On my last night in Seattle (shortly after missing the QL meetup), I dashed the Third Place before they closed and bought True Grit so I could do this book club. Just finished it yesterday.

Grit (n): firmness of character; indomitable spirit; pluck: "She has a reputation for grit and common sense."

In the story, Mattie chose Rooster as her marshall because she heard that he had True Grit. I want to know who you think had more True Grit in the book: Mattie or Rooster?

Rooster was the one specifically identified as having true grit. He had a checkered past, did all the tracking with his sketchy resources, and carried Mattie to safety at the end of the book. God knows he was intended to be the grittier character in the older movie (all John Wayne movies are about John Wayne).

However, from the new movie and from the book, I hold with Mattie. She faced down the broker in Fort Smith and came out ahead, forced herself on the trip, withstood all the trip challenges, shot Tom Chaney herself, survived kidnapping and snakebite, and saw to it that everyone got paid. Not bad for a 14 year old girl.

So:

1. Who had more grit? I'm not sure if this is an easy or hard question, sort of like Frankenstein (DID YOU KNOW that man is the true monster in the end?!).

2. I love Mattie's character and I think she's an awesome role model. What are some other examples of gritty women in literature? I thought of Eliza Bennett and Katniss Everdeen. Anyone who says Bella Swan gets tossed in the snake pit.