A Painted House vs About a Boy: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Boys, Ficción, 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,…
vs
About a Boy
Nick Hornby's second bestselling novel is about sex, manliness and fatherhood. Will is thirty-six, comfortable and child-free. And he's discovered a brilliant new way of meeting women - through single-parent groups.…
1 film adaptation
The verdict
- Readers rate A Painted House highest: A Painted House 4.1 · About a Boy 3.8.
- About a Boy is the quickest read — about 6 hours vs 8 for A Painted House.
- About a Boy has the widest readership — 142843 ratings behind its score.
How to choose
Scores by source
| A Painted House | About a Boy | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 4.0 (1263) | 3.8 (142843) |
| Hardcover | 3.6 (92) | 3.7 (180) |
| Google Books | 4.0 (2) | 5.0 (1) |
| Apple Books | 4.5 (537) | 4.0 (124) |
Reception
| A Painted House | About a Boy | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 1263 | 142843 |
| Editions | 59 | 61 |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 1096 | 46491 |
| Reading it now | 30 | — |
| Written reviews | 60 | 4535 |
| Wikipedia attention | 2274 | 2513 |
| Pages | 462 | 328 |