Is there an audiobook of True Grit: A Novel?

Yes. True Grit: A Novel has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Donna Tartt.

How long is the True Grit: A Novel audiobook?

The True Grit: A Novel audiobook runs 6 hr 15 min.

Is True Grit: A Novel on Kindle Unlimited?

Yes. True Grit: A Novel was included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on August 20, 2026.

True Grit: A Novel by Charles Portis book cover for the Book of the Day western book review

Our score

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to True Grit: A Novel free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

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EDITION PUBLISHEDNovember 2010

Genres

Fiction Western Classics

Themes

Courage and stubborn willGrief and the demand for justiceUnlikely loyalty between mismatched peopleThe hard cost of the frontier

True Grit: A Novel

Name: True Grit: A Novel
Price: 3.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Charles Portis

Charles Portis

Charles Portis's True Grit is a lean, wickedly funny revenge western narrated by one of the great voices in American fiction: Mattie Ross, a fourteen-year-old who hires a one-eyed marshal to hunt the man who killed her father and refuses, ever, to be left behind.

The Review

Our take

The whole novel lives or dies on Mattie's voice, and it more than survives. She tells this story decades later as a stern, unmarried, Bible-quoting old woman, and that flat, formal, utterly self-assured narration is the book's secret engine. She haggles over horses, lectures grown killers on scripture, and reports terrible violence in the same starched, matter-of-fact tone she uses for a ledger entry. The effect is both hilarious and oddly moving: a child's iron will rendered in the cadence of a frontier deposition.

The plot is simple and clean. Mattie's father is shot down by a coward named Tom Chaney, the law won't pursue him into Indian Territory, so she hires Rooster Cogburn, a fat, drunk, trigger-happy U.S. marshal with, as she puts it, true grit. A vain young Texas Ranger named LaBoeuf attaches himself to the hunt, and the three of them ride into hard country trading insults the entire way. Portis keeps the prose spare and the pacing brisk; there is no fat on this book, no wasted scene, and it moves like the manhunt it is.

What sneaks up on you is how much feeling sits underneath the comedy. Mattie and Rooster are an unlikely pair, the girl all rectitude and the marshal all ruined appetite, and the slow, grudging respect that grows between them is the real story. Portis never sentimentalizes it. He lets the bond be earned through cold nights, bad decisions, and one genuinely harrowing stretch near the end that I won't spoil but that recasts everything light about what came before.

If there's a caveat, it's tonal: the deadpan, antique diction takes a few pages to settle into, and readers expecting a grim, gritty modern western may be surprised by how funny and almost prim the book is on the surface. That formality is the point, though. Give it twenty pages and Mattie's voice will have you completely. It's also short, which is a feature; this is a book you can finish in an afternoon and then immediately want to press on someone else.

Why you should read

Great if you love a strong, singular first-person voice
Great if you want a western that's genuinely funny
Great if you prefer a short, tightly plotted read
Great if you like the classic frontier-revenge setup done with wit

What to expect

Deadpan, formal narration that takes a few pages to settle
A lean, fast-moving manhunt with no filler
Comedy and real feeling running side by side
An unforgettable teenage narrator at the center

It has outlived two famous film versions and deserves to. Strip away the movie-star associations and what remains is a small, perfect novel about courage, grievance, and the strange affections forged on a hard road. Portis was a sly, precise stylist, and every sentence here is doing more than one job at once; the comedy is never just comedy, and the violence is never just violence. He also has a wonderful ear for the talk of the period, the formal courtroom phrasing and the tall-tale bluster, and he plays the two registers off each other for pages at a time. The result is a book that feels both antique and completely alive, a frontier story you could hand to someone who swears they hate westerns and watch them get pulled straight in. Come for the manhunt and the one-liners; stay for Mattie Ross, who is unforgettable.

Reviewed by Rowan · How our reviews are written

Our verdict

4.6/ 5

Outstanding

Listen to True Grit: A Novel free with an Audible trial Narrator, runtime & our audio review

Included with Kindle Unlimited Buy on Amazon

Kindle$7.19−45%$3⁹⁹

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Prices may vary.

Where to read or listen

Is there an audiobook of True Grit: A Novel?: Yes. True Grit: A Novel has an Audible audiobook edition, narrated by Donna Tartt.
Listen to True Grit: A Novel free with an Audible trial
We earn from qualifying Amazon purchases.
How long is the True Grit: A Novel audiobook?: The True Grit: A Novel audiobook runs 6 hr 15 min.
Is True Grit: A Novel on Kindle Unlimited?: Yes. True Grit: A Novel was included with Kindle Unlimited when we last checked on August 20, 2026.
How much does True Grit: A Novel cost?: On Amazon: Kindle $3.99. Prices as of September 19, 2026 at 2:21 AM EDT and may change.

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Common questions

What is True Grit: A Novel about?: The whole novel lives or dies on Mattie's voice, and it more than survives. She tells this story decades later as a stern, unmarried, Bible-quoting old woman, and that flat, formal, utterly self-assured narration is the book's secret engine. She haggles over horses, lectures grown killers on…
Is True Grit: A Novel worth reading?: We scored True Grit: A Novel 4.6 out of 5. Charles Portis's True Grit is a lean, wickedly funny revenge western narrated by one of the great voices in American fiction: Mattie Ross, a fourteen-year-old who hires a one-eyed marshal to hunt the man who killed her father and refuses, ever, to be left behind.