The Hard Word reads TRUE GRIT

True Grit is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read for years. Authors I love, like George Pelecanos, have sung its praises and my fellow employees have raved about it. I grew up on the John Wayne movie and would hear the famed line, “Fill your hands, you son of a bitch!” almost every Saturday night at whatever Missouri bar I was in. Even when my manager loaned me his copy, I let it sit on my table for over a year and a half.

My Hard Word book club co-host, Nolan, suggested we do it, so I finally picked it up. It is a work of true elegance and escapism with depth that has me wondering why it took so long to get around to reading it. The story is simple. Fourteen year old Mattie Ross hires US Marshall “Rooster” Cogburn to track down Tom Chainey who killed her father and fled to Indian Territory with a gang led by “Lucky” Ned Pepper. She insists on going along, to Rooster’s dismay, as well as a cocky Texas ranger out to capture Chainey for killing a senator.

What makes the book such a classic is its sheer craftsmanship. Portis evokes the post-Civil War Arkansas and Indian Territory through character and dialog rather than poetic descriptions of hills and horizons. There are few characters that are as much as a ‘character’ as Rooster, described in the story as a “one-eyed fat man”. He’s an ex-Missouri guerrilla and functioning drunk. His disposition that’s been hardened by violence and history. He is one of those “men with a bark on” with society and changing times closing in on him fast.

Matty, the narrator and true protagonist of the book, more than meets Rooster’s match. Their banter and negotiations are humorous and intertwining knots of verbal dexterity. Willful, judgmental, and stubborn, much like Rooster, she doesn’t immediately come off as likable. As we get to know her, it’s her resolve and courage that earn our respect. In a subtle way, the book becomes a love story of two different people realizing they are each others equals.

Even the villains who appear briefly come off well rounded. Tom Chainey, while a reckless killer, carries a sad pathetic quality about him. His twisted sense of logic and morality leave him with nothing to be nothing more than a worthless killer. While Ned Pepper is a brutal bandit leader, he holds a rough code, close to Cogburn. It’s also one he’s much more willing to negotiate or just plain drop, than with Rooster. Still, they’re is compromised nobility about him. When he and the marshal face off its a western version of Greek myth.

Portis handles action and dialog with an equal  balance of realism and high style. Mattie tosses out sayings like “I’d be crawdad or croaked” that fit period and place. I’m hoping the Coen Brothers will put the Rooster’s writ-rat soliloquy in their new film adaptation. The violence is swift, brutal, and messy. More shots miss than hit, even by the professionals. Portis actually uses this to tighten the suspense.

Elegant and brutal, epic yet intimate, brimming with genuine characters, thrills, and emotion; True Grit is one of those books that reminds me of why I love to read. If you finish these quick two hundred pages by Wednesday 25th, join us at 7PM for the Hard Word Book Club, Tennessee stud and Navy Colt optional.

–Scott Montgomery