True Grit

Charles Portis “True Grit,” Center Point Publishing (Large Print), Co. 1968 Paperback, 255 pp.

In case anyone wonders why anyone would read and like a Western novel, the best answer to ensure understanding is to have them read this appropriately titled book.  This book is truly a classic and grit is the driving theme. 

True Grit was the basis for two movies of the same name starring John Wayne another with Jeff Bridges (I saw them both). It tells the story of fourteen year old Mattie Ross, who, when a coward by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas in the 1870s, and ‘robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money’. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side; Mattie, Rooster, and a Texas Ranger, named LaBoeuf, pursue Chaney and the gang he joined into Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).