Currently Reading: True Grit

There is something winsome about Mattie Ross. I'm still pondering what it is that makes me like her, because on the surface, she seems like the annoying brat that others make her out to be. But as you read her narrative, you are drawn to her can-do attitude and courage. The author, Charles Portis, is another one of those rare authors who seems to get into the voice of his character surprisingly well. An Arkansas native, his story is set in Fort Smith, Arkansas and pre-statehood Oklahoma (Indian Territory), in those days between the Civil War and modernization. This is not an idealized Old West. The Law is as corrupt as everyone else, and it is Mattie's innocent (or hard-nosed) expectations that things work in a certain way that drives the story. This is a story about Justice, but both Mattie and the reader learns that justice will come with a price.

Portis excels at mastering Mattie's writing voice - it is rigid and correct, much as I expect she was in her spinsterhood. And the story is quickly paced, no flowery language or over-dramatization. Again, this would hardly be in keeping with Mattie's character; she is no-nonsense and decisive. Maybe that is what I like so much about Mattie and this book - in an age where we cover so much in flattery and ways out of saying what we really mean, Mattie could care less about you think of her for what she has said. She knows what is true and right, and she will see it done, come what may. In the end, she is clearly the one who has true grit.