You give out very little sugar with your pronouncements. --Mr. LeBoeuf, to Mattie.
Last night, the NoVA Lit Chicks met for "Movie Night," in lieu of a regular book discussion. We are resetting the calendar back to the first Tuesday of the month, so now we are back on track for April's discussion of The Weird Sisters, by Eleanor Brown.
Debra's book, True Grit, by Charles Portis, was recently remade as Coen Brothers movie and we decided to watch the new release as a group. As the last book selection of our "Young Adult" theme, I chose this book for discussion because (a) it has a 14 year old girl as the hero and (b) I watched the old John Wayne movie with my grandfather as a kid.
Reading this book as an adult, and then watching the movie with my Lit Chick girlfriends, proved how timeless it is. The dialogue was sharp and biting, all the more entertaining when we realized that nineteenth century western roughnecks have a better command of the King's English than we do. We joked that contractions must not have been invented in the nineteenth century. Mattie's character never ceased to amaze, her negotiations and tenacity with Colonel Stonehill and Rooster Cogburn made you wonder who was the real adult. Though Rooster Cogburn was the tough, whiskey drinking U.S. Marshal, based on Mattie's sharp tongue, adventerous spirit and dogged determination, I think we all agreed that she was the one with the "true grit."
Since this meeting was only two weeks past our March meeting, we opted to keep things simple and just ordered in pizza. Thank you Sara for hosting, the food, wine, discussion and company was excellent as always! See everyone at Carrie's in April!
I did attempt to spend a day speaking without using any contractions (having been inspired by this movie). I do not think I lasted more than 5 minutes into the school day!
ReplyDeleteI did not get a chance to read the book (yet), but was pleasantly surprised by the movie. Mattie was phenomenal (both the character and the actress). I was a little thrown off by Matt Damon's appearance as he just does not seem to fit in a western. I would be interested to see how I would react to his character in print. However, now his face will forever be associated with the character for me!
This book/movie was a great example of keeping an open mind. I was not thrilled when this book/movie was initially selected as it just did not seem to be for me. I have never found myself leaning towards reading (or watching) a western. I will not say that I plan to go out and start reading western novels, but a strong character can transcend any genre!
Note: I did not use contractions anywhere in this post!