Book Description
A searing attack on the Democrats from one of today's most engaging political voices, and an incisive strategy for victory over the Republican party
Air America Radio host, Laura Flanders, the best-selling author of "Bushwomen," believes there are no such things as "red" and "blue" states. Even in the most surprising places, she's finding progressive change. From Vermont to Salt Lake City to Las Vegas's famous Strip, she journeys through the heartland USA and discovers a simple truth: people don't vote for the GOP because Republicans represent their interests; they vote Republican because Democrats barely field a team.
Adamant, opinionated, funny, and always engaging, Flanders chronicles what she's learned from scores of voters and activists-about how change is happening in Main St. USA, even if it rarely catches the attention of the so-called mainstream media. Mormons defending women's rights, casino owners teaming up with waitresses to raise the minimum wage; blue collar construction workers and lesbian mothers working together to make their workplaces safer and more secure for all. Flanders finds young, supposedly "alienated" Americans, who are driving scores of new voters to the polls.
Fiery polemic, assured narrative, and acute political commentary, Blue Grit will be crucial reading for everyone interested in the future of the Democrats, and this country. Based on Flanders' bottom-up style of journalism, it tells a story of good news: progressives are coming after the conservative establishment with new talent, new ideas, newmedia and new cash, and they have their sights set on building a new progressive movement, whether the Democratic Party is ready or not.
Customer Reviews:
More like Blue Snit........2007-06-10
I just finished reading this book, and my take-away impression is that half the book is about brave individuals working alone or together in little three-or-four-letter-acronym political activist groups to advance "progressive" causes, and the other half is about what is wrong with the Democratic Party.
The book is half blue grit, and half blue snit. It seems there's a split in the Democratic Party these days, and in this book Laura Flanders explains in detail why and how this came about. This would be interesting reading, I would think, to anyone who's into politics, be they on the right or the left.
I don't consider myself a "progressive", but I enjoyed this book mainly due to the detailed accounts of the inner workings of politics, at least on the Democrat side. I also enjoyed Laura's fun, upbeat, not preachy and not mean writing style. I don't agree much with her politics, but I'm reviewing her book not her politics, and it's fun to read.
My one major criticism of the book in general has to do with the order in which material is presented. We start out with detailed accounts of people and activist groups I've never heard of in states where I don't live (Utah, Nevada and Montana) and the one-little-story-after-another just got quite tedious after a while. I almost stopped reading the book after the first two chapters. I suppose a "progressive" would just love this stuff but not being one I found it boring after a while. It would have worked better for me to start with the national stuff that I've been watching in the news for the past few years and then work into the local stories.
One thing this book did for me is confirm what a "progressive" is for me. According to Laura on page 9, "Those on the Left, to a greater or lesser degree, hold to a belief that this whole society is set up to serve those with power and wealth, and oppress all those without." And that's why I don't call myself a "progressive" because this sounds like good old-fashioned 19th century Marxism. Are we still in the South before the Civil War? Do we live in Russia in 1916? How cynical can you get? I would never be confused with someone wealthy or powerful, but a lot of the way our society is set up does serve me, and I don't feel particularly oppressed by anyone or anything. Perhaps I'm just not enlightened enough.
Another thing I would have appreciated is a real bibliography. There are "notes" in the back, and just enough for me to realize that someone who worked on this book understood the concept, and then did just little enough so that it looked like they didn't care.
Then there's the stuff I found downright funny.
On page 178, Ms. Flanders writes, "Much as I love my listeners on Air America Radio, for example, it worries me how little they like to hear from anyone with an opposing point of view." That kind of honesty is as unusual as it is refreshing.
On page 158, she writes about the Fairness Doctrine and says, "The elimination of the doctrine, by the Federal Communications Commission under Reagan, opened the door for Rush Limbaugh and around-the-clock, one-note, wingnut talk radio." The irony of that coming from an Air America personality is beyond words.
On page 186, Ms. Flanders is writing about why the rich out vote the poor. She writes, "In contrast to most advanced democracies, the right to vote in the United States isn't conveyed automatically with citizenship and coming of age. Voters have to prove themselves and always have, and the challenges related to registering, qualifying, and having one's vote be counted have always worked to help manipulate or suppress votes." Really? I can't even remember what, if anything, I had to do to get my voters' registration card. I haven't had to do anything since. My biggest problem with voting is forgetting to do it.
Anyway, this is a fun book to read regardless of the author's politics. And, unlike preachy pundit books, even someone on the other political side from the author can learn something.
This American Life: Flanders is a Political Ira Glass.......2007-05-24
I loved this book, I simply didn't want it to end. Another volume maybe, Laura?
Flanders is a top-notch storyteller, social observer and enthusiastic cheerleader for progressive social change. Her style is refreshing and human; she's tough on all the right assholes, gentle with the good guys and emphatic as she bursts many a bubble of disinformation, misinformation and outright deception. But more than anything, her stories of the courage and committment of small "d" democratic activists across the country make you want to jump into the fray and make a difference in the ways her heroes did.
It's easy living in a progressive city (Flanders reminds us that every metropolis with a population above 500k went for Kerry--take note DNC) to feel defeated by the inability to make real change that matters. For a year following the disastrous 2004 election, Flanders crossed the country, from New Orleans to Utah, from Montana to the Vegas Strip. And while the post-election pundits chastised the Democrats for not being mainstream and centrist enough, Flanders tells us the real decisive victories happened on the progressive left. In union halls. On Indian reservations. With young people. All of whom pounded the pavement to wrack up historic numbers in terms of voter registration and Democratic votes. And yet the Democratic Party infrastructure, ever the gang that couldn't shoot straight, under-appreciated, misunderstood and outright negated these victories time and time again. Flanders talks about the union rep who remarked that "Republicans reward their friends, Democrats reward their enemies."
Flanders' frontline reportage is biting and witty, acerbic and generous. Here she is on the lack of grassroots infrastructure to support change long term: "What the [Democrats] built was a Penthouse Party: all top-floor suites, no load bearing walls, no foundations, no functioning stairway to the street." Time and time again she nails it. What I loved is that like Ira Glass on an episode of This American Life, you find the dramatic, detailed account of regular folks fighting the good fight inspiring and memorable. More, more, more.
Tripe.......2007-05-11
The title of the book tells all: another oxymoron not worthy of a rebutal.
Why some people think the Democratic (or for that matter, the Republican Party) can be changed from within is beyond the scope common sense. Flanders will jump on the Democratic nominee's bandwagon regardless of the candidate. Like the Republicans, the Democrats represent corporatations; those who pour billions into their campaigns. These are not donations at all, but rather 'investments' and corporations expect a return for those investments by way of legislation favorable to their agendas.
If you really want to read something insightful about politics in America, try A Peoples History of the Unites States by Howard Zinn.
True Blue.......2007-04-16
Laura has made a career of spotlighting and supporting the people. She not only reminds her readers (and listeners) the power lies with us, but more importantly, politics is not just for the politicians. Blue Grit is a guidebook for anyone wanting to get involved in changing the Democratic party from a beltway Republican-Light party into one where the power flows from the bottom up and the party leaders recognize it. The stakes have never been higher, thanfully Laura is here to help show the way.
Ground Truth.......2007-04-15
In this riveting new book, Laura Flanders defies the category of Non-Fiction. With the unflinching stories delivered from the mouths of this new 'purple' movement, and heard through the gorgeous prose style and poetic verse rendered on these pages, we feel real blue grit and new hope for social change in the United States. This book will upend the inaccurate perception that real bravery has abandoned the democrats. These new
heroes are here, in the pages of this book, making critical alterations in the political and social landscape of the ongoing experiment that is still America. Laura Flanders delivers these voices to us at a perfect moment.
It is moving, shocking, upsetting and inspiring, and will pave the way to a brand new way to make our social dreams come true. I'm standing in line for her next book.
Book Description
Eight months after George W. Bush proclaimed major combat in Iraq over in 2003, author Mike Tucker found himself right in the thick of it--dirty, profane, violent, lethal, and daily major combat--with some of America’s most highly trained and accomplished soldiers.
Among Warriors in Iraq is a street-level view of the struggles of maintaining control in the anarchy that pervaded Iraq after Coalition forces declared victory. Tucker journeyed--and fought--with Special Forces groups in both Mosul and Fallujah, cities unconvinced the war was over, and willing to do anything to ensure that the struggle would continue.
Here is his frank and adrenaline-soaked account, seen through the resilient eyes of the soldiers willing to pay the ultimate price for victory.
A street-level view of the hell of combat in Mosul and Fallujah
Eight months after George W. Bush proclaimed major combat in Iraq over in 2003, author Mike Tucker found himself right in the thick of it - dirty, profane, violent, lethal, and daily major combat - with some of America's most highly trained and accomplished soldiers.
Among Warriors in Iraq is a street-level view of the struggles of maintaining control in the anarchy that pervaded Iraq after Coalition forces declared victory. Tucker journeyed with Special Forces groups in both Mosul and Fallujah, cities un-convinced the war was over and willing to do anything to ensure that the struggle would continue.
Here is his frank and uncensored account, seen through the resilient eyes of the soldiers willing to pay the ultimate price for victory.
Mike Tucker is a Marine infantry veteran with a Special Operations background, and an author. He broke Burmese Army lines in 2002 with Karen guerrillas, and has investigated war crimes in Burma and northern Iraq. In 2003, he journeyed throughout Iraqi Kurdistan, interviewing Kurds from all walks of life. Later, he joined U.S. Army snipers, scouts, light infantry, paratroopers, and Special Forces commandos for nineteen weeks on raids and patrols in northern and western Iraq. He remained in Iraq for fourteen months.
Customer Reviews:
Tough read........2007-09-24
For some reason, contrary to most embedded writers, this author makes himself the most important character to the story. According to him, he goes around the battlefield assigning nickknames to soldiers and telling his war stories to them. He talks way too much for someone who was lucky to get permission to observe. This book was just plane corny. Sorry I have to be so rough, but I'm angry for wasting my money. Don't waste yours unless you want to read a book full of corny quotes normally reserved for b-rated war flicks.
The guy at least tried..........2007-09-01
Mike Tucker was just this goofy correspondent dude who shows up right before we get on the helicopters to raid outside Mosul for a big pile of mortar rounds. He misspelled my platoon leader's name, but hey, he was the only guy we had taking notes on that mission. At least somebody noticed I was doing a good job on the mine detector even if it was my second day. Still, I didn't even know I was in this book until two years after it came out. Reading the 3/502 portions, I know most everyone in it, and everyone's at least recognizable if you look at it though the same glasses Mike looks at the world with.
A sleeper.......2007-08-29
For those wanting to find stories of warriors this one has very few in it. Tucker can't help including every mundane detail about the soldiers he encounters as they are in camp or standing around, but has very litle to say about combat. Some of the dialogues he includes verbatim (esp. those of three Ohio reservists) read like an Ayn Rand novel--monotonous! The book has no rhyme or reason, and his insistance on giving every soldier he meets a nickname is uncalled for, confusing, and should have been edited out.
Wacky writing at its best........2007-08-18
In dedication to Mike "The Duck" Tucker, more formally know as "Hero of the Dunderheads", I would like to offer this humble review. As the sunlight glinted off the gun barrell black of the M-4, Harvana Tiger looked at the sunlight and wondered what it is like for authors writing war stories as romance novels. Hero of the Dunderheads gets his friends to write great reviews comparing their friend to Hemingway. Hmmn says this reviewer as he scans the reviews on Amazon. Is this a great story or what?
As the author has proved, anybody can be a great author. I only read one hundred pages and wondered why I was reading what I was reading. I might finish this book, and I might not as I wonder about Hero of the Dunderheads. Good thing the author is in Malaysia. He should try writing in Malay, it might improve his ability.
OK, for those who have not read this fine book, look elsewhere such as Bing West's fine book about Fallujah. I don't think this book is written well enough to satisfy anyone.
"Radio Free Wisconsin" Sgt Lybert Climb to Glory.......2007-05-07
For those who have read, reviewed or may read this book I would like to draw your attention to "Radio Free Wisconsin" Sgt Lybert. Dispute the quality of the book as any of you have free will to do, after all that's part of what our Soldiers sacrfice, provide you, your right to free speech.
I just want it noted along with all these reviews that after a year in Iraq "Radio Free Wisconsin" aka SGT Lybert most importantly my son, was promoted. SSG Patrick Lee Lybert of 3-71 Cav 10th MTN DIV (Recon)deployed to Afghanistan and was KIA 21 June 2006 near Gowardesh, Afghanistan. In a battle facing the enemy as they attacked, not giving one inch I am told by the soldier's he was in front of. My son, an American Hero sacrficed his life for America in a mountain valley far from my arms somewhere in Afghanistan.
I have both my son's copy of this book and the one Mike Tucker signed and gifted through my son to me. Sheepishly gifted I might add because he knew Mom doesn't like course language (although Mom has been known to let a bit fly under extreme stress).
Many of those men written about in this book, with those nicknames some of you poke fun at came from across country at their own expense, without my prior knowledge or personal request to bear my son to his resting place. " No one will touch Patrick but us" one of those men told me. The detail already here graciously yielded the carrying of my son to his Brothers in Arms, the Warriors he served with in Iraq.
Belittle their nicknames if you will, but realize the greatness of what they sacrifice for your freedoms. Acknowledge and take note that behind the title Soldier these men have mothers,fathers, siblings, wifes, family and friends. That my son, once my little boy with bright sparkling blue eyes, his smile wide and warm, a heart so big he had time for anyone is forever gone from me. All I have left are memories, fishing poles, hunting equipment,his ice shack ,his truck, my broken heart and empty arms. I want you to know he was real, warm, I love and I miss him. I want you to know he leaves behind parents, fiancee, brothers, the one younger brother has special needs and our soldier intended to become caretaker guardian for when I no longer could. What happens now? I have not yet found the answer.
Think of our shattered family and the many other families of the fallen when you read about our soldiers. This is not a game. Their sacrifices, the risks they face are real.
Thank you Mike Tucker for giving me an insight (even if there are cuss words but he apologized for them :)). You wrote in my book "To SGT Lybert's Mom, Whose son is brave, tough and smart. Long life and blue skies." One of the last photos taken of my son SSG Patrick Lee Lybert is of him standing a top a mountain in Afghanistan with nothing but blue skies behind him. Blue skies as blue as his eyes.
Product Description
A collection of regional recipes, inspired photography, and lively, charming stories by renowned southern authors - people like Anne Rivers Siddons, Lewis Grizzard, Terry Kay, and Eugenia Price. Finalist in the 1995 James Beard Cookbook Awards. First Place Winner of the 1995 PMA Ben Franklin Cookbook Award. A 1995 National Winner of the Tabasco Community Cookbook Award.
Customer Reviews:
Amazing!.......2007-02-19
As a member of the Junior League and a collector of Junior League cookbooks, I have to say that this book is one of the best I have ever seen or used. While some of the receipes may be a little time intensive, they are worth it! The chicken pecan quiche and the spicy spinich pinwheels are to die for! You will not be disappointed with this book!
Disappointing.......2006-07-28
I expected some simpler Southern cooking because of the title. The recipes might have came from California instead from Atlanta. No thanks, this isn't Southern fixin's.
Coca Cola Recipe IS wrong!.......2005-06-28
The first recipe I tried from this book was the "controversial" Coca Cola Cake-& it was indeed a flop! In researching other versions of this recipe I found that for the icing, this recipe calls for 3/4 cup of cola whereas most others call for approx. 3 tablespoons! No wonder mine looked lake a "floating isle"! Now I'm not sure I trust the other recipes!
A culinary wealth of delicious home-style cooking.......2003-10-14
Compiled by members of The Junior League Of Atlanta, True Grits: Tall Tales And Recipes From The New South presents a culinary wealth of delicious home-style cooking ranging from traditional faire such as Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Biscuits, to original, mouth-watering offerings such as Pan-Seared Crab Cakes with Lemon Linguini; Kiwifruit Frozen Yogurt; Peanut Butter Chocolate Drops; and more. Helpful hints and enjoyable anecdotal tales in the margins add a friendly and enjoyable touch to this excellent and savory recipe guide.
Five's not enough -- make it 10 stars........2002-07-18
Jr. League cookbooks have come a long way since the first little spiral-bound paper products of some 40 or 50 years ago. I don't know if the Atlanta Jr. League was the first to come up with the cookbook moneymaker project, but I do know their cookbooks have been much respected over the years -- venerated, even.
In this one, though, they've outdone themselves. Even if the recipes were awful (and they're not), there's still enough entertainment in this book to make it worthy of the price. And that's not counting the gorgeous illustrations that place it firmly in coffeetable display status.
It's the stories by famous Georgia writers that kick this volume into the stratosphere of pleasure.
Ferrol Sams's double-take as he watches Katie Couric brave a glass of horse's milk on the Today Show, for example, is bound to split a stitch or two.
Then there's the late Lewis Grizzard on his prowess at the grill. "I come from a long line of outdoor grillers," he says, "My Uncle Jerome still holds the American record for consecutive days grilling out, 178."
Reconstructed Yankee Bill Diehl holds forth on how he came to love the South. He quotes his mentor, Ralph Gill of the Atlanta Constitution, "We must work to make a better North, South, West or New England, because in so doing we make a better America."
The inimitable Anne Rivers Siddons holds forth on the difficulties of finding a bowl of real Southern grits while on book tour in the great Fly-Over Land.
Stuart Woods, Eugenia Price, and Valerie Richards Jackson are just a few of the star-studded literary lights who shine in these pages. What a great idea to showcase Georgia's finest literary talents along with its best culinary talents!
I'll vouch for the recipes, too. I've been married to a full-fledged (and also reconstructed) Yankee for more years that you can count on all the digits of several people and when his side of the family came to visit recently, of course they expected Southern food from the only bona-fide Southerner in the family. So I served Crème Fraiche Biscuits with Chevre and Country Ham Butter, Spicy Grits Casserole and German Pancake with Peach Compote when they converged on me for a reunion brunch. They loved the food, asked for recipes and when I showed them the cookbook, they enthused over that, too!
Every recipe I've tried from TRUE GRITS has been delicious and has garnered raves from my family and friends. Therefore, I can unequivocally give it the highest recommendation from a cook's point of view as well as from one who values -- indeed, treasures -- a good read.
Average customer rating:
- Fast forward past the movie and grab the book!
- The book is better than the movie.
- Gutsy western classic
- A TRUE WESTERN WINNER ON ALL COUNTS
- Have this book surgically attached to your body!
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True Grit
Charles Portis
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1585673692 |
Book Description
Charles Portis has been acclaimed as one of America's foremost comic writers. True Grit is his most famous novel--first published in 1968--and the basis for the movie of the same name starring John Wayne (for which he won his only Academy Award). It tells the story of Mattie Ross, a fourteen-year-old girl from Dardanelle, Arkansas, who sets out in the winter of eighteen seventy-something to avenge the murder of her father.
Since not even Mattie (who is no self-doubter) would ride into Indian Territory alone, she "convinces" one-eyed "Rooster" Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshall, to tag along with her. As Mattie outdickers and outmaneuvers the hard-bitten types in her path, as her performance under fire makes them eat their words, her indestructible vitality and harsh innocence by turns amuse, horrify, and touch the reader. What happens-to Mattie, to the gang of outlaws unfortunate enough to tangle with her-rings with the dramatic rightness of legend and the marvelous overtones, the continual surprises, of personality.
True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself, who tells the story a half-century later in a voice that sounds strong and sure enough to outlast us all.
Customer Reviews:
Fast forward past the movie and grab the book!.......2006-11-02
"True Grit" is a perfect example of a tremendous book whose place in our collective literary consciousness has been besmirched by a rather clumsy but well-meaning Hollywood substitute. This book should be on every junior high and high school reading list. It is true feminism on the American frontier -- a woman who won't accept "her place" in a man's world because it doesn't fit her agenda. Mattie Ross is out to avenge the murder of her father "in the Choctaw Nation when snow was on the ground."
I get chills even now from the memory of reading the serialized novel as a kid in the pages of "The Saturday Evening Post." Mattie Ross's harrowing experience in the rattlesnake pit was the most exciting thing I had ever read. It frustrates me now that I'm spending this time writing about a book that's been all but forgotton by succeeding generations. Everyone deserves to experience "True Grit." It's the kind of unputdownable book that can make even the most X-boxed kid of the G4 generation want to put down their controller and read for a few hours.
What has diminished this book's reputation over time has been the residual effect of a movie that fell far short of its potential, lapsing frequently into broad stereotypes. In the novel the narrative style fits Mattie Ross's character perfectly. The precise and opinionated spinster who tells the tale religiously avoids the crude employment of contractions in her sentences. Every "isn't" becomes an "is not," and every "he's" becomes a "he is." No one drops their "Gs" at the ends of words. While this sounds totally proper coming from Mattie's prim narrative, some Hollywood bumbler injudiciously decided to keep this mannered speech in the screenplay. Not just in Mattie's speeches but in those of Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne), LeBouef (Glen Campbell), Lucky Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) and the rest of the baddies throughout the Oklahoma Territory. The result is a series of stiltifying portrayals where the rough cobs of the plains sound like Sunday School teachers. Kim Darby's earnest performance as Mattie Ross is lost in this morass. One is left with the sense from the film that the acting is just generally bad but the movie simply suffers from a screenwriter who just doesn't seem to know where the words are coming from.
So why do I make a big deal about the movie when I'm talking about the novel? Only to make the point that you should not let negative feelings about the film deter you from the book. Ironically and somewhat sadly, perhaps the best hope for the future of Portis's work is that another movie version might one day be made, bringing the story again before the public eye. (Are you listening, Mister Eastwood?) After all, shouldn't movie remakes be made of movies that didn't quite get it right the first time? Kurosawa could have done the story justice by setting the film in Japan. So too could Ang Lee. The story is a universal one that transcends cultures. Nonetheless, Portis's novel is a winning and articulate vision of a changing American West. It is one of the important novels in its genre -- one which does not deserve the fate of being ignored. All that aside -- it's a GREAT read!
The book is better than the movie........2006-07-06
Written in the first person we see the adventures of Mattie Ross, a fourteen-year-old know-it-all girl, as she tries to hunt down the killer of her father. To do it she must hire the skills of the one-eyed U.S. Marshal "Rooster" Cogburn. Made into the movie, in which much of the book was transferred onto the big screen word for word, this book is swift flowing, full of humor and action and, in some ways, very touching.
Even if you have seen the film I would still suggest buying a copy of this book, new or used, to enjoy for a that slow day in which you have nothing else to do.
Gutsy western classic.......2005-02-27
Mattie Ross must be one of the all-time greatest fictional heroines as she embarks, in her own words, "to avenge her father's blood".
I love the humor of Portis's book,
COWBOY: I gave some thought to stealing a kiss from you, but now I am of a mind to give you five or six good licks with my belt.
MATTIE: One would be as bad as the other.
And again,
MATTIE: Do you need a good lawyer?
COWBOY: I need a good judge.
This is a heady mix. The technique of a first-person narrator adds realism and immediacy, which combines with the author's sense of drama and irony to create something quite remarkable. It is only strange that "True Grit" should have found more fame on the screen than on the page.
One thing annoyed me and that is hardly the fault of the writer. The cover blurb states,
"Mattie Ross should soon join the pantheon of America's legendary figures such as Kit Carson, Wyatt Earpp and Jesse James" (Washington Post)
Well, perhaps, if only she could jump that thin barrier which separates fact from fiction.
"True Grit" is such a compelling novel that I was genuinely surprised to find that Charles Portis is a living author. I had supposed it had been written closer to the time in which it is set, such is its sense of authenticity.
It is also unbearably sad as well as funny. As the older Mattie states, ruefully reminiscing on her young self, "time just gets away from us." Such wryness is more shocking than all the snake-pits, shoot-outs and dying ponies of the early part of the story.
I have a few quibbles. The two marshals, Rooster Cogburn and LaBoeuff live to great ages (we are told Cogburn lives to 68) when I guess in reality most would have been lucky to reach 40, even if they were not vastly overweight and whisky-quaffing like the hero. But overall I really enjoyed this short novel and its introduction by Donna Tartt, even if she does not fully acknowledge the importance of Portis to her own work.
A TRUE WESTERN WINNER ON ALL COUNTS.......2005-02-26
Mosey on over to Arkansas and Missouri, why don't cha? - and check out this edition of TRUE GRIT by Charles Portis. With a stunning first person narrative voice, you'll find it's an absolute classic of the western genre - indeed, of the novel form itself.
Unfairly underated, or even misunderstood in the UK (my own well-thumbed copy is a child-oriented Puffin edition), Charles Portis' masterpiece has hitherto been quite sniffily regarded by the cognoscenti amongst us who are never stuck for a word or two, and invariably presume to dictate our literary tastes for us. (Naturally, John Wayne and Glen Campbell in the film version will have struck no chords of recognition with the literati!)
But personally, I was really interested to learn recently that novelist Donna Tartt's mother was "so crazy about (TRUE GRIT) that when she had finished it, she . . . read it all over again."
Only once in a bibliophliac lifetime have I been similarly affected by a novel, and that too was by a western: Elmore Leonard's HOMBRE. But, of course, HOMBRE too is an absolute classic of the novel form, though the literary snobs amongst us don't necessarily want us to know that.
I have been grateful too for Donna Tartt's incisive reminder about "the great abiding pleasure of (the narrative voice)" in TRUE GRIT. Because this set me thinking about my personal favourites in this respect. Two of them are listed above; the others being ROOM AT THE TOP; THE GREAT GATSBY; A CLOCKWORK ORANGE; JACK'S RETURN HOME (aka GET CARTER); I, CLAUDIUS; Keith Waterhouse's THERE IS A HAPPY LAND; THE CATCHER IN THE RYE; and ALFIE - to name but a phew!
Or am I showing my age? A golden one. I'll grant you!
Have this book surgically attached to your body!.......2005-02-09
I have read True Grit about 16 times. Every time I go into The Strand or any book store I find a copy and prop it up on the fiction table hoping to infect someone else with the Portis bug. I have read all of his work, even "Gringos," and it is all as funny and real as "True Grit," especially "Norwood." I lobby high school teachers to get "True Grit" or "Norwood" on reading lists and I lend out copies left and right or give them away in the hopes of widening Portis' sphere of influence.
But enough about me. "True Grit" is such a great read, full of jokes. I know I won't do them justice but here are a couple of scenes I like: The degenerate Marshall Rooster Cockburn lives in the back of a general store with a Chinese guy and a cat called Genera Price. He sleeps in a string bed (!) and shoots a rat during a business meeting with Mattie, the 14-year-old protagonist out after her father's killer. Or after Mattie tries to buy a horse from a local business man, vexing him beyond all limits, the business man sees her walking up the path and says "I heard tell of a young girl drowning in a well last night. But I can see you are fine." And the horse Blackie is such a good horse and the scene near the tail of the book where Blackie meets his end is so succinct and sad!
This is a great book that I think just about everyone would enjoy from 10-year-olds to 75 year-olds
Portis is supposedly holed up in a fishing shack in Arkansas writing a new book. I have a google search on his name to keep track of all Portis activity! I can't wait!
Average customer rating:
- Regretable Ending
- A travesty this book is not in print!
- True Grit By Joseph Colwell
- true western
- Why isn't Portis incredibly famous?
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True Grit
Charles Portis
Manufacturer: Simon and Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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True Grit (Special Collector's Edition)
ASIN: 0671763806 |
Book Description
Mattie Ross, a fourteen-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.
Customer Reviews:
Regretable Ending.......2002-12-20
True Grits ending was only regretable in the sense that the book had to end. I have watched the movie many times and picked up the book recently and found I enjoyed it much more than the movie. I am a John Wayne fan and had always assumed I liked the movie so much based on the good story, fine casting and because I am a John Wayne fan. This book made me realize I was also a Rooster Cogburn fan and now, a budding Portis fan. The writing is excellent, funny, fast-paced, exciting and sad, as it was designed, but most of all, it creates an ambiance steeped in life in the old west, in which real people lived. The book reveals no all good characters nor all bad bad men, but real human traits disliked and liked in each character. 34 years later I say thank you Charles Portis.
A travesty this book is not in print!.......2001-12-25
"True Grit" is a perfect example of a tremendous book whose place in our collective literary consciousness has been displaced by a rather clumsy but well-meaning Hollywood substitute. This book should be on every junior high and high school reading list. It is true feminism on the American frontier -- a woman who won't accept "her place" in a man's world because it doesn't fit her agenda. She must avenge the murder of her father.
I get chills even now from the memory of reading the serialized novel in "The Saturday Evening Post." Mattie Ross's harrowing experience in the rattlesnake pit was the most exciting thing I had ever read. It frustrates me now that I'm spending this time writing about a book you can't even order new. Everyone deserves to experience "True Grit."
Just between you and me, what has diminished this book's reputation over time has been the residual effect of a movie that fell far short of its potential. The narrative style of the novel fits Mattie Ross's character perfectly. The precise and opinionated spinster telling the tale religiously avoids the crude employment of contractions in her sentences. Every "isn't" becomes an "is not," and every "he's" becomes a "he is." No one drops their "Gs" at the ends of words. While this sounds totally proper coming from Mattie's prim lips, someone injudiciously decided to keep this mannered speech in the screenplay. Not just in Mattie's speeches but in those of Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne), LeBouef (Glen Campbell), Lucky Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) and the rest of the baddies throughout the Oklahoma Territory. The result is a series of stiltifying portrayals where the rough cobs of the plains sound like Sunday School teachers. Kim Darby's earnest performance as Mattie Ross is lost in this morass. One is left with the sense that the acting is just generally bad but the movie simply suffers from a screenwriter who just doesn't seem to know where the words are coming from.
So why do I make a big deal about the movie when I'm talking about the novel? Only to make the point that you should not let any negative feelings for the film to deter you from the book. Ironically and somewhat sadly, perhaps the best hope for the future of Portis's work is that another movie version might one day be made, bringing it again before the public eye. (Are you listening, Mister Eastwood?) After all, shouldn't movie remakes be of movies that didn't quite get it right the first time? Kurosawa could have done the story justice by setting the film in Japan. So might Ang Lee. The story itself is a universal one that transcends cultures. Nonetheless, Portis's novel is a winning and articulate vision of the changing American West. It is one of the important novels in its genre -- one which does not deserve the fate of being ignored. All that aside -- it's a GREAT read!
True Grit By Joseph Colwell.......2001-12-20
(...)BR> Frank Ross has just been shot while buying ponies. Mattie Ross, daughter and her father's bookkeeper, has gone to avenge his death. It is set in the beautiful area of the Chacata Indian Territory in Arkansas. Armed with her wits, Rooster Cogburn a drunken marshal, Labauf a Texas Ranger, and her father's Colts dragoon revolver, they try to bring Tom Chaney to justice. He is the man who killed her father. They find him by trapping him and smoking him out of his hide away. Despite her resources, she still has to tackle many problems. All this and a bag of chips when you read True Grit.
I chose this book to read because I have found interest in this kind of genera, a historical fiction. I thought it would be about a boring goose chase with no fighting. I was wrong. I found this book to be more than what it looks like. Despite the slow start at Mattie's house on the prairie I found this book to be one of the best I have ever read. I like Mattie's personality. She is sharp-tongued, witty, and intelligent. She is also stubborn and is driven with a purpose. I like the fact that there are solutions to the many problems they face. I recommend it to just about any one in the fifth grade and over that has a taste for adventure. So read this book, you will LOVE it!!(...)
true western.......2001-10-13
great novel
you notice the small differences from the movie as you read it
a must
Why isn't Portis incredibly famous?.......2000-07-06
Taken along with Norwood and Dog of the South, True Grit makes up a career in the top 1% of the field. Why isn't Charles Portis more famous? For starters, True Grit has given us one of the most interesting narrators since LOLITA'S Humbert. The story itself is not half bad, but as presented to us, it is some of the most vivid stuff you're ever going to read. Every conversation is an adventure, and the account of the triple hanging is worthy of all praise. Read it now.
Average customer rating:
|
True Grit
Charles Portis
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LMPL9W |
Average customer rating:
|
True Grit
Charles Portis
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
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ASIN: 0451054199 |
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