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A Painted House

by John Grisham

A Painted House is a fine story, but if you're expecting a tale from John Grisham to equal The Firm or The Client you won't find it here. I would guess it was written more as a salute to his parents, since John was also born in Arkansas, where the story takes place. A Painted House is not Mr. Grisham's best work. Certainly there are murders – two, in fact – although the plot is such that neither murderer is apprehended by the police and subjected to trial.

Luke Chandler is the seven-year-old boy who tells the story – and this is where I have trouble in believing some of what supposedly occurs. In today's society, with all the emphasis on sex in advertising and entertainment through every avenue of media, it might happen that some seven-year-old male would get the urge to see a pretty female naked. Even so, such a kid would be considered a little precocious, although it's certainly possible. More likely and believable, a boy of nine or older would be in that position.

However, Luke Chandler is telling the story in 1952. That's three years before even Mr. Grisham was born, and I assure you, no boy at that time would even think about girls without some measure of disgust. Least of all would such a kid want to see them bareass. The remainder of John Grisham's story from Luke's standpoint is believable enough: Baseball, fights, avoidance of hard work, etc. is perfectly natural. But even the idea of future marriage and romance would not have come before the age of nine or ten, and then without sexual overtones.

John Grisham never lets his protagonist see actual intercourse, and although he's seen farm animals give birth, Luke still has no idea how they got pregnant in the first place. So why would he be interested in seeing a grown girl's private parts? Please, Mr. Grisham. TV was rare during those days, especially in Arkansas, and the radio was turned on primarily to baseball or news, but neither TV nor radio at that time allowed references to sex except as a joke, carefully masked. One was never apprised of rape, for instance, through either medium. With all the obvious research that goes into John Grisham's other work, you might expect him to at least research the background of seven-year-old males in 1952, and avoid contemporary situations.

As I said, A Painted House is a good read, although a vastly different venue for this author. Luke Chandler tells the story of his family, beginning in September of 1952, when the cotton in their rented fields is ripe for picking. The family consists of Luke's mother and father plus the grandfather (Eli Chandler or 'Pappy' to Luke) and grandmother. Ricky, Luke's older brother, is fighting in Korea. Eli owns the unpainted house and three acres. The remainder of the land on which most of the cotton grows is rented.

Eli hires a hillbilly family, the Spruills, and ten Mexicans to help the Chandlers pick the cotton harvest. The Spruills include Hank, a bull-necked, muscular young man with a penchant for bullying. Trot, their one-armed little cripple boy, and Tally – a seventeen-year-old pretty girl to whom Luke is immediately attracted, are also members of the Spruill clan. The Mexicans include 'Cowboy' a tall, thin young man with a pencil moustache who always wears a cowboy hat – and a switchblade.

Luke accumulates a number of secrets throughout the novel, each heavier than the last, and manages to unburden himself of some near the final chapters of the book. The family undergoes what any northerner – even in those days – would call real hardship. There is a flood, which prevents everyone from picking the total crop, and also means further debt for the owner. There are fights and retaliations. There is enmity between the Spruills and the Mexicans. There's a situation that arises unexpectedly between a dirt-poor family and Ricky, the absent son. And everything is all mixed in with religion, prayer, and
Christianity.

I suspect much of the story comes from John Grisham's own background and environment as well as his fertile, creative imagination. A Painted House eventually surrounds you with its familiar walls and the cotton fields outside. The characters are also beautifully drawn with the one exception mentioned above. So if you aren't particular about seven-year-old boys in 1952, you'll find this an interesting novel indeed.
Especially if you can forget who wrote it…!

Alan Paul Curtis

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