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A Painted House |
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A Painted House |
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基本信息·出版社：Dell Publishing Company
·页码：480 页
·出版日期：2002年01月
·ISBN：044023722X
·条形码：9780440237228
·版本：2002-01-31
·装帧：简装
·开本：32开 Pages Per Sheet
·外文书名：已上漆的房子
内容简介 在线阅读本书
Book DescriptionUntil that September of 1952, Luke Chandler had never kept a secret or told a single lie. But in the long, hot summer of his seventh year, two groups of migrant workers — and two very dangerous men — came through the Arkansas Delta to work the Chandler cotton farm. And suddenly mysteries are flooding Luke's world.
A brutal murder leaves the town seething in gossip and suspicion. A beautiful young woman ignites forbidden passions. A fatherless baby is born ... and someone has begun furtively painting the bare clapboards of the Chandler farmhouse, slowly, painstakingly, bathing the run-down structure in gleaming white. And as young Luke watches the world around him, he unravels secrets that could shatter lives — and change his family and his town forever....
Book Dimension length: (cm)17.2 width:(cm)10.6
作者简介 John Grisham is the author of
The Brethren, The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, and
A Time to Kill. 媒体推荐 书评
Amazon.com Ever since he published
The Firm in 1991, John Grisham has remained the undisputed champ of the legal thriller. With
A Painted House, however, he strikes out in a new direction. As the author is quick to note, this novel includes "not a single lawyer, dead or alive," and readers will search in vain for the kind of lowlife machinations that have been his stock-in-trade. Instead, Grisham has delivered a quieter, more contemplative story, set in rural Arkansas in 1952. It''s harvest time on the Chandler farm, and the family has hired a crew of migrant Mexicans and "hill people" to pick 80 acres of cotton. A certain camaraderie pervades this bucolic dream team. But it''s backbreaking work, particularly for the 7-year-old narrator, Luke: "I would pick cotton, tearing the fluffy bolls from the stalks at a steady pace, stuffing them into the heavy sack, afraid to look down the row and be reminded of how endless it was, afraid to slow down because someone would notice."
What''s more, tensions begin to simmer between the Mexicans and the hill people, one of whom has a penchant for bare-knuckles brawling. This leads to a brutal murder, which young Luke has the bad luck to witness. At this point--with secrets, lies, and at least one knife fight in the offing--the plot begins to take on that familiar, Grisham-style momentum. Still, such matters ultimately take a back seat in A Painted House to the author''s evocation of time and place. This is, after all, the scene of his boyhood, and Grisham waxes nostalgic without ever succumbing to deep-fried sentimentality. Meanwhile, his account of Luke''s Baptist upbringing occasions some sly (and telling) humor:
I''d been taught in Sunday school from the day I could walk that lying would send you straight to hell. No detours. No second chances. Straight into the fiery pit, where Satan was waiting with the likes of Hitler and Judas Iscariot and General Grant. Thou shalt not bear false witness, which, of course, didn''t sound exactly like a strict prohibition against lying, but that was the way the Baptists interpreted it.
Whether Grisham will continue along these lines, or revert to the judicial shark tank for his next book, is anybody''s guess. But
A Painted House suggests that he''s perfectly capable of telling an involving story with nary a subpoena in sight.
--James Marcus --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Publishers Weekly Who needs lawyers? Not Grisham, in his captivating new novel, now between hardcovers after serialization in the Oxford American. Here there are hardscrabble farmers instead, and dirt-poor itinerant workers and a seven-year-old boy who grows up fast in a story as rich in conflict and incident as any previous Grisham and as nuanced as his very best. It''s September 1952 in rural Arkansas when young narrator Luke Chandler notes that "the hill people and the Mexicans arrived on the same day." These folk are in Black Oak for the annual harvest of the cotton grown on the 80 acres that the Chandlers rent. The three generations of the Chandler family treat their workers more kindly than most farmers do, including engaging in the local obsession--playing baseball--with them, but serious trouble arises among the harvesters nonetheless. Most of it centers around Hank Spruill, a giant hillbilly with an equally massive temper, who one night in town beats a man dead and who throughout the book rubs up against a knife-wielding Mexican who is dating Hank''s 17-year-old sister on the sly, leading to another murder. In fact, there''s a mess of trouble in Luke''s life, from worries about his uncle Ricky fighting in Korea to concerns about the nearby Latcher family and its illegitimate newborn baby, who may be Ricky''s son. And then there are the constant fears about the weather, as much a character in this novel as any human, from the tornado that storms past the farm to the downpours that eventually flood the fields, ruining the crop and washing Luke and his family into a new life.Grisham admirers know that this author''s writing has evolved with nearly every book, from the simple mechanics that made The Firm click to the manifestations of grace that made The Testament such a fine novel of spiritual reckoning. The mechanics are still visible here--as a nosy, spying boy, Luke serves as a nearly omnipresent eye to spur the novel along its course--but so, too, are characters that no reader will forget, prose as clean and strong as any Grisham has yet laid down and a drop-dead evocation of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic slice of Americana. Agent, David Gernert. (One-day laydown, Feb. 6)FORECAST: Will Grisham''s fans miss the lawyers? Not hardly. This is a Grisham novel all the way, despite its surface departures from the legal thrillers, and it will be received as such, justifying the 2.8-million first printing. (For more on Grisham, see Book News, p. 178)
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition. From Library Journal Cotton and baseball fill the life of seven-year-old Luke Chandler, but in the harvest season of 1952, his world is transformed by a series of secrets. The promise of 80 acres of a good crop necessitates the hiring of Mexican migrant workers and the Sproul family from the Ozarks to help pick the cotton. As narrator, Luke provides a child''s-eye view of innocence, wonder, and confusion that is also rich with hopes for his beloved St. Louis Cardinals and overwhelmed by row after row of cotton. Grisham here leaves his familiar genre to create a powerfully touching family story that David Lansbury''s narration captures perfectly. There''s not a lawyer in sight, but Grisham fans should be pleased with the well-defined characters and conflicts. Highly recommended. Joyce Kessel, Villa Maria Coll., Buffalo, NY
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition. From AudioFile In case you haven''t heard, there''s nary a lawyer or a court battle in Grisham''s latest--the story of 7-year-old Luke Chandler''s life on an Arkansas cotton farm during the Korean War. David Lansbury''s narration complements the story perfectly. His soft Southern voice ably captures Grisham''s loving evocation of time and place, as well as the growing tension that simmers between the itinerant Mexican farm workers and the locals. Lansbury projects the nostalgia of Grisham''s tale without succumbing to sentimentality. When the situation explodes into a brutal murder, his voice echoes the momentum of the story. His ability to elicit Luke''s emotions and concerns captures a summer seared into the youngster''s--and the listener''s--memories. D.J.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition. From Booklist For preternaturally prescient Lucas Chandler, the year 1952 is full of secrets--sweet, tragic, and mysterious. At 7, he still sleeps under the bed when he''s scared and disappears behind his mother''s skirts from time to time. But he''s old enough to understand that prejudice, class rivalry (townies paint their houses; farmers don''t), and violence are part of the fabric of his outwardly quiet farming community, and that he shouldn''t be watching an unmarried teen give birth or pretty 17-year-old Tally bathing in the creek (even if she says it''s okay). He also realizes that by confessing he''s witnessed two vicious killings, he''ll be threatening his family''s livelihood and putting his loved ones in danger. Abandoning the political and courtroom venues of his popular thrillers, Grisham calls up the cotton fields of his native Arkansas for this somewhat unfocused coming-of-age story, which lacks the punch and cleverness of his other fiction. The characters rarely get beyond stereotypes (especially the Mexican migrant workers), even with respect to the 1950s bucolic setting, and narrator Lucas sounds far more like a 12-year-old than a second-grader. The measured, descriptive prose is readable, to be sure, and there are some truly tender moments, but this is surface without substance, simply an adequate effort in a genre that has exploded with quality over the last several years.
Stephanie ZvirinCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition. Review “John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got.”—
The New York Times Book Review“The kind of book you read slowly because you don’t want it to end ... John Grisham takes command of this literary category just as forcefully as he did legal thrillers with
The Firm.... Never let it be said this man doesn’t know how to spin a good yarn.”—
Entertainment Weekly“Characters that no reader will forget. .. prose as clean and strong as any Grisham has yet laid down ... and a drop-dead evocation of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic slice of Americana.”—
Publishers Weekly“Some of the finest dialogue of his career ... Every detail rings clear and true, and nothing is wasted.”—
Seattle TimesRead all of John Grisham’s #1
New York Times bestsellers:
The Brethren
The Testament
The Street Lawyer
The Partner
The Runaway Jury
The Rainmaker
The Chamber
The Client
The Pelican Brief
The Firm
A Time to Kill
Available from Dell
Coming soon!
The Summons
The new novel by John Grisham
Available from Doubleday
Review ?John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we?ve got.?
?
The New York Times Book Review?The kind of book you read slowly because you don?t want it to end ... John Grisham takes command of this literary category just as forcefully as he did legal thrillers with
The Firm.... Never let it be said this man doesn?t know how to spin a good yarn.?
?
Entertainment Weekly?Characters that no reader will forget. .. prose as clean and strong as any Grisham has yet laid down ... and a drop-dead evocation of a time and place that mark this novel as a classic slice of Americana.?
?
Publishers Weekly?Some of the finest dialogue of his career ... Every detail rings clear and true, and nothing is wasted.?
?
The Seattle TimesRead all of John Grisham?s #1
New York Times bestsellers:
The Brethren
The Testament
The Street Lawyer
The Partner
The Runaway Jury
The Rainmaker
The Chamber
The Client
The Pelican Brief
The Firm
A Time to Kill
Available from Dell
Coming soon!
The Summons
The new novel by John Grisham
Available from Doubleday
