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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A PAINTED HOUSE : J.Grisham
Premise - 4.stars
Plot - 4 stars
Story line - 4.5 stars
Feels - 4 stars
Characters - 5 stars
Writing style - 5 stars
Execution -4.5 stars
Plot twist - 4 stars
4.5 STARS overall ⭐⭐⭐⭐
By far... this must be the clearest novel I have ever read. It's a very easy read. storytelling is so clean. sequence of events are set chronologically. I like how Grisham was faithful to the narrative of a 7 yo boy Luke. The prose of the story never shifted from kid to adult. I love the sporadic yet consistent humour of a Kid. It just lagged towards the end but I enjoyed the Novel it's a very light and enjoyable story !
GoodReads & StoryGraph : TheWeatherWitch
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A quiet book - nothing really happens, it’s a study in the life of a cotton farmer in rural Arkansas. It’s well written, as one would expect.
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
slow-paced
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
1952 started like every year for the Chandler family on their cotton farm, filled with optimism and hope. The town of Black Oak, AR was like so many others, all white, very conservative Baptists that considered hill people barely human and Mexicans even lower. Blacks didn't even exist in these rural enclaves of overt racism.
This story was written from the perspective of 7 year-old Luke. The growing season started out well, but then things began to deteriorate. Temporary hill country workers were wanting more money this year than last, Mexican laborers were badly mistreated on the way up from Mexico, Uncle Ricky was still fighting in Korea, and worse, the much beloved Cardinals had slipped out of contention for the World Series. But as long as the rain held off, there was still hope to make enough to scratch by into next year. All of the miseries of being a tenet farmer, or even worse, a sharecropper, make you question why anyone would EVER want to do that.
It is labelled as fiction, but rings too true to believe that Grisham hadn't actually lived it. Coincidentally, the New Your Times Magazine had an interview with him on June 17 2022 as I was reading this, in which he confirms as much.
Seventy years later, unfortunately little has changed from this gut punch of reality.
This story was written from the perspective of 7 year-old Luke. The growing season started out well, but then things began to deteriorate. Temporary hill country workers were wanting more money this year than last, Mexican laborers were badly mistreated on the way up from Mexico, Uncle Ricky was still fighting in Korea, and worse, the much beloved Cardinals had slipped out of contention for the World Series. But as long as the rain held off, there was still hope to make enough to scratch by into next year. All of the miseries of being a tenet farmer, or even worse, a sharecropper, make you question why anyone would EVER want to do that.
It is labelled as fiction, but rings too true to believe that Grisham hadn't actually lived it. Coincidentally, the New Your Times Magazine had an interview with him on June 17 2022 as I was reading this, in which he confirms as much.
I grew up in the Jim Crow South. A very segregated, racist society was almost in my DNA. It’s a long struggle to overcome that and to look back at the way I was raised and not be resentful toward my parents and other people who helped raise me for their extreme racism. It was such a hard right-wing, racist society that I grew up in. The Baptist Church was that way too back then.
Seventy years later, unfortunately little has changed from this gut punch of reality.
emotional
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My very first John Grisham book. Because I don't have any of his other works to compare this to, I think he did a wonderful job of story-telling. Some of the characters were a bit too mysterious/vague and could've been developed further but it probably would've changed the story. I am an avid reader of historical fiction so I was not after the courtroom drama that Grisham is known for, which probably helps to strengthen my rating.