The dreams of being baseball stars of grandfather Pappy, father Jesse, and uncle Ricky were all crushed under the burden of national service and the concurrent burden of poverty in rural America.Īnd last but not the least, there’s the struggle of the labourers – the Mexicans and Hillbillies. Every male member of the Chandler family has been a part of one of these great tragedies, the latest being Ricky Chandler, Luke’s 19-year-old, who’s fighting in Korea. The story is also about the global tragedies of the 20th century – World Wars 1 & 2 and the Korean War. The cycle begins with a farming loan, goes through rigorous work, and in the end, the cruel storms and floods break everything, pushing the family farther in debt each year. The family is stuck in a perpetual nightmare of farming. She doesn’t want her son to take up farming, not only because it was an unprofitable profession but also because she wanted her son to achieve greater things in life. The story is also as much about Kathlene, Luke’s mother, who quietly spins a plan to escape life in rural Arkansas. This further adds to his determination to leave his ancestral home and town, and move towards a bright future. He witnesses things and events a seven-year-old boy should not. Besides the story of the farm and the farmers, it is also a story of a young boy, who’s beliefs and social constructs go for a toss in the six-eight weeks he lives surrounded by the Mexicans and the Hillbillies. However, there are several layers to it, which make it complex and relatable to a large number of readers. A farmer, his family, and a few labourers try to harvest a crop, while weather conditions turn hostile and destroy a big portion of the crop. The novel is set in the early 1950s, and the underlying story is quite simple. Eli Chandler, Luke’s grandfather, hires a bunch of Mexicans and a family of hill people, the Spruill’s, to help the Chandlers pick their cotton. A journey, in fact, from planting the seed to the harvesting of the cotton crop, and everything in between. At the heart of it, it is quite a simple story. The Painted House is a story of Luke Chandler, a seven-year-old boy, his family, and their grand old farm. The Painted House is not perfect, but it is good enough to keep you emotionally on the edge at all times.

It’s that good! After reading Calico Joe a few years ago, this was the second Grisham novel, and I totally understand why he is counted among the best of this era. John Grisham may have written The Painted House in 2000, but the book will make people cry or at least choke even a hundred years from today.

A painted house grisham