True Grit - Charles Portis

True Grit

By Charles Portis

  • Release Date: 2010-11-05
  • Genre: Classics
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 308 Ratings

Description

#1 New York Times bestseller
“An epic and a legend” —Washington Post
“Quite simply, an American masterpiece.” —Boston Globe
“The dialogue in True Grit is exquisite.” —David Mamet
“Charles Portis had a wonderful talent—original, quirky, exciting.” —Larry McMurtry
 
Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America’s most enduring and incomparable literary voices, and his novels have left an indelible mark on the American canon. True Grit, his most famous novel, was first published in 1968, and has garnered critical acclaim as well as enthusiastic praise from countless passionate fans for more than fifty years.
 
This story of danger and adventure in the old west became the basis for two award-winning films, the first starring John Wayne, in his only Oscar-winning role, as Marshall Rooster Cogburn, and the widely praised remake by the Coen brothers, starring Jeff Bridges.
 
True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen when the coward Tom Chaney shoots her father in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 cash. Filled with an unwavering urge to avenge her father’s blood, Mattie finds and, after some tenacious finagling, enlists one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available US Marshal, as her partner in pursuit, and they head off into Indian Territory after the killer.
 
True Grit is essential reading. Not just a classic Western, but an undeniable classic of American literature as eccentric, cool, funny, and unflinching as Mattie Ross herself. For fans of either the John Wayne classic or the more recent Coen brothers’ movie, it’s a chance to relive the story of Mattie and Rooster and experience their story as it was originally told. For fans of taut, funny storytelling, it will be a joy to experience in its original form.
 
This edition includes an afterword by bestselling author Donna Tartt (The Secret History and The Goldfinch) and a reading group guide.

Reviews

  • Need a title.

    5
    By Scott's take on things
    A wonderful book.
  • One of the average American novels.

    1
    By swanson.rick
    True Grit is the story of a fourteen-year-old girl avenging her father’s death and it has been stated as “one of the great American novels”. A simple story, but unfortunately the characters are one-dimensional and the story is a dull, slow burn.
  • A classic in every sense of the word.

    5
    By Descendant/of/syn.gates/nik
    True Grit stands the test of time, though many of the scenarios and situations indeed are of another time. A western by genre, True Grit is a genre bending tale about what it means to have ’true grit.'
  • True Grit

    5
    By Bulldog80
    A well written book. Captures the time, place and characters vividly. A captivating yarn.
  • True Grit. True good reading.

    5
    By Razzlebarry
    This book grips you, draws you in, won’t let go of you til the last page. Then you wish there were a hundred more. Mattie is an odd, but lovable, duck with a deep sense of justice. We all love to see justice done. Mattie gathers a teammate, said to have grit, who, though wild and woolly, shares her love of justice. Together, their determination and true grit propel them into one tight squeeze after another on their quest. They stand in the company of Don Quixote, Huck Finn, and Captain Ahab.

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