True Grit, Charles Portis
Originally reviewed 15th February, 2011

Ended up going to see the new film version of this by my housemate last night (yes, on Valentine’s Day — she’s single and I’m in a long distance relationship). We weren’t planning to see this, but everything else we were interested in was sold out, bah, and I knew my brother loved the story. It turned out to be quite enjoyable and now I’ve read the book, I can see that it was quite a close adaptation of it, which is nice — mostly, the book just has more descriptions, although there are a few more characters in the book, and events are changed slightly for dramatic effect in the movie.

It’s the story of a fourteen year old girl, Mattie Ross, heading out into Indian Territory to pursue the killer of her father, in the company of a US Marshall and a Texas Ranger, who do their best to leave her behind. She’s smart and brave and resourceful, and quite capable of looking after herself, to their surprise. The book is narrated by her, and her no-nonsense attitude and her judgemental tendencies are quite revealing of her character. I found it a quick read, despite a couple of points where she tended to ramble, and despite Westerns not really being my genre.

I’m not wild with enthusiasm over it, but it did raise a smile and even a giggle or two, and was an enjoyable enough way to spend a rainy evening (just like the film).

Rating: 3/5