NPR's Book of the Day – “Revisiting Charles Portis’ True Grit”

Date: November 1, 2025
Host: Andrew Limbong & B.A. Parker
Guest: Michel Martin (Host, NPR’s Morning Edition)
Special Guest: Téa Obreht (Author)

Episode Overview

This episode revisits Charles Portis’ novel True Grit, examining its enduring appeal, unique narrative voice, and place within the Western genre. Host Andrew Limbong, co-host B.A. Parker, and guest Michel Martin discuss their personal connections to the book, its subversion of Western tropes, themes of female agency, consequences, and its gritty, humorous style. The episode also features a conversation with novelist Téa Obreht about the Western’s legacy and Portis’ influence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. True Grit as a Female-Centered Quest

• Breaking the Mold:

  • Michel Martin highlights the rarity of "girls on a quest" stories when she first read True Grit as a Black girl from Brooklyn:
    • “There were not a lot of stories that featured girls on a quest. Right. This is a quest. She's in search of something. She's the protagonist. She's on the move. She wasn't a bystander. She wasn't, like, waiting to be rescued.” (00:00, 03:47)
  • The podcast celebrates protagonist Mattie Ross for her agency and depth, instead of being a passive bystander or sidekick.

• Impact on Readers:

  • B.A. Parker and Martin discuss the hunger for stories where girls “get to do something other than stand there, like in a dress, watching her brothers play ball.” (04:13)
  • Parker expresses regret that she didn’t read True Grit as a child instead of Tom Sawyer:
    • "I would have loved to have read this in school instead of like, Tom Sawyer. No, no offense, Mark Twain, but like a plucky girl who is like, very steadfast and very earnest and her moral compass is set but... learns some really adult lessons." (05:09)

2. Skepticism and Nuance in Westerns

• Skepticism Toward Westerns:

  • Parker and Martin acknowledge the Western genre’s history of promoting white male patriarchy and its lack of nuance, which initially made Parker “leery” of the genre. (05:09)

• Portis’ Subversion of Tropes:

  • True Grit stands out for centering a capable, complex young female.
  • The book resists sexualizing Mattie, unusual for a story about a young girl among dangerous men:
    • "There's no real hint of her being sexualized... the fact that she was able to exist in a space without being sexualized and to be able to follow that through...[was] comforting." – Michel Martin (12:59)

3. Charles Portis' Biography and Literary Voice

• Portis’ Career:

  • Started in journalism; worked for the Arkansas Gazette and New York Herald Tribune.

• Distinctive Voice:

  • Fascinated by 19th-century American speech patterns; serialized True Grit in the Saturday Evening Post in 1968.
  • Martin and Parker praise the strength and rhythm of Portis’ prose, notably its journalistic directness—a blend of “long baroque sentences” and a “nut graph” style that lays out the facts up front. (16:47, 18:21)

• Memorable Opening (Read Aloud):

  • “People do not give it credence that a 14 year old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood. But it did not seem so strange then...I was just 14 years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father…” (17:03)

4. Violence, Consequences, and Realism

• Brutality and Consequences:

  • The book doesn’t shy from violence and consequences; Mattie loses her arm, people die, and children are involved in real danger.

    • “It’s a world of consequences, which I think is, like, important for kids to read.” – B.A. Parker (19:44)
    • “I think that there should be more books where, like, kids have consequences.” – B.A. Parker (19:56)

  • Martin points out how this realism resonates in a world where kids already encounter violence:

    • “I appreciated the fact that kids' lives are real... there are consequences. They are going to live those consequences.” (23:24)

5. The Trio Dynamic and Gendered Freedom

• Not Just a Duo:

  • Martin interprets the story less as an old man/young woman dyad and more as a trio—Rooster, LaBeouf, and Mattie—mirroring family roles of sibling rivalry and competition:
    • “You got the big brother who's Rooster... LaBeouf, who's like the shaky teen... and then you've got this little sister who's fighting for space.” (10:18)

• Significance for Girls:

  • Martin underscores the personal and societal significance of Mattie’s journey, relating it to her own experience as a woman and a mother:
    • “To have a girl who can walk in the world freely or chooses to... maybe some people won't understand but... that I just thought was so insightful of Portis.” (12:59)

6. Faith and Humor

• Religious Undertones:
  • The story’s Presbyterian and biblical backbone felt normal and even comforting to Martin:
    • “She has so many famous lines... she’s like, I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains. I can imagine my grandmother saying something like that.” (16:06)
• Humor Amid Grit:
  • The panel praises Portis’s understated humor:
    • “I’m just flipping through it. There's a couple markings where I'm underlining it and just writing LOL in it... I don’t know how to describe the humor... but there’s a couple like laugh out loud moments..." – Andrew Limbong (26:31)

7. Why Read True Grit Today?

• Michel Martin:
  • “Cause it’s real... the fact that girls do things, you know, girls can do things in the world and they see a lot and they have to deal with it. I just think all of those things, I think it’s really. I think it’s very profound.” (25:17)
• B.A. Parker:
  • “It’s such an engrossing story. The fact that they have me empathizing with a violent alcoholic ex-confederate... It's also just something that I know if I'd read this as a young girl, I would have been over the moon.” (25:51)

Recommendations (“If you like this, you should read that”)

(28:16)

• Andrew Limbong:
  • Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy—another young protagonist in a violent western, working in the tradition True Grit established.
• B.A. Parker:
  • Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery—for “young girl pluck,” whimsy, and coming-of-age.
• Michel Martin:
  • Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh—a younger-skewing book featuring a capable young girl protagonist taking action.

Author Téa Obreht on the Western and Portis

Starts at: (30:05)

• Discovering Portis:

  • Obreht, author of Inland, describes Portis’ reputation and her own awe at True Grit’s quality upon finally reading it.
    • “I couldn't believe how good the book was. And it was even better than people had told me...” (30:42)

• The Western’s Evolving Role:

  • She explains the Western genre's problematic legacy—"at its heart is individualism and hardiness and masculinity and whiteness"—and how Portis subverts it by focusing on specificity and flawed characters, not just nationalistic myth.
    • “What Portis does in True Grit is poke holes in the project. He highlights the ridiculousness of it and the ridiculousness of the pomp and circumstance of it.” (34:13)
  • Obreht admires the “granular” focus in True Grit, grounded in unique voices and priorities, as opposed to a grand, propagandistic narrative.

• Parallel Literary Missions:

  • Both Portis and Obreht are interested in writing about people who don't typically headline Westerns, unromanticizing the West and foregrounding "the worst impulses in humanity" present in everyone, not just villains.
    • “It’s not even about anti heroism. It’s about how the worst impulses in humanity are present in everybody.” (35:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “There were not a lot of stories that featured girls on a quest...She wasn't a bystander. She wasn't, like, waiting to be rescued.” – Michel Martin (00:00, 03:47)
• “I would have loved to have read this in school instead of like, Tom Sawyer. No offense, Mark Twain...” – B.A. Parker (05:09)
• "The fact that there's no real hint of her being sexualized... that part was comforting." – Michel Martin (12:59)
• “I think that there should be more books where, like, kids have consequences.” – B.A. Parker (19:56)
• “She has so many famous lines... I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.” – Michel Martin (16:06)
• “It’s such an engrossing story. The fact that they have me empathizing with a violent alcoholic ex confederate...” – B.A. Parker (25:51)
• “It’s also really funny.” – Andrew Limbong (26:25)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Mattie as heroine & genre-busting quest: 00:00, 03:47, 04:13
• Western tropes and subversion: 05:09, 10:18
• Sexualization, agency, and comfort: 12:59
• Portis' literary style: 16:47, 17:03, 18:21
• Violence and its consequences: 19:44, 19:56, 23:24
• Religious and humorous undertones: 16:06, 26:31
• Why read it now: 25:17, 25:51
• Book recommendations: 28:16
• Téa Obreht on Portis and the genre: 30:05–36:07

Tone and Language

The discussion is lively, warm, irreverent, and insightful. The hosts’ and guest’s personal connections and amusement with the book shine through, balanced with thoughtful critique and cultural analysis. The episode is highly accessible (and recommended) for anyone interested in the Western genre—or in stories of young women with agency—whether or not they have read True Grit.

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