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Jan 26, 2011

David rated it:

On the whole, the western genre doesn't inherently appeal to me. I'm not a modern emasculated male yearning wistfully for a time 'when men were men, and dames were etc.' I am relatively content being a gangly Gentile nebbish afraid of his own shadow and estranged from his natural heritage of hunting, foraging, and defecating unashamedly in a shallow hole behind a cactus. Nothing at the heart of my being cries out for a pistol, a lariat, or a fitful night on the prairie punctuated by the wails of More...

12 comments like (54 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Nancy rated it:

Wow, what a great story! Mattie Ross is just 14 years old when she hooks up with Rooster Cogburn, the “meanest” U.S. Marshal, to avenge her father, killed by an outlaw who took advantage of his good nature.

Mattie endures bad weather, illness, grueling hours on horseback, runs into outlaws, and fights off rattlesnakes. She’s tough-talking, honest, loyal, fearless, and I enjoyed every moment with her. I also loved the realistic historical details and well-drawn secondary character More...

19 comments like (31 people liked it)

Feb 04, 2012

Kemper rated it:

Treasure of the Rubbermaids: The Dude Vs. The Duke

Sometimes you get very clear signs that you should read or re-read a specific book. Earlier this year, my friend Nancy had read True Grit and recommended it to me. I’d seen the John Wayne movie version a couple of times, and I had a hazy memory that I’d read it at some point. The more I thought about it, I was pretty sure that I’d even owned a very old copy of the book once upon a time.

Months later, I heard that the Coe More...

15 comments like (32 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Henry rated it:

The story of Mattie Ross,a spunky 14 year old girl, from Yell County Arkansas.Who seeks justice ,when her father is murdered, by the outlaw Tom Chaney in Fort Smith.Set in the late 1870's ,the kid soon understands ,that nobody wants to risk their life for free,to capture the fugitive .Informed that Rooster Cogburn, is the toughest marshall ,working for the famous hanging Judge Isaac Parker.He shoots first and asks questions later!Cogburn will track down the criminal for a generous fee.Mattie More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2012

Matt rated it:

February 2012 re-listen: Mattie Ross’s dad is shot by Tom Cheney. Mattie hires Rooster Cogburn to track Tom Cheney. Plot and action and humor ensue. Hang on for the ride. The Epilogue is worth the price of admission: Mattie as a middle-aged woman visits a carnival sideshow in order to catch up w/ Rooster. Of the two men Mattie initially encounters, one doesn't stand to greet her, as befits a gentleman. To him, Mattie offers one of novel's best lines: “Keep your seat, trash.”

July 2011: More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2010

Steve rated it:

Simply put, this is one of the most enjoyable novels that I've ever read. It really should be a part of any American Lit. survey, because as a piece of Americana, it easily holds it's own against novels like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Red Badge of Courage, and The Scarlet Letter. This novel contains some of the best dialogue that I have ever read, so it shouldn't be a surprise that the original True Grit movie lifted, verbatim, large chunks of passages from the book. Portis' ear for More...

16 comments like (16 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2011

Evan rated it:

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION!
Wonderful, just wonderful. So, maybe this short western novel is not one of the high achievements of the literary canon. On the other hand it does what a good book should do: tells a great story in fully realized settings with authentic physical and historical detail, vivid and flavorful characters along with the bonus of very smart wit. And does so in clear, perfectly penned prose. The chemistry between little Mattie Ross and gruff Marshal Rooster Cogburn is palpabl More...

5 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 03, 2011

Adriana rated it:

My copy of True Grit (Kindle version) includes Donna Tartt's afterword, where she unpacks the possible meanings and intentions that underly the statement "I love this book." Some books we love because they enamored us as children but don't hold up to later rereadings. Or, to quote True Grit's protagonist Matti Ross, "I expect some of the starch has gone out of that 'cowlick.'" Some books are beloved life-long companions regardless of their wrinkles. I feel this way about More...

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Suzanne rated it:

I loved Portis' portrait of young proto-feminist Mattie Ross, the narrator of this tale set in Arkansas and the Indian Territory circa the 1870s. No delicate little prairie flower, this girl. Determined and focused, she sets out to avenge the murder of her father by hiring one-eyed deputy marshall Rooster Cogburn, whom she has been told has “grit.” Together, accompanied by a Texas ranger named LaBoef, they chase the father’s killer. Early in the adventure, the two men, seeking rewards of the More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

Portia Renee rated it:

True Grit is a compelling story with a strong, willful female character in the form of fourteen year old Mattie Ross, who is out to avenge the death of her father. The colorful and subtly comic characters of Rooster Cogburn,Texas Ranger LaBoeuf, and the rest of the ragamuffin cast create a vivid, swiftly moving, and engaging western well worth the afternoon it takes to read this slim novel.

My only complaint is the over-use of "quotations" used to emphasize slang terms, it b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2010

Tara rated it:

There are over a hundred reviews for this already so I will just keep it short and simple. This was a fun read, a western with a lady in the lead. Mattie Ross is saucy and funny and she hooks up with two lawmen in order to track down and take revenger on her dad's killer. There's pony riding, gun shooting, and even flying fingers! But will she get her man?

Favorite laugh out loud moment: When a ferry operator forces Mattie and her pony off the boat against her will and is leading More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2011

Tracey rated it:

One thing that I have to say was this book had some great laugh aloud moments. That is what kept this book moving, oh besides the great story, and hold your breath ending. Sure, it’s a western, but its much more… great wit abounds in this.

"A Methodist and a Son of a Bitch"

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 04, 2011

Jeff rated it:

I came late to the party as far as True Grit is concerned. I never saw the original film with John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. Had never read the novel either, obviously. A couple of weeks ago I saw the Coen brothers remake and was very impressed by the dialogue which was an oddly formal dialect being spoken by mostly rough-hewn characters. It was something approaching poetry and it made me want to read the book, finally. Well, much of the movie script was lifted verbatim from Charles Portis' book More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2011

Rachel rated it:

First off, ignore the fact that this was made into a crappy John Wayne movie.
This book is about a pissed off little girl who tracks down her father's killer so she can confront and murder him... I swear, I'm not making this up. She's truly scary... and empowering. It's not the fastest paced story, but c'mon folks this IS a Western.
I highly recommend this book after a particularly angry break-up or loss of a job. You'll get all tingly inside when you read about the stubborn, murderous More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Aaron rated it:

True Grit is a great movie with a very strange and unpredicted ending. The way Charles Portis portrayed this title is exactly how I imagined the “Western” theme would be. What I mean by this is that he created an image in the reader’s head that shows exactly how life would be like back then.

Portis created each individual character in a way that you could picture them inside your brain. He also made it seem as if you were actually there! They made it easy to imagine each character by More...

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Feb 16, 2012

Candi rated it:

This was a very well told adventure story. It not only took me to another time and place, but a separate and distinct culture as well. Whether I always agreed with her or not, I really got how Mattie saw the world and the way everyone lived and talked. I haven't read many Westerns so I don't know if they are all like this one, but I got a feeling of lawlessness that I associate with pirate novels. Rooster Cogburn was more pirate captain to me than lawman, a clear sense of justice, but not ne More...

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Feb 04, 2012

Richard rated it:

This book has many strengths. Its plot is a simple, yet effective tale of revenge in the old west. At first glance, the characters occupy regular western stereotypes, the maverick gunslinger, the mean bandit, the desperate female - but Portis takes these types and makes them real. The story is not set in a romantic wild west, but a more realistic post civil-war America.

The story is narrated by Mattie - at the time of the events she recalls, she's just 14, witnesses her father getting s More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Sara rated it:

Okay, Dad, you were right.

After fifteen years of snubbing, I finally rescued True Grit from her lonely vigil on a basement bookshelf during a visit home last Christmas. The book was an original hardcover edition that had been well-loved and read to the point that the spine was soft that Dad had discovered at a library book sale in Minneapolis. He strongly encouraged me to read it when I was just about the same age as the main character, Mattie. Being the slightly snobbish teenager I More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2012

Jessica rated it:

For the past few years, I've re-read Lord of the Rings at the start of every year. This year, I decided, it was time to do something different. But what to read? Lord of the Rings had a lot of history to it, plus it's always been one of my favorite books. Anything I chose had to meet that standard.

True Grit turned out to be a surprisingly good beginning-of-year choice. I liked it a lot - enough that I read the whole thing in one sitting, while toasting my toes in front of a crackling f More...

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Jan 04, 2012

Sistermagpie rated it:

The key to a great first person novel has got to be the voice of the narrator, and Mattie Ross is among the greats. The ultimate straight man, Mattie is alternately hilarious and humorless, naive and knowing, radical and conservative, ahead of her time and a product of her time. Through her eyes, so determined to tell everything like it was, her traveling companions Rooster Cogburn and La Bouef shine through larger than life.

The story is simple--satisfyingly so. It's hard to imagine More...

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Dec 21, 2011

Kate rated it:

Fourteen year-old Mattie Ross wants justice for her father's murder at the hands of the cowardly criminal Tom Chaney. Mattie travels, by herself to Fort Smith, where Chaney shot her father in a drunken stupor, to settle his balances and send her father body back home for burial. But Mattie has no intentions of returning with her fathers body as she hires the meanest U.S. Marshal in town, Rooster Cogburn, to follow Chaney into Indian Territory and bring him back to stand trial. Mattie and Roost More...

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Dec 18, 2011

Jim rated it:

Even after seeing the 60's movie with John Wayne many years ago (didn't think much of it) and then watching the 2010 Coen Brothers Movie adaptation and deciding that it was absolutely one of my favorite all time movies, I finally got around to reading True Grit as part of my Charles Portis exploration. I have no reservations in saying that this book is one of my all time favorites. Look at how many books I give a 5 star rating and you'll understand. And yes, as much as I loved the new movie, More...

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Nov 30, 2011

Robotbee rated it:

Yet another book I would never have picked up on my own (I am not drawn to Westerns or frontier/pioneer stories, which is probably why I don't like traditional science fiction), but was given to me and I was compelled to read it by my crazy brain.

Again, I am very glad I did. What is special about this book is not the story, which is fairly conventional (except for the hero, who is defined by her very unconventionality), but rather the voice. Read it and you will know just what I mean. More...

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Nov 15, 2011

Mel rated it:

I will say up front, I am not a big western fan. I listened to the Audible version because I saw the ending of the original movie on TV recently. I also knew there was a remake out there. Had it not been for those facts, I would probably never have picked up this book, even on recommendation.

I was mildly surprised that it held my interest as it did. I owe this entirely to the main female character, Mattie Ross. She is a young, spunky, 14-year-old girl who hires a man to avenge her fat More...

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Nov 08, 2011

Immen added it

It's just like the movie, so I loved it.

Now about those little differences. The movie plays up the humor of other people (that poor Colonel Stonehill who was told Fort Smith would be the Pittsburgh of the Southwest!) being perplexed by Mattie, where the book is quite faux-serious, because Mattie is a serious girl and a seriouser woman who does not dwell on the unaccountable reactions of less serious personages. In line with this, book Mattie is very religious. She makes some very as More...

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Sep 30, 2011

Liam rated it:

- Why I decided to read this book?
In one of my many trips to the local Jb-Hi Fi I happened to spy apon the dvd release of a film by the name of True Grit. I had read on the internets that it was resonably good yet I really had no inclination to spend my money on it. Lo and behold the next day at school while in the library I spied apon the novel version which the movie was based on and soon after I began reading.

- Bingo Board?
While this book has been made into a movie I have More...

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Aug 31, 2011

Jc rated it:

I first read this in early 1970 – I put my signature and date in the front. At that time I was the same age as Mattie. I did not see the Wayne film until it came to television the next year. In 2011 I watched both the Coen Bros. 2010 version and John Wayne’s 1969 original, then I re-read the 1968 book (my yellowed, well-aged 1968 paperback edition). It was fun seeing how both films played with the book – both tried hard to follow the story closely. It makes a great study in film to see how two d More...

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Aug 17, 2011

Mary added it

The voice of Mattie Ross - her descriptions, acerbic judgments and digressions - makes this book.
her observations upon meeting a woman during her quest:
"The storekeeper was a man named Bagby with an Indian wife. They had already had dinner but the woman warmed up some catfish for us that she had left over....
"The Indian woman spoke good English and I learned to my surprise that she too was a Presbyterian. She had been schooled by a missionary. What preachers we had i More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 21, 2011

Rie rated it:

I vaguely remember that I may have read this book many years ago--probably when the original film came out. I haven't seen the remake of the movie, but I remembered the story fondly, and reading the book was like greeting an old friend. But as a writer, I can now appreciate it much more as an example of the craft.

Discussing this with my parents over the weekend (my father had just finished it, and my mother is currently reading it)one of the topics that came up was the language. Some p More...

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Jul 19, 2011

Matthew rated it:

Perhaps this great novel never got it's literary due as the John Wayne film became such an overshadowing force so quickly after the book's publication. Although Charles Portis never returned to the iconic character "Rooster" Cogburn in print Wayne went on to star in one sequel and Warren Oates in yet another. When the Coen Bros. began filming a version that they claimed was more true to the book I thought what many of us did: "It was a book?"
I am so glad I picked this More...

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