My first acquaintance with Charles Portis' novel, “True Grit” was made when my grandma took me to see John Wayne and Kim Darby in the film adaptation.  

Wayne, with his chesty Cogburn drawl, scared me a little but I remember wishing I could be just like Darby’s Mattie Ross.  

It would be another 20 years before I would read the novel from which the film came and love it ever so much more than the movie.

I was enchanted on Dec. 30 when I spoke with Minnesota writer Ben Percy about literature and Portis. 

Ben and I love the spirit and the outraged innocence that Portis imbued Mattie Ross’s character with, but we are both truly enamored with her voice.  

She’s grieving, obstinate, tunnel-visioned and curious. She’s a 14-year-old girl out to avenge her father’s murder and she’s fully convinced that this is not beyond her. 

Ben said he and his family recently read the novel aloud on a road trip to Yellowstone National Park and I contend that that is exactly how this novel should be savored.  

Charles Portis' language is blunt but visual, formal and funny and tragic. Upon opening the novel, I instantly knew what Mattie’s voice sounded like.
 

— Kerri Miller | MPR News