A Painted House

This is a book by John Grisham, of whom I am not normally a fan. But- when the blurb said that it was about his life growing up in rural Arkansas (I grew up in Little Rock), I couldn't resist. It was a great book in that it explained a lot about the situation in the area I live in now- Michigan. It talked about how the auto makers recruited very heavily from the rural farm areas of the South. I have met tons of southern transplants that cam up here to work for GM back in the 50's. It also explains a lot about why people that work for the auto makers are so unhappy now as a general rule-- they didn't go through the hard times that their farmer parents went through back in the 50's. COming to Michigan to work for GM was truly a better life for their parents. Unfortunatley, their children (the GM workers of today) don't have that same feeling of having a better life and instead feel stuck in a job that they don't like,but pays too well to leave.

I'm not sure I would've liked the book if it didn't have such personal ties for me, but it is a good book nonetheless, and unlike any of his other work.

Wendy