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A review by earthgirl207
Doc by Mary Doria Russell
5.0
I first saw this book in a souvenir shop in Tombstone, Arizona, after watching a reenactment of the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral involving Doc Holliday and the Earps. I assumed it would be a book form of the typical shoot-'em-out Westerns that I grew up with, but this book is so much more.
I read historical fiction to gain passage into another time and place, and this book did not disappoint. In a seamless fashion, the author presents the backstory and perspective of not only Doc but all of the major players of Dodge City, Kansas, and lays bare the unexpected diversity of the typical frontier town of the time. Those who grew up with '50s Westerns and Bonanza are used to a one-dimensional, whitewashed history, but Russell takes care to present the town as the kaleidoscope that it really was, and presents each perspective in a nuanced and compassionate fashion.
The character of Doc was especially a treat, shown to be an elegant, educated (but flawed) Southern gentleman, exiled by tuberculosis and forced by his weakness to project a much fiercer image to those around him to protect himself. This, combined with the famous gunfight, fed the legend that most people know today, much to the dismay of Doc and his genteel family back home.
I read this book over the course of a month (because I read slow), and throughout that month I found myself mulling over one aspect or another of the book while I did other activities. This is the type of book that is so real-seeming and eloquent that it gets under your skin.
I read historical fiction to gain passage into another time and place, and this book did not disappoint. In a seamless fashion, the author presents the backstory and perspective of not only Doc but all of the major players of Dodge City, Kansas, and lays bare the unexpected diversity of the typical frontier town of the time. Those who grew up with '50s Westerns and Bonanza are used to a one-dimensional, whitewashed history, but Russell takes care to present the town as the kaleidoscope that it really was, and presents each perspective in a nuanced and compassionate fashion.
The character of Doc was especially a treat, shown to be an elegant, educated (but flawed) Southern gentleman, exiled by tuberculosis and forced by his weakness to project a much fiercer image to those around him to protect himself. This, combined with the famous gunfight, fed the legend that most people know today, much to the dismay of Doc and his genteel family back home.
I read this book over the course of a month (because I read slow), and throughout that month I found myself mulling over one aspect or another of the book while I did other activities. This is the type of book that is so real-seeming and eloquent that it gets under your skin.