True Grit

By: Charles Portis

Narrated by: Donna Tartt

Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Arkansas, sets out to avenge her Daddy who was shot to death by a no-good outlaw. Mattie convinces one-eyed "Rooster" Cogburn, the meanest U.S. marshal in the land, to ride along with her. In True Grit, we have a true American classic, as young Mattie, as vital as she is innocent, outdickers and outmaneuvers the hard-bitten men of the trail in a legend that will last through the ages.

©1968 Charles Portis (P)2006 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Charles Portis is perhaps the most original, indescribable sui generis talent overlooked by literary culture in America." ( Esquire)

“Tom Wolfe, who worked with Portis as a reporter at the New York Herald-Tribune in the early 1960s called him – the original laconic cutup. A generation of novelists since then have simply regarded him as a writers-writer and have made his name a sort of secret password. Soon, they’ll no longer have him to themselves.” ( Rolling Stone Magazine)

“Like Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man, Charles Portis’s True Grit captures the nanve elegance of the American voice.” (Jonathan Lethem)

Perfect novel

What a treat! Excellent writing with an equally excellent performance, and a compelling story that wraps one up in the life of its protagonist. I have zero idea why it's taken me so many years to get around to this nearly perfect novel.

Ridding alongside Mattie all the way

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. Mattie's journey alongside the lawmen is adventuresome and painful. This is well written story that keeps you wanting to know what happens next.

One of the BEST EVER written .... Still.

Loved it. Donna Tartt did a remarkable job reading this classic aloud. The writing, including the dialogue from Portis, is nothing less than brilliant. After listening again in my 40's, I loved it more than I did when I was younger, when even then it was one of my favorite short/quick books. Even the GREAT Duke, John Wayne, as Rooster Cogburn, (or Jeff Bridges) hold a candle to this, the source of the classic movie.

She's got Grit

Not too much I can say that hasn't been said already; highly acclaimed western that spawned two movies and forty years of fast paced, smart mouth, sorta short story about Mattie, a young teen seeking revenge for her father, two gold pieces, and Judy (the horse). Well, she got him. The narrator was believable; I thought she was Maddie. I would recommend and read again.

Great Book!

Loved this book. Saw the movie with John Wayne years ago. A very good listen.

loved it

wonderful story, the narrator does a great job and totally gets the spirit of the story.

As good as your imagination

I watched this movie in 1969 with my mother and a few friends, the theater was full so we all sat close to the front, nearest the screen. I didn’t know it was a book, I thought it another Hollywood production. I grew up loving John Wayne, and this bolstered that feeling of enthusiasm - to me John’s body English and expressions were so fluid, so natural. He sits a horse beautifully and believably. So the story was to me fantastic with Kim Darby nailing Matty as did the new actor Glen Campbell.

Later in the ‘70’s while in college I saw the book in the bookstore and impulsively bought it. I read it in a few days, staying up late reading it rather than doing my physics or math homework - I was depressed when I finished it. I’d never read a story with idioms, expressions and phrases. I found myself quoting lines from it such as, I’ve had enough and enough is as good as a feast - and others. Now I’m almost 70 and have reread it 4-5 times, I keep a copy on my night stand.

When I heard there was an audio version available I bought it. I’d never heard of Donna Tartt, I hoped her choice as a reader would satisfy my minds ear of Matty’s - she did, she nails it. Not only with her accent, her tempo, her voice inflections and pauses. And, sometimes she pauses, swallows, takes another breath and continues reading, just as though she was the part itself.

Now I have two ways to reread the story, read the book and listen to Donna’s version as I call it now.

I’m generally not much of a fiction reader, but Charles Portis won me over with this seemingly simple story disguised as a masterpiece.

Classic Cowboy Story

I felt the narrator did an excellent job with his book. I really like the way Donna Express yourself by reading this book. she did an excellent sa after she finished the book.

Wonderful Classic

A great revisit previously read in print. Donna Tartt undertakes the job of voicing Mattie and provides the perfect essay that places the novel in its historical niche.

A Classic

I loved True Grit! The narrator is excellent. The book moves right along and keeps the listener interested.