True Grit - written by a man but with one of the strongest female narrators

CharlesPortis's 1968 novel, True Grit, continues through the first half to be a great read (and obviously terrific material for a movie), based on its swift and concise action - the 14-year-old narrator hires a tough gunman to kill the man who shot her father to death and, against his wishes, she attaches herself to him (and to another bounty hunter) and forces them to take her on as part of the posse - and most of all on the wit and intelligence of the narrator, Mattie Ross. Of course her wit is by definition Portis's, and he fashions her into an amazing, brave, and determined character - amazing how much she (or he) knows about the law, bounty hunting, firearms, and horse trading. In fact, if I had to buy a used car in Arkansas I'd want Portis negotiating price for me. It's taken me a bit of time to "place" this novel, but based on Mattie's references to a few public figures, it seems the narrator is living in about 1930 (and much be about 65 years old) and is telling the story of events in her life in about 1880, when she was 14; the setting is Fort Smith, a city in NW Arkansas, and the three in the posse - Mattie, Rooster (played in the movie by John Wayne), LeBeuf (sp?) set off into what was then the Choctaw Nation (today mostly Oklahoma I think). The plot is, superficially, straightforward, as all three want to capture Tom Chaney, the man who shot Mattie's father, but they have various conflicting interests (LeBeuf, for ex., wants to capture him and deliver him to federal authorities to collect a large bounty; Mattie just wants him dead), which give the narrrative some tension. All told, so far, it's a really strong story - and though it's written by a man he's created one of the strongest female narrators since maybe Charlotte Bronte or Carson McCullers.