A Painted House vs A Student of Weather: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Rural families, Farm life, Bildungsromans, Fiction
A Painted House
Using his own childhood for inspiration (and leaving the lawyers behind), bestselling author John Grisham sets A Painted House in 1950s rural Arkansas. During harvest time, together with hired Mexicans and hill people,…
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A Student of Weather
“Some nights she still goes over every detail, beginning with the weather and proceeding to the drop of blood on the old sheet - her quick wish for a man with straight white teeth and red lips - and then his arrival.”
A Student of Weather is the brilliant first novel by acclaimed storywriter, Elizabeth Hay. It tells the story of the rivalry between two contrasting sisters and of a stranger who changes both of their lives forever.…
The verdict
- Readers rate A Painted House highest: A Painted House 4.1 · A Student of Weather 3.7.
- A Student of Weather has the widest readership — 2591 ratings behind its score.
- A Student of Weather runs the darker storyline; A Painted House stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| A Painted House | A Student of Weather | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (1263) | 3.7 (2591) |
| Hardcover | 3.6 (92) | 3.0 (2) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (2) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (537) | — |
Reception
| A Painted House | A Student of Weather | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 1263 | 2591 |
| Editions | 59 | 10 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | — |
| Want to read | 1096 | 2305 |
| Reading it now | 30 | 20 |
| Written reviews | 60 | 208 |
| Wikipedia attention | 2274 | — |
| Pages | 462 | 368 |