In case it's of interest, I struggled to find a book cover with Mattie Ross and felt that she deserved top billing, so here's a shot from a movie promotion.
True Grit might easily have been named True Grip, as it's fair to say I was glued throughout. It's one of those stories where twenty minutes can pass and you suddenly realise that you've been so totally absorbed in the book that whatever has been going on around you has been totally missed. I surprised myself at one point when I looked up to find that I was on a bus rather than eating biscuits by a camp fire (I kid you not).
Mattie Ross narrates this tale. She's a young teenager seeking revenge for the murder of her father. She manages to punch way above her weight by using her intelligence, education and stubborness to get things to happen.
While dealing with her father's body, she spends time in a courtroom, boards in a shared room at the back of her lodgings, witnesses a hanging and forces a serious business man into giving her what she is owed. She also encounters two men who are in the business of tracking down criminals and bringing them to trial. There's Rooster Cogburn, a rough-around-the-edges-and-in-the-middle civil war vet turned marshal and LaBoeuf, a meaty and mean Texas Ranger who only has eyes for the bounty prize he's chasing.
Mattie persuades Cogburn and LaBoeuf to take her along as they hunt down her father's killer, though neither of them is keen and both try to do everything they can to dissuade/lose her.
Mattie isn't for giving up and she's soon tracking with her adult employees, finding herself in the midst of no end of dangerous and exciting adventures.
I got so much pleasure from following the journey that the occasional flinch due to out-dated language was overcome and the slighlty stilted dialogue where contractions don't appear anywhere did little but nudge me from my stride. The narration style is perfect and Mattie's character is complex and outspoken.
Definitely one to read whether you've seen the movies or not.
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