Cotton on to this (A Painted House - John Grisham)

Member Name: x_elff_x

Product:	A Painted House - John Grisham
Date:	18/05/01 (714 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Full of secrets , little secrets, and big ones

Disadvantages: It isn't like your usual Grisham stuff - but, frankly, I think that's an advantage

Can you keep a secret? You can? What if it wasn't just one secret but a whole series of them? And what if some of them were bigger than others? And what if you were only seven years old? Well, if you are sure, I'll let you in on a little one... this book is really, really good and it's all about secrets.

One secret not enough for you, huh? Well I'll tell you another one of mine, but only if you keep it to yourself. There are few things more rewarding than sitting down to a book of which I fairly low expectations, only to be pleasantly surprised by the depth and breadth of enjoyment which it contains. I am much more familiar with the opposite feeling, that moment when I realise, some pages into a book I have been looking forward to for months, that, it is, in fact, big granny pants.Fortunately, however, A Painted House falls firmly into the first category of story.

I wouldn't even have bought this book, as after reading The Chamber, I decided John Grisham and I were not going to have a long and beautiful friendship, but as www.justgoodbooks.co.uk were giving it away with your first order (still available, and if you sign up with them with mypoints you can net yourself an extra 500 points into the bargain) how could I refuse?

And what a thoroughly delightful read this was. Instead of Grisham's usual, in my opinion, overplotted procedurals, here he displays a lightness of touch I hadn't previously thought he possessed. The story centres on two months in the life of a farming family in 1952 Arkansas. We watch their trials and tribulations as they gather in the cotton harvest through the eyes of seven-year-old Luke Chandler - who gets to keep an awful lot of very big secrets and to share a few of them with us.

The story begins with the hiring of a 'hill people' family, The Spruills, and some Mexicans to help the Chandlers pick the cotton, and traces the ensuing weeks, as the family work to bring h
ome the cotton and Luke dreams about playing for the Cardinals baseball team and the return of his 19-year-old uncle from the Korean War.

This may not sound like an immense amount of plot, but the characterisation is beautiful. We learn about the vagaries of farming life as Luke learns about them in this late summer full of secrets. There is birth, there is murder and secrets about both to be kept, but most of all there is a bittersweet tale of one boy's experience of life.

The central character, Luke, is wonderfully realised and, through him, you come to feel like part of his family too. From his gruff Pappy (grandfather) and Gran, through his father and mother - desperate to leave the farming life behind and live in a painted house - and his wayward Uncle Ricky, you get to know them all.

Even though Grisham is telling the tale of life in the Fifties in its broadest sense, he never loses sight of the things which are important to Luke. There are so many lovely bits that I wanted to quote you from the book, but I have picked just one or two thoughts from Luke to try and give you a feel for it.

'After a month in the fields, I missed school. Classes would resume at the end of October, and I began thinking of how nice it would be to sit at a desk all day, surrounded by friends instead of cotton stalks, and with no Spruills to worry about. Now that baseball was over, I had to dream about something. It was a tribute to my desperation to be left with only school to long for.'

When I read that passage I recognised those feelings from my own childhood. That feeling of boredom that creeps up on you towards the end of the summer holidays, when you start to think that school might be fun to go back to. Of course, it never lasts, but that is the beauty of being seven, and, by extension, the beauty of this book. Resolution is not needed, for this is merely the tale of one summer. It could lead to a sequel, but on the oth
er hand it also stands perfectly alone.

As I read this book I was reminded of several similar novels that I have enjoyed in the past - To Kill A Mockingbird, virtually anything by Maya Angelou and, unlikely as it sounds, The Little House on the Prairie.If you like those, you will certainly like this. Even if you have tried and disliked Grisham in the past I would urge you to give this one a go - but keep it a secret won't you?

Bookends

If you are a cheapskate like me, you can get a free copy of A Painted House when you buy something else and sign up for www.justgoodbooks.co.uk (NB. This is only the free book for new members, existing members are offered a different one). If, however, you just plain want to get your paws on one, it is retainling on www.bol.com for £8.50.

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