True Grit

I don't really have an excuse for taking 8 days to read a 255-page book that really is written at a pretty breakneck pace once the meat of the story starts. Actually that's a lie; my excuse is that I had two job offers this week and so I spent a lot of this week vibrating with anxiety, finding myself literally unable to sit still and read over my lunch break like I usually do. (I did finally accept one of them and put in my notice; now the anxiety tremor is slightly more manageable, and I finished this, so.)

Mattie is a pretty badass character, very headstrong and really judgmental; she's the kind of young lady that if she can't find someone to do her bidding, she'll threaten and pay off and cajole you until you give in to what she wants, or she'll do the damn thing herself. I read the first part where she's negotiating the return of her recently-perished father's recently-acquired ponies, and she's basically demanding what she wants, absolutely no shame. And I thought, I could learn a lot from this girl, especially in light of said job offers. I'll admit, I want people to like me and don't want to rock the boat unless there's a really good reason to do so. Mattie does not give two shits if people like her, she finds some dudes who want to capture the guy who shot her father and they ride off west to capture him, and ... shenanigans ensue (except that it's very rugged and outdoorsy and Wild West, so “shenanigans” doesn't really capture the vibe). It's very violent, lots of people get shot, lots of pieces of people get amputated.

This was for book club; I would not have picked it up otherwise. I liked it, didn't love it. I definitely skimmed a little bit when there were big chunks where Rooster was talking about his service during the Civil War, but I find people talking about their military service kind of dull.