectations. "A Painted House" movingly presents the shattering events of Luke's seventh year with uncommon skill and grace.

The youthful Luke absorbs experiences and confidences which at once confirm and challenge his previously-held perception of his world. Events compel secrets; secrets reveal knowledge, and knowledge begets obligations. How does Luke respond to newfound responsibilities? In what manner will he balance the need for quiet and the surging urge for shared knowledge? Is it possible to reconcile the divergent pressures for family coherence, economic survival and ethical behavior? What exactly is the right thing to do when confronted with wrong? All of a sudden, life becomes much more than fantasizing about his beloved St. Louis Cardinals, and heroic performance is transmuted from Stan Musial's exploits to real actions by family members and fellow workers.

The sheer wonder of the narrative, however, is eclipsed, in my judgment, by the majesty in which John Grisham treats the numerous serious themes aswirl in his work. Previously isolated rural America is in the process of modernization, and the attendant stresses and dislocations (from war to the vagaries of economic markets) receive serious attention. Racial antipathies, blended skillfully with class antagonisms and regional prejudices, not only advance the plot but compel Luke to consider moral behaviors in a markedly modern cast. Human sexual behavior, from childbirth to romance, entices and confuses Luke; his reluctant, but exciting, knowledge of the adult world of family life, romantic love and human sexuality is one of the best aspects of the novel. Grisham also deftly treats natural disaster, casual violence and familial power relations with uncommon sensitivity.

"A Painted House" is that kind of book that yearns to be shared. A celebration of voice, the novel rings with authenticity. Its vibrant chracters have real struggles; its conflicts yield no easy solutions; its optimism is genuine and deeply affecting. Blending Mark Twain's capacity to tell a good story while instructing the readers as to matters of the heart and John Steinbeck's abiding love for and trust in the decency of working men and women, John Grisham's novel will endure as a treasure.

Summary of A Painted House

What's more, tensions begin to simmer between the Mexicans and the hill people, one of whom has a penchant for bare-knuckles brawling. This leads to a brutal murder, which young Luke has the bad luck to witness. At this point--with secrets, lies, and at least one knife fight in the offing--the plot begins to take on that familiar, Grisham-style momentum. Still, such matters ultimately take a back seat in A Painted House to the author's evocation of time and place. This is, after all, the scene of his boyhood, and Grisham waxes nostalgic without ever succumbing to deep-fried sentimentality. Meanwhile, his account of Luke's Baptist upbringing occasions some sly (and telling) humor:

I'd been taught in Sunday school from the day I could walk that lying would send you straight to hell. No detours. No second chances. Straight into the fiery pit, where Satan was waiting with the likes of Hitler and Judas Iscariot and General Grant. Thou shalt not bear false witness, which, of course, didn't sound exactly like a strict prohibition against lying, but that was the way the Baptists interpreted it.

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