Norwood

I know it's not fair to compare an author's later masterpiece to his first novel.

But, I'll do it anyway.

“Norwood” was a slog despite being quite a slim volume. Even in the first few pages, I found myself not following what was happening. Sure, the characterization is interesting and there are sparkles of great dialogue, but this book goes a lot of nowhere despite mostly being set outside of the town from when Norwood came. Portis' later “True Grit” is absolutely amazing, so perhaps this book had to be shed to move on to future greatness.