I hadn't read this book mainly for the same reason it fell out of favor in American literature courses. It was tarnished by the version portrayed in the John Wayne film. So I have just been living this whole time assuming the movie(s) were the more significant properties and that the book had merely the same curiosity as many generative IPs in our modern filmmaking process. Not so! I am very happy to report (if you need me to) that this is a masterpiece of craftsmanship and worthy of its former place in classroom reading lists (Huckleberry Finn, To Kill A Mockingbird, etc).

Portis created a fantastic narrator in Hattie Ross and the perspective of the tale, the use of time, forges a story with so many stand out scenes and clever elements of craft that I spent most of the read taking notes. I'll be returning to this one.