Doc

Despite this not being AT ALL the kind of book I'm interested in, I actually enjoyed it. ( )

“The Fates pursued him from the day he first drew breath, howling for his delayed demise.” (4)

Dr. John Henry Holliday, an exceptionally well-educated Atlanta-born Southern gentleman is given an ultimatum at the age of twenty-two when he is diagnosed with tuberculosis: remain in Georgia and die within months, or move West in the hope that the dry climate will help to restore his health. In 1878, Doc, as he will come to be known, arrives on the Texas frontier – young, lonely, sick, and afraid. His dream of establishing a thriving dental practice is ill-fated. As economic crisis wracks the nation, Doc soon finds himself gambling professionally and is poignantly aware of the depths of disgrace into which he has fallen:

“A conviction of his own disgrace had taken hold of him. He had begun to live down to his opinion of himself. His mother’s devotion, his aunts’ faith, his uncles’ money, his professors’ respect – all that had come to nothing. Worse than nothing, really. There wasn’t a family in Georgia that didn’t own up to at least one male who’d gambled away money, houses, land, and slaves, but John Henry Holliday had done the unforgivable. ‘A man could gamble himself to poverty and still be a gentleman,’ his second cousin Margaret would one day write in her famous book about the war, ‘but a professional gambler could never be anything but an outcast.’” (20)

Doc’s loneliness is abated when he takes up with Maria Katarina Harony, a wily Hungarian whore who can quote Latin classics right back at him. Kate scouts out high-stakes poker games which keep them both in high style, and it is she who persuades Doc to follow the money to Dodge City, Kansas. A cesspit of violence, greed, debauchery, and prostitution, Dodge is where Doc strikes up an unlikely friendship with lawman, Wyatt Earp. They will be disturbingly affected by the suspect death of mixed-blood boy, Johnnie Sanders. And some time later, in Tombstone, Arizona, the gunfight at the OK Corral will forever link their names as halves of an iconic frontier friendship.

Doc is a superb read. Russell is authentic, moving, and witty, and brings to life a host of memorable historical characters. But unquestionably, Doc is John Henry Holliday’s story. I was fascinated with the character whose life was governed by so many contrasts: Fate/science, East/West, North/South, health/illness, professionalism/disgrace, moral/criminal, to name a few. Russell is an author I must revisit. Highly recommended!

"'I know what is waiting for me at the end of this road. I am askin’ you to believe me: I am in no hurry to arrive at my destination. I know you’re scared, darlin.’ I’m scared, too.' He looked away. 'Christ, I am so damn tired of bein’ scared …’” (228) ( )

p.373 - :"They strolled toward town, stopping now and then to let him catch his breath and to gaze upward, for the west Kansas sky is black velvet on clear, cool December nights, and the Milky Way is strung across it like the diamond necklace of a crooked banker's mistress."
This quote is Mary Doria Russell all over. She takes an overworked simile or trope (Western) or icon (Doc Holliday) and makes it interesting again. Her Doc is more of a doomed Romantic Hero than anything else - and this book is partially dedicated to "Alice McKay Holliday, who raised a fine young man." But she does her research, and her Doc Holliday story is compelling and convincing. The scenes that are the most famous in lore tend to take place off-screen; I suspect so that the reader can fill it in themselves instead of comparing them to all the other versions out there. I don't much care about the entire Wyatt/Doc/OK Corral history, but this was *still* a satisfying book. I bought is because Russell can *write*, and I wasn't disappointed. ( )

I borrowed this book from the library after receiving several recommendations from people here on LibraryThing.

And once I started reading, I did not want to put it down!

The author has done a wonderful job of fleshing out names we've heard, and turning them into people we know by the end of the book. As I read, I got a greater understanding of these people from the 'Old West', and wished I could have known them in my life. People of legend like Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and, of course, 'Doc' Holliday, become real to the reader, like family from our past, and not two dimensional characters from a Hollywood production.

I also appreciate Ms. Russell being up front with what people and events she added. There is even a list of characters at the front of the book.

Highly recommended, and now on my Wishlist for a future reread! ( )

Doc is an outstanding historical novel of Dodge City, Kansas in the post Civil War era. The Earps, Bat Masterson and John Henry "Doc" Holliday and Kate find themselves coping with the violence, gambling and prostitution as cattle drives from Texas fill up much of the narrative along with local politics . This is really a character study of Doc Holliday starting with his early life in Georgia to Texas to Dodge and finally to Glenwood Springs, Colorado. He is painted as a dedicated dentist, a gambler of considerable skill, some prone to violence as well as someone in constant pain. In addition there is also a mystery to be solved. Johnny Sanders a popular faro dealer is found dead in the burned city horse barn. He didn't own a horse and his winningsa re missing as well.

Mary Dora Russell makes use of available historical records, letters and biographies to give us a full, nuanced view of these often misinterpreted icons of the American prior to their famous and often mythologized showdown with the Clantons in Tombstone, Arizona.

While I am not an avid reader of western fiction this novel stands out along with and perhaps even above a few of my favorite novels of the American west including The Sisters Brothers, Little Big Man and Welcome to Deadwood. It is Russell's deep and penetrating character study of the above mentioned individuals (also including Kate Elder) that ring true and lifts this work alongside of the best novels about the American west. ( )