The voice, the voice, the voice. The best part of the book and the film is Mattie Ross's deadpan, blunt, blase, unintentionally hilarious retelling of her great adventure. I could listen to her tell a story all day long. All of the characters have distinct, authentic ways of speaking--Donna Tartt, in an afterword to the book, remarks that "No living Southern writer captures the spoken idioms of the South as artfully as Portis does." She also compares True Grit to Huck Finn, and I have to agree. Like the Twain classic, this is the adventure story of a plucky young American--and, as Jonathem Lethem blurbed, both "capture the naive elegance of the American voice."
I wouldn't be me if I didn't add that I seriously had a hankering for frontier grub while reading: some fried bread, bacon sandwiches, and (of course) grits.
5 comments:
Hmm... this is not the type of book I'd normally pick up, but I did love the movie. I also love a strong voice, so I might just have to give it a shot. Thanks, Rebecca. :)
Like Katy, I wouldn't normally pick up a book like this (I had my fair share of westerns, listening to my mom read Louis L'Amour books to my dad on road trips across the U.S.), but I do love a book with good voice. This is part of why I loved BLOOD RED ROAD by Moira Young so much. Her MC's dialogue was written in a Southern dialect. Awesome! :-)
I didn't even know this was a book to begin with, only that it was a John Wayne movie before its latest incarnation. I did enjoy the movie far more than I expected to because of the lead character...I'm sure the same would hold true of the book.
Oh, and I agree with Katy. I thought the southern/rural voice in Blood Red Road was awesome too...I love historical, but I'm too wimpy (right now, at least) to write it because of the language...only brave writers try it and only talented ones pull it off.
I ought to read BLOOD RED ROAD. While I've never been a fan of Westerns, I actually love the Old West and that frontier era.
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