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Book Review of A Painted House

A Painted House
reviewed on + 94 more book reviews


Grisham sure knows how to wreck an ending. I really was enjoying this book. It is a story about a family who runs a cotton farm in Arkansas. It takes place in the 50s. The story is told through the eyes of a 7 year old boy. They hire Mexicans and hill people to help them harvest their cotton crop in the fall. So, Lukes father and grandfather go into town and choose several Mexicans and a family of hill people to help them. The hill people set up camp in their front yard. The Mexicans live in their barn. As the harvest kicks into full swing and these diverse people start working together in the fields, Luke is exposed to a pretty harsh life and witnesses things that may haunt him forever. Murder, illegitimate birth, poverty is reality here. There are just too many loose ends that never get resolved at the end of this book. Its as if Grisham ran out of time and had to end the story as is. Or maybe it got too long and he had to end it as is. I was really let down