Looking to avenge her father's senseless death in 1870s Arkansas, 14-year-old Mattie Ross enlists a federal marshal with "true grit." One-eyed Rooster Cogburn isn't the only gritty one. Mattie proves her courage as she accompanies Rooster and a Texas ranger into dangerous territory in the future Oklahoma.
Of course the two lawmen try to ditch her, but determined Mattie won't be left behind. She earns the respect not only of Rooster -- a roughneck marshal with a reputation for being too quick to pull the trigger -- but also of the vain Texas ranger. The trio achieve Mattie's revenge, but not as she would have wished.
Portis makes believable the voice of the teenage Mattie and the elderly Mattie who narrates the story a half-century later. Mattie changes little in essentials -- she is an eye-for-an-eye Presbyterian and implacable, opinionated, straight-laced, and sure of herself. Of the many novels about the Old West, there are no others with a female narrator like Mattie Ross.
A deceptively simple and funny book,True Grit is an easy, fast-moving read that appeals to all ages.
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