Charles Portis, who wrote a short novel that we cats simply adored when we were kittens, has died in a hospice in Little Rock, Arkansas. He had Alzheimer's, topped off by dementia — which is really too bad, because he crafted such a singular voice in True Grit's Mattie Ross that it makes us sad to think of it fading.
Mattie was a determined, dogmatic and not-to-be-crossed 14-year-old who, as the novel's first-person narrator, was looking back on her adventures as an even more opinionated, acerbic adult. Her political rants are hilarious. We have no idea how a shy Southern white man could inhabit a late-19th-century girl's and woman's mind so thoroughly. But he did. The book is a treasure.
We adored the 1969 movie. We allowed ourselves to like John Wayne in it even though his politics were terrible. But mostly it was because we had a kitten crush on Glen Campbell, who was a terrific singer but who could not act. We also have the 2010 Coen brothers' take sitting on our DVD shelf. One of these days we'll bring ourselves to watch it.
But whether it's John Wayne or Jeff Bridges, don't rely on the movies. Read the book. It'll take you a single afternoon — or less, because like all good stories, it moves. We cats PURR.
(IMAGE: A 1969 True Grit lobby card. Remember lobby cards?)
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