I've been meaning to read True Grit ever since George Pelecanos recommended it a few years back, but I didn't get around to it until now. (With all the attention being given to the new Coen Brothers film, it seemed the ideal time.) The story will likely be familiar to those readers who are fans of movie Westerns: Mattie Ross, a young girl in late-19th century Arkansas, hires Rooster Cogburn, a Marshall and a drunk, to find the man who murdered her father. The story is a simple one, but the beauty of the book is in the details. True Grit is a masterpiece of style and voice. Told from the first-person POV of Mattie, Portis' novel captures the grit of life on the frontier as seen through the eyes of its remarkable narrator. It's one of the most entertaining and impressive novels I've read in quite a while. True Grit makes an excellent finale to my annual reading, closing out a year that began with Larry McMurtry's brilliant Lonesome Dove -- no finer pair of bookends could be found.
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December 30, 2010
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David J. Montgomery is a writer and critic specializing in books and publishing. He is an emeritus columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Beast, and has also written for USA Today, the Washington Post, and other fine publications. A former professor of History, he lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two daughters.
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Posted by: Account Deleted | March 11, 2011 at 03:27 AM
Not only True Grit, but Charles Portis's other works are worth checking out as well. He's a master of the balance between plot and character, and his novels Gringos and Master of Atlantis are downright hilarious. A writer who deserves to be read and known.
http://word-is-bone.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Corwin2627 | June 10, 2011 at 03:44 PM