A Painted House is not only an entertaining story of the hardships of a typical rural Arkansas tenant-farmer family struggling to keep afloat. It's also a tale of a young boy, Luke Chandler, and his journey from innocence to experience. During the course of Luke's adventures, John Grisham also shares the struggles that Luke's family encounters as they battle to keep their farm and just break even for the year. Luke discovers secrets that will change him forever. He is an excellent character, very interesting, very entertaining. The story inspired by the author, John Grisham's own childhood, is an excellent story of how Luke grows up.
             It was September 1952 during the cotton-picking season in rural Arkansas. Luke Chandler, age seven, lives with his parents and grandparents in a little house that's never been painted. The Chandlers farm 80 acres of cotton, which they rent. The harvesting is about to begin so they hire a truckload of migrant Mexicans and "hill people" to help pick the cotton. During the weeks of the harvest Luke sees and hears things that will change him forever. For example, he witnesses a fight between two workers that ends in a brutal murder. A Mexican worker kills one of the hill people, takes his sister and runs away with her. Luke has to keep all these secrets. If he talks, it could destroy the harvest and change the Chandlers and their lives.
             Many fans of Grisham, including myself, have become accustomed to the typical legal thriller, making this book a refreshing change. Instead of the typical Grisham courtroom battle, the plot takes place on a cotton farm in rural Arkansas. The author discusses the difficulties of harvesting, farming, the mingling of cultures and how they all have to work together to get a job done during strenuous times.
             This book allows the author to be fresh. It is different from the typical Grisham legal thriller. The characters are plain and simple, down to earth an...