A Painted House by John Grisham

Published: 2002
Pages: 465
Genre: Fiction

A Painted House is the story of a young boy, Luke Chandler, and his American family who own an Arkansas cotton farm. During the summer, they hire Mexicans and "hill people" to aid them with their yearly harvest. This entails a vicious murder, forbidden passions, an illigitimate child birth, and many more secrets this seven year-old boy must store away in his juvenile, confused mind.

That summary sounds interesting, right? Well, that's what I initially thought. A Painted House is simply dull. That's the best way to describe it. In no way am I criticizing the author, because Grisham does indeed write well. The character of Luke is well developped and we truly feel as though the story is being told from the point of view of a seven year old boy.

It's the plotline that turned me away from this book. Despite the seemingly exciting events that do occur, I found them to be repetitive and not at all what I was expecting. All throughout the book I was waiting and waiting for something momentous to happen, but I was never satisfied. In all honesty, it actually took me a month and a half to finally complete reading A Painted House because I just wasn't motivated to pursue the depressing storyline. But, alas, I can never leave an opened book unfinished, so I pushed myself!

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a terrible book, but in no way did I find it satisfying. You can make the choice yourself, but please don't expect a page-turner.

Final Verdict: Not worth the read