Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, MyShelf.com
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The Painted House is about secrets.  At first they are subtle like the ones we have in our own lives.  We hardly notice that they dwell among us; they nestle in our busy lives unnoticed.

Soon, however, we notice the secrets in this book.  They come faster and faster, piling up like compounded interest. There are secrets of all sorts.  Some are kept because of blackmail, some because of guilt.  There are secrets that are only disguised prejudices, secrets that surround a legend like the aura of perfume.

Grisham’s protagonist, six-year-old Luke Chandler, becomes so inundated in secrets the pressure builds like it does in the cooker his gran and mother use to “put up” tomatoes and beans. “Lots of secrets,” he says, “and no way to unload them.”

Finally the book is about telling secrets as release.  That can be done in a myriad of ways, too.   If one is an author he might fictionalize secrets and put them in a really good book. The trick is to find the perfect voice, just the right time, and just the right audience.  Grisham does that.  This may be the book John Grisham always wanted to write.  If he’s not careful he may soon have the whole nation reading literary novels as freely as they do romances or mysteries.
 
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