How does it compare to audio works by the same author?
Not applicable
Advantages:
Very readable
Disadvantages:
Rather abrupt ending
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I have read all of John Grishams novels and was eager to read the latest. It is a far cry from his lawyer based thrillers, but is nevertheless a pageturner.
The story is based around the life of a 7 year old boy in Arkansas in 1952. It is the story of a cotton farming family trying to get out of the cylcle of poverty.
The tale from the boys point of view paints a vivid picture of the hardship of the southern cotton farmers who didn't own their land but struggled hard to earn a meagre living.
The boy lives in hope of playing baseball for the Cardinals and getting away from the life on a cotton farm, but still he endures the heat and labour of picking cotton for a meagre wage.
In between the days of searing heat and cotton picking he relates the gossip from the local town, the Saturday's out, the Sunday services, the lives and attitudes of the casual Hillpeople and Mexicans who temporarily work on their farm and the conflicts that subsequently arise.
There are 2 murders along the way plus flooding, tornados, an illigitamate home birth, anger, and compassion.
It is a tale of futility, of a Christian family full of good values trying to make an honest living from farming.
The book as I said earlier is a far cry from Grishams other novels, but it is a fascinating insight into life in the 'South' (USA). I'm not sure how much is based on his own childhood, but Grisham words paint a picture that you can envisage all too clearly. You get absorbed in the book and the depressing nature of the life of the boys family.
If you are looking for another murder/thriller/lawyer novel, this is not for you. If you are a Grisham fan and will read anything he writes then this is a very interesting and absorbing tale
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shenanigans than with the roots of that country life which taught him much of what he knows about being human. In the early autumn of 1952, seven-year-old Luke Chandler is ...
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