Product Description
Truly deserving of the accolade a modern classic, Donna Tartt’s novel is a remarkable achievement—both compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the humdrum existence of their contemporaries.But when they go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are changed profoundly and forever, and they discover how hard it can be to truly live and how easy it is to kill. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (571)

Oh, poo!
Some (not all!) of these reviews read like joyous opportunities for people to seem "smart" for having chosen and read it, whether they damn the book to hell, or praise it as the finest collection of words ever put together (especially the CLASSIC GREEK!).

I'm not up to sounding smart in my analysis of The Secret History. I doubt if I will read it five times, as one fellow says he did. I don't understand Greek. I don't WANT to understand Greek. I loved the novel!

Now see, because of all you empty-except-for-the-egg-heads, I am tongue tied. My five stars will have to speak for me.

Just do not believe that pretentious review from Publishers Weekly. Right off the bat, the reviewer calls it a "much bruited" novel. What IS that? Yes the plot is TOO plausible, and yes the protagonist (Richard) is TOO accepted into the group believably! YES to everything that review says NO to. The Secret History is suspenseful and thrilling from beginning to end.

I couldn't put it down. I'm still thinking about it, and all the characters, wondering things about them, and the story, and their motives, and the outcome. So. Does that count?

Like a thrilling movie, carried around in your bag!
This is the most enjoyable book I've ever read, bar none. It's long and doesn't get off and running until a few dozen pages in, but once it's on, it's really on. It's been a long time since I've really desperately wanted to get back to my book (don't get me wrong - I'm a voracious reader, but there are very few books that make me skip all my meals just because I literally can't stop reading!)

It's very well written for what it is, the plot is genius, and the characters are so well constructed that it's very difficult to read without immediately casting the movie of the book; that said, if it's made into a movie, it needs to be a damn good movie, otherwise I will throw a fit.

Anyway! Point is, reading this is a most enjoyable experience, and even though it's not exactly Nabokov, the literary references are prominent and Donna Tartt is clearly very well-read and hyper-intellectual. Very good stuff.

Timelessness
I see somereaders of TSH seem to dislike or be disconcerted by not being able to place the books actual time frame .For me this was one of its triumphs , making it timeless in a new and strange way . This effect was betterdescribed by a previous reviewer, using the following quote
"The rain slanted in the lights, which were angled to cast long, dramatic shadows. The effect was fashionable, post- nuclear but ancient, too, like some pumice-strewn courtyard from Pompeii."

But then I'm a TSH devotee, in factI think I;ll go and start a re-read this minute!

I hated it
I had heard about this book for years, and finally ordered it. What a load of pretentious crap. First of all, the characters were so poorly fleshed out that I truly could not keep them straight. And they spoke in this antiquated, affected style, like something out of a 1940's drawing room play. The whole Greek and Latin aspect of the book may be interesting to some people, but it wasn't to me. I kept waiting for it to get good. THe acknowledgements include a big thank you to literary agent Binky Urban who was (is still?) a big deal in the literary world. I kept wondering if Ms. Urban caused all of the fuss over this book and reviewers just bought the load of goods. The book is 557 pages long, and I got to 468 and could not continue. It was BORING! I hated the narrator and didn't believe that A)it was a male...the voice didn't feel male at all to me and B) didn't believe anything about his story. It seemed so contrived.

Oh, Sisyphus!
The prologue, and, arguably, the first chapter -- a masterpiece of literature, of stage-setting, of baiting the hook. A work of art. I was HOOKED.

But then came the rest .... and I read Every. Single. Page .... pretentious, precious, elitist. And yes, throw pedantic onto the pile. I very quickly tired of Julian, Charles and Camilla, Francis, Bunny, and the poor-Plano-plebe-looking-in-from-the-outside Richard. I thought the supporting evidence for Richard's infatuation with these Paris-Hilton cohorts would emerge eventually, but they never did. I didn't understand how these characters stood out for Julian's elite picks. Nor did I ever find Julian to be anything other than the self-absorbed individual that he turned out to be.

About halfway through, I prayed for the end. I silently pled to the author: Do whatever it is you intend to do with these ridiculous human beings and be done with it. Just release me, oh gods, from this cursed book.



... Read more

Product Description
Bestselling author Donna Tartt returns with a grandly ambitious and utterly riveting novel of childhood, innocence and evil.
The setting is Alexandria, Mississippi, where one Mother’s Day a little boy named Robin Cleve Dufresnes was found hanging from a tree in his parents’ yard.Twelve years later Robin’s murder is still unsolved and his family remains devastated. So it is that Robin’s sister Harriet—unnervingly bright, insufferably determined, and unduly influenced by the fiction of Kipling and Robert Louis Stevenson--sets out to unmask his killer. Aided only by her worshipful friend Hely, Harriet crosses her town’s rigid lines of race and caste and burrows deep into her family’s history of loss. Filled with hairpin turns of plot and “a bustling, ridiculous humanity worthy of Dickens” (The New York Times Book Review), The Little Friend is a work of myriad enchantments by a writer of prodigious talent. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (592)

Simply Outstanding
This is one of the best books I've read in the last dozen years.Tartt's mastery of the subtleties of southern culture during a particular period is wonderful.Ultimately, this is a very vivid and gripping portrait of the innocence of childhood, and how easily it is lost.I found The Secret History a bit indulgent.This novel is spot on.

Utterly brilliant.
I loved this book. Why are there so many complaints about the missing "plot"? What about the other, often more compelling features, such as tragedy, pathos, selfishness, humour, distinctive characters, all seen and experienced through the eyes of a young girl. One of my all time favourites. I enjoyed it much more than the "The Secret History".

One of the worst books ever!
When I read the back cover describing a small southern town with racial undertones and an "unsolved" crime; it reminded me of To Kill A Mockingbird (one of my favorites.)However, Tartt isno Harper Lee. The endless inane descriptions made me wonder if she were being paid by the word.The lack of resolution was infuriating.It was as if she woke up one day tired of writing and just quit.Not only do I wish I could have my money back< I wish I could get back the time I wasted on this book.

No Secret History -- But Still Fantastic!
I admit that I fought off a mild case of literary whiplash while reading the opening chapter of Tartt's second novel.I kept waiting for what I expected to see (more on the unsolved death of the protagonist's brother), and not seeing it was mildly upsetting.I'm glad I overcame this frustration, because this is an immensely enthralling and satisfying book.You have to be willing to let it go where it wants to go.(There is a slow, fetid darkness at the heart of this book that I found fascinating and inspired, but I can see how readers looking for a fast-paced thriller would be disappointed.This is youth and innocence thrown face-first into some of the more monstrous aspects of humanity.)I'm surprised and disappointed at customers who express dismay at a "lack of plot" (I've seen more than a few of these).Nothing could be further from the truth.I think this is a beautifully written southern gothic novel with gorgeous descriptions, fascinating characters, and a breathless conclusion.This is no Secret History, but don't be afraid to try something different.Tartt wasn't.

Disappointed with this book
This book was too long for the story that is being told. The author likes to go into little nitty gritty details that aren't important to the plot or flow of the story. There are parts that are extremely entertaining, but then it slows down and I found myself skimming the pages to get through it.

I really like Harriet, though. I wound up getting really wrapped up in her and caring mostly about her more than the other characters.

And I was extremely disappointed with the ending. Don't want to give away anything, but for a 600+ pages book, the ending is not satisfying and I felt like I wasted a few days of my life with reading this book and investing time into it. ... Read more

Product Description
A misfit at an exclusive New England college, Richard finds kindred spirits in the five eccentric students of his ancient Greek class. But his new friends have a horrific secret. When blackmail and violence threaten to blow their privileged lives apart, they drag Richard into the nightmare that engulfs them. And soon they enter a terrifying heart of darkness from which they may never return. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

readable

This book was first published around 18 years ago and is the first time I have read it. It seems that intelligence of the book relied on the greek tragedy and this was cleverly entwined in the outcome of the characters. However, I found the characters selfish and at times, probably on purpose by the author, obnoxiously so."classics" knowledge, especially at that time, being a sign of an "education", as opposed to science knowledge now; but their total involvement with themselves and "belonging" to an elite group for its own sake rather spoilt the book for me. I could tell by the end of the first chapter which way the story was going and halfway through pretty much expected the ending to be as it was. This may be my own self-criticism, as being based on greek tragedy it could have no other outcome.The author certainly did her homework and an excellent attempt and co -joining something ancient to the here and now of 1992 was refreshing.Her style was a page turner and the reading easy despite the content, and one could easily put oneself in the story as an observer as her atmosphere and description were good. It is worth reading, but I felt that I wanted more from it than I got, from both the standpoint of the rather selfish characters and the murder plot itself.

Excellent read
I read this book first soon after it originally came out and have re-read it twice since then.It remains one of my favorite books.Tartt's writing is amazingly descriptive and the plot pulls you in.The characters aren't all together believable--their oddities make the book all the more interesting though.A fun, quirky, unique book that will make you stay up late into the night to finish reading it.

Boooooring
After reading the delightful "The Little Friend," I couldn't wait to start this one.The book is a mish mash of drunken party scenes and hangovers.The characters are stiff and speak in ways peculiar for college students---how many times have you heard someone say, "goodness?"The descriptive scenes are full on dishes crashing in the cafeteria, which tires after a while.There's a lot of talking and very little action, with people reacting strangely to situations.When have you ever heard of someone being "stunned" when hearing that a friend was seen standing in front of a bank?Save your money!!!!

I loved this book...and I think it offers a little social commentary too
I would not be as critical as the other reviewer.I think this is an excellent book, and I tend to be biased against best-sellers.Hidden in its over-the-top humor is a scathing critique of academia, particularly, academia as it plays out within the confines of a small liberal arts college.

The book is not really realistic; the characters are greatly exaggerated, extreme charicatures of a sort.The author creates a transparent sort of dystopia that could only offend people because it has a little too much truth in it.

Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down.This book is engaging, and although it is not one of the deepest books I've read, it does raise a few interesting questions to think about.There is something unique about the author's style, and her choice of setting and subjects, that I think makes this book worth reading.Plus, it's fun!

"History" stays secretive
Donna Tartt's intellectual thriller "The Secret History" was a rarity among the bestsellers of a decade ago: It was written with plenty of literate references, brimming over with the remnants of Greece. It's a flawed dark gem; there's a work of genius buried somewhere in the clumsiness.

Richard Papen somehow manages to get transferred from a culturally dead backwater in California, to the elite liberal arts college of Hampden in Vermont. Once there, he manages to get accepted into the tiny class of elite students who are studying Greek -- the charming gay Francis, obnoxious sponger Bunny, frightening super-intellect Henry and the beautiful, too-close twins Charles and Camilla.

At first, he tries to hide his impoverished origins and fit in with the beautiful, wealthy students who happily bounce off to Italy for vacation. But he soon learns that there is a dark edge to their love of ancient Greece -- the bacchanal, a barbaric ritual that ended in a man's death. And to keep the secret of that death, Richard will help his new friends kill again -- only this time, it's one of them who will die.

"The Secret History" is definitely a first novel. Donna Tartt writes with a sure hand and confidence, name-dropping just about every Greek and Roman scholar you can think of (also Milton and Donne for good measure). She has a way of writing that sweeps along in a tangle of beautiful words, glossing over the flaws those words have created, without losing the aura of Greek tragedy. It's less about the death of Bunny than it is about what his death does to the others. In short, this book is gorgeous. But it's far from perfect.

Her descriptions are almost peerless, very beautiful and haunted (mostly in keeping with the idea that "beauty is terror"). There are plenty of natural descriptions, from the snow in Richard's apartment to the stream Camilla plays in. Tartt certainly has the "you are there" factor in her ornate, detailed writing. The story is also impeccably paced, starting off slow and building up to the inevitable event.

Unfortunately, Tartt's details leave something to be desired. Her descriptions of the group are almost like a parody of elite college students. Why is Bunny talking about "old top," "old man," "chum" and so forth? Why does Californian Richard suddenly turn into a 19th-century preppie? Why is Francis wearing a pince-nez in the 1980s? And she goes way over the top in making Bunny "dislikable" -- he's a moocher, obnoxious, has a grating voice and is prejudiced against Catholics, Italians, gays, et cetera. It's as if his death has to be justified in Tartt's eyes by making him a huge pain in the butt.

Another flaw crops up in characterization. The little circle of students is shown as being coolly intelligent, cultured, and charming despite their fatal flaws. All other students -- all the "ordinary" people -- are coke-snorting, gauche, loud and stupid. Couldn't be some elitism there, could there? Richard is, unfortunately, a terrible lead character; he's not too bright, clueless, dull and self-pitying. His adoration of the rich, pretty and hedonistic never wears off. With the exception of the unfortunate Bunny, the others are intriguing rather than well-rounded, with their wildly varying personalities and hidden secrets.

Despite the elite literary edge, the core of "Secret History" is unsound. It's beautiful and has the touch of a classic, but sags under the author's first-timer clumsiness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Publicité surfaite
«Le maître des illusions» de Donna Tartt est intéressant.C'est un bon divertissement.Toutefois, il ne présente pas le suspense annoncé.Il y a des longueurs, notamment lors des recherches pour retrouver un des personnages.Dans la version française lue, la traduction de Pierre Alien n'est pas bien faite.À plusieurs reprises, j'ai senti que j'aurais dû lire l'oeuvre dans sa version originale.L'édition de poche comporte plusieurs erreurs orthographiques, grammaticales et d'impression.Cela m'a agacé.Un bon point toutefois, l'auteur a su créer plusieurs images non évidentes du «maître des illusions».

Publicité surfaite
«Le maître des illusions» de Donna Tart est intéressant.C'est un bon divertissement.Toutefois, il ne présente pas le suspense annoncé.Il y a des longueurs, notamment lors des recherches pour retrouver un des personnages.Dans la version française lue, la traduction de Pierre Alien n'est pas bien faite.À plusieurs reprises, j'ai senti que j'aurais dû lire l'oeuvre dans sa version originale.L'édition de poche comporte plusieurs erreurs orthographiques, grammaticales et d'impression.Cela m'a agacé.Un bon point toutefois, l'auteur a su créer plusieurs images non évidentes du «maître des illusions». ... Read more

Product Description
This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years - from 'The Remains of the Day' to 'White Teeth'. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Anyone who reads and thinks deserves better literary criticism
This "readers guide" for Donna Tarrtt's "The Secret History" is thin on insight and value. While it is one step above "Cliffs Notes" in being both a summary and a "critical" work, it smacks of a first approximation of a better treatment that was then cut and slapped together on a thin budget and tight deadline. Literary criticism is a notoriously underpaid field (heck, folks posting here at AMAZON are giving it away for free), but still, readers are underserved by Hargreaves. Sad, for many of her observations and detail work teased out here have merit for discussion, and just as the reader is getting interested Hargreaves cuts off and moves on.

Hargreaves first chapter "The Novelist" is perhaps most useful for the curious Tartt stalker (yikes!), for it is an adequate thumbnail biography and summary of author details appearing in print elsewhere but in previously uncollected form. This chapter has no original content. Chapter two is the largest section and covers "The Novel" with a topical breakdown of characters, plot summary, setting, and main themes. Hargreaves correctly identifies many of Tartt's structures and literary techniques and devices, but in her "Conclusions" section on page 62 misses the point of the work entirely when she bald facedly states "There are no moral absolutes in the world that Tartt creates in her novel..." demonstrating that Hargreaves has completely missed a recurring leitmotif in the novel: Catholicism. Two chapters follow to pad out the work: "The Novel's Reception" and "The Novel's Performance" the last of which smacks of sour grapes and left me curious why they were not simply combined into a single chapter. The "Further Reading" section is perhaps the best, for it is nearly an annotated bibliography, and includes very nice summaries of obscure Tartt short pieces. The useless "Discussion Questions" left me fearful of the level of teaching of literature that goes on in Hargreaves's world, for not a single selected question raises the issue of religion in the work. Considering the central event of the novel, this is preposterous and misleading. Anyone who reads and thinks deserves better.

outstanding
an intelligent thriller, but also a serious literary work. i recommend it to anyone who enjoys good writing

Different, interesting, enjoyable
Strangely enough I didn't like the Secret History when it was first released, and I only picked up this book because of all the advance press surrounding Ms Tartt's new novel. And now I'm a fan. Which is not, as far as I know, the job of literary criticism - but then this book is not quite lit crit, it's an odd combination of scholarship and enthusiasm that works surprisingly well. It's persuaded me that the Secret History is a much cleverer book than I gave it credit for, and it's made me marvel at Ms Tartt's erudition.

(On the strength of this volume, I picked up the same publisher's guide to American Psycho, and that one is even better.)

Right, I'm off to read the Little Friend.

Pricey.
This is an extremely slight little handbook--too limited to be of much use to the experienced reader, yet too expensive to justify its inclusion as a complement to Tartt's modern cult classic.Students who are at all motivated can easily get as much information through a few quick internet searches.I'm giving my copy to a student TA as a handy accessory for help in grading papers.

A good book for Donna Tartt fans
Wasn't sure what to expect from this - a reader's guide makes it sound like it could be some patronising crap. But it's actually very smart, and even though I thought I knew it all about TSH, it turns out I didn't. Having said that, the author, Ms Hargreaves, missed out a few things, but maybe she didn't have room? Anyhow, she is very good on all the literary references in TSH, especially the Classical stuff. She regurgitates the most interesting parts of DT's printed interviews (shame she couldn't get a new one for this book, but not surprising I guess!), and I came away even more convinced of what a weird, wonderful one-off novel TSH is. Which makes me terrified that DT's new one will suck, but we'll have to see...

Definitely recommended, unless you really do know everything about the book already! ... Read more

Product Description
Although the Cleves generally revelled in every detail of their family history, the events of 'the terrible Mother's Day' were never, ever discussed. On that day, nine-year-old Robin Cleves, loved by all for his whims and peculiarities, was found hanging by the neck from a rope slung over a black-tupelo tree in his own garden. Eleven years later, the mystery - with its taunting traces of foul play - was no nearer a solution than it had been on the day it happened. This isn't good enough for Robin's youngest sister Harriet. Only a baby when the tragedy occurred, but now twelve-years-old and steeped in the adventurous daring of favourite writers such as Stevenson, Kipling and Conan Doyle, Harriet is ready and eager to find and punish her brother's killer. Her closest friend Hely - who would try anything to make Harriet love him - has sworn allegiance to her call for revenge. But the world these plucky twelve-year-olds are to encounter has nothing to do with child's play: it is dark, adult and all too menacing. In Donna Tartt's "Mississippi", the sense of place and sense of the past mingle redolently with rich human drama to create a collective alchemy.Here eccentric great aunts bustle about graciously despite faded fortunes and a child's inquiring mind not only unearths telling family artefacts, but stirs up a neighbourhood nest of vipers and larceny. "The Little Friend" is a profoundly involving novel which demonstrates how the imaginary life embraces what literature we read, what special places we inhabit and what kindred souls we recognize, to help crack open even the darkest secrets life has hiding for us. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Has flaws, but still exceeds the average novel by far
I loved Donna Tartt's first novel, The Secret History, immmensely and waiting for her second novel for years.I really wish I could say that this book exceeded the achievement of that book, but I can't.Nonetheless, I still think this far exceeds most of what is out there.

Tartt is a master of rendering the settings of her stories.This one really embraces childhood in the deep south.The characters, if not quite real, are certainly undertandable and detailed.Her theme here is dark.This novel is about bad deeds and punishment and the mood in the aftermath of death.The research is very good here and it feels very true.It is effective and well written, but a little heavier on symbolism than I prefer.

Nonetheless, as I said earlier, I very much liked this book and highly recommend it.

Gothic horrors in Magnolia-land.
Weird happenings within an even weirder family combine with the "fusty, drunken perfume of Magnolia" to fill this southern Gothic novel with bizarre behavior and pervasive threats of death and revenge. Forces of evil are at work, according to Charlotte Cleve, a mother of three, who believes the mysterious hanging death of her nine-year-old son Robin resulted because she changed her traditional Mother's Day celebration from noon to six o'clock on the day he died.

Twelve years after Robin's death, his fiercely independent sister Harriet, now twelve herself, investigates the circumstances of Robin's death, bent on identifying and punishing his murderer. Bearing little resemblance to Scout, the endearing heroine of To Kill a Mockingbird, single-minded Harriet recognizes no limits and is willing to do anything, including using a gun, to accomplish her goals. Confronting ex-cons who run a crystal meth lab, ditsy great-aunts who know what's "right," redneck children who lurk in the bushes, two snake-handling preachers, a mother who turns her house into a maze filled with piles of rotting, old newspapers, and a sister who sleeps seventeen hours a day ("I only get bored when I'm awake," she says), Harriet takes more comfort from her plans for revenge than from traditional southern values.

Tartt's themes of death and punishment achieve some sense of universality through her use of numerous symbols and parallels, often with animals, but these are frequently sentimental. The euthanasia of a beloved pet cat; Harriet's accidental killing of a blackbird stuck in tar, snakes handled by hillbilly preachers; and the vicious dogs of the Ratliff family haunt the narrative. The old family home is called Tribulation; Harriet's heroes are Sherlock Holmes, Harry Houdini, and Captain Scott, the explorer; and she spends much of the novel looking for a pair of red gloves given to her by her black housekeeper, whom she loves but treats with casual cruelty.

The plot strains credulity, even for southern Gothic, and Harriet, as a twelve-year-old protagonist, is too wild and out-of-control to inspire much empathy as a character. The narrative focus of the novel gets lost, and many episodes, only peripherally related to the original search for justice, seem to become narrative ends in themselves. Filled with dense imagery and melodrama, this novel will appeal to those looking for fast escape reading. Mary Whipple
... Read more

Product Description
Charles Portis has long 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. It tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shoots her father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash money. Mattie leaves home to avenge her father's blood. With the one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available U.S. Marshal, by her side, Mattie pursues the homicide into Indian Territory.

True Grit is eccentric, cool, straight, and unflinching, like Mattie herself. From a writer of true cult status, this is an American classic through and through. This new edition, with a smart new package and an afterword by acclaimed author Donna Tartt, will bring this masterpiece to an even broader audience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Impressive Western
Mattie Ross, a precocious fourteen-year-old Arkansas girl, is the unintentionally hilarious narrator of this classic western story. She badgers Deputy Marshall Rooster Cogburn and Texas Ranger La Beouf into allowing her to accompany them into Indian Territory to pursue the man who murdered her father.

However unreliable a narrator Mattie may be (that is up to the reader to decide), it is a cracking good tale full of gun fights, desperados and bandits of all descriptions - I don't see how the movie can possibly compare.

One of the Great American Characters
This really is one of the great, hidden American classics. And it is so for one key reason: Mattie Ross.

Mattie Ross is a strong-headed fourteen-year-old in frontier Arkansas when her father is murdered and robbed by a man he had saved and hired. Mattie, with wisdom, determination, and a highly developed sense of justice, sets out to hire a man with true grit--Rooster Cogburn--to pursue the killer into the lawless Indian territory to hunt him down. It's a simple revenge plot, I guess. But Mattie is fascinating. She's strong, wise, and quick-witted. She's also complex--empathetic, loving, compassionate, and hard at the same time. I will never forget her voice; it's every bit as naive and yet wise, and every bit as funny, as Huck Finn's.

It's not a bad story either. It's a very solid western. And it's thematically meaningful, too. Mattie is driven to impose justice onto a wild and lawless world, and you wonder at the end if it was all possible or worth it. It's not a simple story. And it's easy to see why the Coen brothers have chosen True Grit as a worthy story to film, especially after having recently made No Country for Old Men. There are similar themes here--the inexplicable nature of evil and the high price of justice. Hopefully, many new readers will find this fine novel upon the release of that film.

Fantastic Book
Mattie Ross is easily one of my favorite characters in literature now.

This book is filled with great dialogue, and terrific action.

The characters are all very well drawn, and have many layers.

Like Fine Wine, "True Grit" Gets Better With Age...
A true classic.It gets better with age, like fine wine.

Charles Portis does an excellent and truly remarkable job of telling the story through the eyes, voice and perspective of teenager Mattie Ross "from Dardnelle in Yell County"out to avenge her father's murder at the hand of that dastardly dog, Tom Chaney, obviously a less-than-noble character.

Not once does Portis stray from Mattie's distinctive voice and perspective and therein lies the charm, lasting attraction and beauty of the story. An outstanding job of writing and story-telling.

Then there's the incomparable Rooster J. Cogburn, sometimes US Marshal, Lucky Ned Pepper and a host of other characters in all their glory, humor and daring-do.

Looking back on it from a distance of 41 years, it amazing how closely and fully the movie in which John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn won the Duke his first and only Academy Award, stayed true to the book.

But the book is better.Don't miss it. It's the kind of book you keep and read again and again every year or so. It's that good and enticing.

And, yes, Rooster's classic line, "Fill your hands, you sonnavabitch.." in there, exactly as it is portrayed in the classic scene from the movie.Quite good. Quite, quite good.

Better than I remembered!
I recently heard that the Cohen Brothers were remaking the movie True Grit and that they are going to stick to the source material and not remake the John Wayne Classic.I had read the book a couple times (If I read a book more than once it is something special) but it was years ago.I decided to give it another reading with the new movie version on the way. It does not seem Possible but this book was even better than I remembered, I do believe a candidate for the great American novel. The original movie does a pretty good job of capturing the essence of the book, Wayne was a perfect Rooster Cogburn, and Kim Darby was born to play Mattie Ross, and even secondary characters like Robert Duvall as Lucky Ned Pepper are perfect.The one glaring miscasting in the original movie is Glen Cambell as the Texas Ranger La Boeuf.Cambell is such a bad actor he really does drage the movie down.

But I digress, this is a review of the book.The book is told through the point of view of an old, one armed lady, Mattie Ross.She recounts her odyssey to avenge her fathers death at the hands of the no account Tom Chaney.To help her do this she enlists the help of hard living, hard drinking, shoot first and ask questions later Rooster Cogburn.The two seem polar opposites the Bible quoting puritanical Ross and the vulgar frontier Marshal, and these differences make up a lot of the humor in the book, but over the course of their adventure the reader learns they have one thing in common and that is "True Grit."I don't want give away all the differences between the book and the movie but there are enough to make the book adifferent and enjoyable experience.Lets just say the style of the book is more realistic without any perfect Hollywood endings.I love a good western and this one belongs on the top shelf along with "The Oxbow Incident," "Lonesome Dove," "The Treasure Of Sierra Madre" and "All the Pretty Horses."And for a great modern day western I recommend "Across the High Lonesome." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Un univers enfantin où il na faut pas tout croire
je n'ai pas du tout apprécié la fin du roman (si on peut appeler ça une fin). La principale qualité du dénouement de ce roman est qu'il n'y a plus de page à tourner car je me demande vraiment pourquoi, après avoir lu ce livre, elle a écrit un roman. Ce roman est le roman le plus mauvais que j'aie lu au complet! J'ai eu certes un peu de plaisir en le lisant et à un moment de l'histoire j'ambitionnais que ça allait toujours être meilleur en continuant l'histoire et jusqu'à la fin mais ce ne fut pas le cas.
Voici l'histoire : dans les années soixante-dix, une jeune fillette de 11 ans enquête sur la mort de son frere qui avait 9 ans lorsqu'il est mort le jour de la fete des mères dans la cour arrière de la demeure familiale pendu à un arbre (On n'a jamais retrouvé le coupable). La fillette avait 2 ans lorsque les événements sont arrivés. Alors elle pose des questions dans sa famille et c'est un sujet tabou alors ses tantes ne veulent pas aborder ce sujet avec elle. Sa soeur plus agée fait des cauchemars et on a l'impression que c'est relié au meurtre de leur frère mais quand la fillette lui pose des questions elle ne dit jamais rien sauf qu'elle sait qu'elle fait des cauchemars. Ensuite la bonne de la famille, une Noire manquant de jugement, confie à la fillette qu'elle est sûre que le meurtrier de son frère est un de ses petits copains dont elle n'aimait pas l'allure et qui était pauvre car il s'était vanté dans la cour de récréation de l'école que c'est lui qui avait commis le meurtre. Elle est sûre que c'est lui. Ma note est de 3 sur 10 ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive anthology of The Oxford American's most memorable pieces published during the first decade of the magazine's existence, these articles prove provocative, opinionated, and irreverent. The Oxford American has served as an incubator and archive for the most promising and most established voices in contemporary Southern writing. It offers up an extraordinary range of perspectives on a multitude of subjects, while always avoiding the hackneyed notion of the South as the exclusive province of the gothic or the sentimental dominion of moonlight and magnolias. Collected here are the magazine's stellar fiction and poetry offered alongside its best commentary, profiles, photography, comics, and reporting on politics, history, religions, art, books, film, and humor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent
The only element lacking in this collection are re-issues of the prized "Southern Music" CDs which appeared with the annual "Music Issue" of the Oxford American. Otherwise, for those who have not archived each issue of the magazine, this is an excellent selection.

Sadly, the Oxford American's precarious financial situation perpetually places it in the southern `lost cause' cliché. Would that some subscribers of other moribund New York-based `literary' magazines, which perpetually lurch around the elite graveyard of memory for its existence, abandon the shell and support the living, and the future. Intelligent readers will both want to own this volume, and subscribe to the Oxford American.

The New Yorker of the South
The demise of The Oxford American magazine is a tragedy! Thank goodness a person can still sample its pages in this wonderful compilation of fiction, essays and reviews. Tony Earley's essay, Letter from Sister: What We Learned at the P.O., which concerns Eudora Welty's great short story, is probably the best thing in the book. It doesn't stop there however; there is a sample of John T. Edge's great writing on southern food, Hal Crowther's review of Erskine Caldwell, Donna Tartt's thoughts on Willie Morris and so much more. This book, like the old Oxford American itself, is pure bliss.

UPDATE:Spring 2005."The Oxford American" is back!!I suggest that everyone with an interest in the American South spend some quality time with an issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

perfect for reading on the go
The idea of "the best of the Oxford American" brings out a lot of expectations.This magazine has been the home for a lot of special writing.This book provides some of those moments.I especially enjoyed the narrative of the small town photographer burdened by the unwelcome insights of his coworkers and the blank misunderstandings of his Disney World roadtripping friends.I think that the criticism by Tony Earley would have made just as good an introduction to this book as did Rick Bragg's more metaphorical observation that this writing is "heavy on the salt."
I would recommend this book for anyone that wants to read about the South as it actually is -- unique, history-addled, and genuinely "salty".

Truly the best of the best
This collection of works--fiction, nonfiction, poetry, reportage--by the biggest names writing in or about the South is a real treasure. For those already familiar with "the New Yorker of the South" it will remind those what have made the magazine so special for so many years, and for those who have not discovered the magazine, BOA will be a great introduction to the best in Southern belles lettres. The book, like the magazine itself, is a little trad and not good on commenting on the lives of blacks, gays/lesbians, and immigrants to the South, but there is much for everyone to enjoy here. ... Read more

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Chapters: Morgan Freeman, Bobbie Gentry, Alphonso Ford, Byron de La Beckwith, Cleo Lemon, Donna Tartt, Jim Gallagher, Jr., Betty Everett, Roy Yeager, Mulgrew Miller, George C. Carlson, Jr., Carrie Nye, Chris Walker, Paul Maholm, Riley Smith, Jonathan Van Every, Valerie Brisco-Hooks, Webb Franklin, Samuel Reeves Keesler, Charlie Weaver, Nick Weatherspoon, C. C. Brown, Bill Cody, Leroy Jones, Earnest Gray. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 105. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, film director, and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Freeman has appeared in many other box office hits, including Unforgiven, Glory, Seven, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears, Bruce Almighty, Batman Begins, The Bucket List, Evan Almighty, Wanted, and The Dark Knight. Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere) and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, currently Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School,...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=20584 ... Read more

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Although the Cleves generally revelled in every detail of their family history, the events of 'the terrible Mother's Day' were never, ever discussed. On that day, nine-year-old Robin Cleves, was found hanging by the neck from a rope slung over a black-tupelo tree in his own garden. Twelve years later, the mystery-with its taunting traces of foul play-was no nearer a solution than it had been on the day it happened.This isn't good enough for Robin's youngest sister Harriet. Only a baby when the tragedy occurred, but now twelve years old, Harriet is ready and eager to find and punish her brother's killer. Her closest friend Hely-who would try anything to make Harriet love him - has sworn allegiance to her call for revenge. But the world these plucky twelve-year-olds are to encounter is not child's play: it is dark, adult and all too menacing. In Donna Tartt's Mississippi, the sense of place and sense of the past mingle with rich human drama to create a powerful alchemy. Here a child's inquiring mind not only unearths telling family artefacts, but stirs up a neighbourhood nest of vipers and larceny.THE LITTLE FRIEND is a profoundly involving novel which demonstrates how the imaginary life embraces what literature we read, what special places we inhabit and what kindred souls we recognize, to help crack open even the darkest secrets life has hiding for us. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Wonderful, engrossing
This is one of the best books I have ever read, and I read constantly. Beautifully written, fascinating plot keeps the reader guessing, and adelightful, complicated protagonist--a 12-year-old girl, growing up in the Deep South, circa 1970.Reminded me of a modern-dayTo Kill a Mockingbird.

horrible
I'm sure others must have found merit in this book or it never would have made it into a paperback, but it was one of only two books I couldn't finish reading.The characters were just too awful to spend so much time with.I was surprised.I have read many very dark books, but this one was too long and unredeemed for me to wade through it.
Sorry. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Newsmakers 2004 Cumulation, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1816 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Newsmakers provides timely and informative profiles of the world's most interesting people. Separate obituaries provide concise profiles of recently deceased newsmakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Terrific reading of a modern classic
I read a lot of books (164 in 2007), and it's rare that I actually have an emotional response. Not to the story -- that has to happen or reading would be no fun at all. I mean feeling genuine affection for the characters, so that I'm actually sorry the story is over.

True Grit is the first book in a long time to elicit that response from me, and I'm not exactly sure why it did. It was certainly not the plot, which is simplicity itself: fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross hires an unconventional U.S. marshal, Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, to hunt down Tom Chaney, the man who killed her father. That's all, but it takes the whole book for that storyline to complete itself, and what a glorious ride it is.

What makes the read memorable is how Portis draws his two lead characters. The title attribute is at first meant to apply to Cogburn, of course, but we soon discover that Mattie herself has just as much "grit" (the word "sand" is also used in this way) when she asks the local sheriff for his opinion on who the best marshal is:

He said, "...I reckon William Waters is the best tracker. The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn. He is a pitiless man, double-tough, and fear don't enter into his thinking.... Now L.T. Quinn, he brings his prisoners in alive.... He will not plant evidence or abuse a prisoner. He is straight as a string. Yes, I will say that Quinn is about the best they have."

I said, "Where can I find this Rooster?"

Mattie is full of surprises, but we soon find that Rooster is, too. Introduced as a hard-drinking, unreliable man who is the epitome of the loner, Rooster begins to grudgingly admire the "sand" (a.k.a. "grit") of this "child" and a kind of respect (and later, affection) grows between them. It is this unexpected turn of character (along with other surprising touches that kept me on my toes) that display Portis's skill to such great effect.

Donna Tartt (an author in her own right) gives a fine reading on the audiobook of True Grit. Her Mississippi accent substitutes for the Arkansas twang of the characters well enough for most listeners, and her vocal characterizations are utterly perfect. Not only are they distinct and unmistakable, but they also express a deep knowledge of these people as individuals, allowing the listener to completely get lost in the story.

Tartt's afterword adds little except to express her entire family's love for the book (it is, I understand, an introduction to the print edition, and is probably better served in that capacity), but acts as a good celebration of a book that is likely to become one of my favorites, as well.

Like I stated at the beginning, very few books speak to my emotions the way that True Grit did, and I look forward to reexperiencing its wonders in the near future because this is one book that will require multiple readings to really understand its subtleties. This is not just a terrific Western; it's a terrific novel, and one that deserves a wider audience. ... Read more