Review: True Grit

True Grit by Charles Portis

True Grit by Charles Portis (1968)
224 pages
Main Characters: Mattie Ross, Rooster Cogburn, LaBoeuf, Tom Chaney
Plot Synopsis: 14-year-old Mattie Ross hires U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to track down the man who murdered her father.
Setting: Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indiana Territory

I’ve known about Rooster Cogburn and True Grit since I was very young but never knew these two films were based on a book.  It wasn’t until the latest True Grit film came out that someone pointed out it wasn’t a remake of the John Wayne film, it was made to be based closely on the book.  Once I found out this was first a book, I knew I had to read it.

While I haven’t seen the new film and it’s been years since I’ve seen the John Wayne versions, reading this book felt so nice and familiar.  Many of the points from the movies came back to me immediately and it was almost like watching the movies all over again.

The story is narrated by Mattie and I hadn’t realized just how young she was when I saw the movies.  But she has a lot of spunk and stands firm in her convictions.  She doesn’t let anyone push her around, she’s smart and fearless.  Rooster Cogburn is also such an iconic character and his reactions and turns of phrase were entertaining and endearing.

Portis’ writing is great too and the way he describes things makes you feel like you are living it along with the characters.  The cold weather and rough life on the trail were something I could see vividly as I read.  Of course the book is a bit different from the two older films (I guess the film Rooster Cogburn is more like a spin-off) as I remember them but it’s been some time since I saw them last.  Now I am more interested to watch the latest version and see how faithful they were to the book.

I give this book three stars because it is quite good, has some incredible characters and was very entertaining.  The only thing I didn’t like was the length of some of the chapters (the cover I had was pretty ugly too but I won’t hold that against the book!). Some were quite short, others were incredibly long and it made it hard to find a stopping point when I wanted to pause in my reading.  Other than that, a great book and highly recommended for fans of the films or any western lover.

My Rating: ★★★★☆