by Charles Portis
Started: January 10Finished: January 12
Notes: This was a nice Christmas present, the novel upon which now two rather famous movies have been based. I have yet to see the newest movie version starring Jeff Bridges, but I am a long-time fan of the original film starring John Wayne. I expect this novel to be a treasure.
Mini review: This novel is a true American classic. It is one of the few novels with which I'm familiar that combines genre and literary writing and does so quite well. I feel the movies have overshadowed this piece of literature, which is a shame. The novel is as good as anything Cormac McCarthy has written, or any other modern writers who blend literary styles with genre trappings. If you only know the movies, do yourself a favor and read the book. You'll get a slightly different perspective, especially if you are only familiar with the John Wayne movie, which is still a good movie but focuses more on the Rooster character as the main character than does the novel, which has Mattie as the main character.
3 comments:
I've got a differnt version of this book
Charles, is it an older cover?
This one is the release for the new Coen Brothers movie, which I've yet to see.
I've long been a fan of the original movie, and I read some of the novel years and years ago as a serial in an old magazine, but I can't remember which one. Maybe Atlantic Monthly? Or Saturday Evening Post? It was one of those big literary mags.
I should read this one, and also see the new movie. I've read a couple of Portis' work--the one I remember off the top of my head is "Dog of the South," about a road trip to Belize.
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