Pete Says, "This is one of the best books I've ever read."

Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America's foremost comic writers. True Grit is his most famous novel--first published in 1968. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory.

True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself. From a writer of true cult status, this is an American classic through and through.

Pete says:
One thing Tom Cheney didn't count on when he shot a man dead was the man's 14 year old
daughter, Mattie Ross. Mattie will make 'reluctant' compromises on her mission to avenge her father, but there is one point in which compromise is not an option. Tom Cheney must pay with his life for the murder of Frank Ross. To Mattie, anything short of that punishment is unthinkable and unacceptable.

If you haven't seen the first True Grit movie (John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn), perhaps you've seen the recent re-make (Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn). They are both very good movies and you would be wise to see them. However, I believe the ultimate True Grit
experience is with reading the novel. You learn more about Mattie and Rooster than the movie has time to provide, and the dialogue among the characters is even funnier in print than it is on film. I'm not saying this is one of the best westerns I've ever read, I'm saying this is one of the best books I've ever read. Its genius is in its simplicity. Before encountering the bad guys, the story is essentially a vision quest among three unlikely, uncommon characters who can't share a kind word if it kills them. But what becomes clear, if unspoken, is one important commonality. All three have True Grit, and they know it, and it doesn't even need to be said.

Just for fun, the movie trailer: