Ben Oliver

Now
book

True Grit

I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.
24 June 2022

A woman recounts the time she sought revenge on the man who killed her father.

True Grit strikes such a funny, earnest tone through its monologuing protagonist Mattie Ross that I just couldn’t put the book down. The way she speaks and thinks is absolutely captivating.

You might argue that nothing much even happens in the first half of the novel, but Charles Portis makes Mattie Ross and her story real—it’s nothing short of sorcery given that the book is so short.

A must-read classic with universal appeal and one of the most memorable narrators in modern literature.