Doc is Mary Doria Russell’s foray into the Wild West. It seems to be her aim in life to leave me a blubbering pile of mush when I finish her novels, but, I must say, the emotional roller coaster is worth it.
“We are none of us born into Eden,” Doc said reasonably. “world’s plenty evil when we get here. Question is, what’s the best way to play a bad hand?”…” -Doc Holliday
Doc is a daisy of a book.
Thoroughly researched, and thoughtfully written, Russell gives us a picture of John Henry Holliday’s time in Dodge, after an illuminating look at his childhood, especially his relationship with his mother, who not only ensured he live through being born with a cleft palette, but home-schooled him so successfully that he spoke with a gentleman’s crisp elegance in several languages, was a well-respected dentist, and was one hell of a piano player. Alice Holliday raised a renaissance man who was at tough as he was frail, stuck in a wild west when he was better suited to a sophisticated Europe.
The thing about historical fiction is this: we know how the story is going to end. We know the Titanic will sink. We know Morgan will be gunned down after the O. K. Corral debacle. The plot doesn’t provide the suspense; the character development does.
Russell’s characters are so well-written you can smell the dirt on their boots and hear the cough that tears through Doc every day. Wyatt is wooden and hard to get to know, and Morgan is an introvert’s introvert. But, it’s the women in the story that moved me to tears. Mattie Blaylock and Kate are opposites, but each so compelling. I loved and hated them both, and by the end of the book, it’s their stories as much as Doc’s and the Earp brother’s that moved me.
An excerpt:
“In spite of it all, [Wyatt] began to pray. Dear Lord, please give him more time. Please, Lord, let him finish!
But John Henry Holliday was praying too, just as earnestly, and to any god who might listen. Now. Now. Take me now.
Now: with this music beneath his hands. Now, while he was still a man who might make his mother proud.. Now: while beauty could still beat back the blind and brutal disease that was eating him alive.
So he held nothing back, tempting the Fates, defying them, seducing them.”
Russell has a soft spot for Doc, and this portrait of him is sympathetic and romantic, but it’s well-crafted, meticulously researched, and when I turned the last page, I hoped for more (which, thankfully, there is in the sequel, Epitaph).
If you enjoy vivid well-researched historical fiction, stories of deep friendships and courage, then give Doc a try. You’re a daisy if you do.