Charles Portis - True Grit

Charles Portis - True Grit

We watched the movie tonight, found the book.

The book is told through the point of view of an old, one armed lady, Mattie Ross.

She recounts her odyssey to avenge her fathers death at the hands of the no account Tom Chaney. To help her do this she enlists the help of hard living, hard drinking, shoot first and ask questions later Rooster Cogburn.

The two seem polar opposites the Bible quoting puritanical Ross and the vulgar frontier Marshal, and these differences make up a lot of the humor in the book, but over the course of their adventure the reader learns they have one thing in common and that is "True Grit."

 I don't want give away all the differences between the book and the movie but there are enough to make the book a different and enjoyable experience. Lets just say the style of the book is more realistic without any perfect Hollywood endings.

 I love a good western and this one belongs on the top shelf along with "The Oxbow Incident," "Lonesome Dove," "The Treasure Of Sierra Madre" and "All the Pretty Horses." And for a great modern day western I recommend "Across the High Lonesome." Review from ???

Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America's foremost comic writers. True Grit is his most famous novel--first published in 1968, and the basis for the movie of the same name starring John Wayne. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory.

True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself. From a writer of true cult status, this is an American classic through and through. This new edition, with a smart new package and an afterword by acclaimed author Donna Tartt, will bring this masterpiece to an even broader audience

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