True Grit
Charles Portis
Listening Library
Fiction, Western
Themes: Classics, Frontier Stories, Girl Power, Thieves
****
Description
In 1878, Arkansas-born Mattie Ross got word that her beloved father had been shot and killed by Tom Chaney, a drifter he'd taken pity on.
Even though the crime was witnessed by numerous people, not one lifted so much as a finger to help, let alone pursue the fleeing Tom as he
disappeared into the wilds of Indian country. Even at fourteen, Mattie was a practical and hard-headed sort, and surely if a job was to be
done, the only way was to do it herself. She hires drunken washup marshal Rooster Cogburn to track down Tom and bring him to justice, and
insists on riding along herself to see that it's done and done right. But the world is bigger and wilder than even she can imagine, and the
kind of man who would gun down a friend and benefactor in broad daylight isn't the kind to come easily to justice...
This audiobook version includes an essay by the narrator Donna Tartt.
Review
This classic Western, published in 1968, has been adapted at least twice (though I've yet to get around to either version). Portis creates a singularly headstrong character in Mattie Ross, a tough farmgirl with a very clear sense of both her worth and of right and wrong, who isn't about to let the apathy and incompetence of others get between her and her goals, no matter the cost or consequences. She also has clear Opinions, capitalized and underlined, on people, politics, and religion, and brooks no argument or correction. Her first obstacle is convincing Rooster and interloping Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, who has his own reasons for hunting down Chaney, that she's not a liability. Next is the actual tracking down and bringing in (or bringing down - either works for Mattie) of the criminal, who has fallen in with a notorious gang of bank robbers. Mattie is so driven in her quest for vengeance and righting a wrong (and being taken seriously in a world that dismisses her as a girl and a child) that she never stops to think about whether success will truly bring her what she wants or needs, and the more she's opposed the more she digs in. She is, in truth, no slouch, more than a match in personality (if not life experience) for the two men she travels with, and her narrative voice has a ring of authenticity to it, the voice of a lost era and mindset. It's a straightforward, unflinching tale with more than a touch of deadpan humor, a tale that doesn't wander into tangents or get too full of itself with metaphors or messages. As for the included essay, it ran a bit long for my tastes, but it conveys how a story can resonate through generations in a family. I can see why True Grit is still considered a classic, and in truth I enjoyed it more than several books that have that title.