Doc in Reading with Style

Jul 24, 2011 Megan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction

So, yes, I cried, and yes, it happened in similar circumstances to the time when I cried reading Mary Doria Russell's debut novel, The Sparrow. The most happy scene in the book, where the protagonist is practically lit up with joy and peace and seems to be touching that sacred thread of home and belonging and is shot through with transcendent love radiating back from the universe, THAT, that's the scene that reduced me to tears.

The thing is this: Russell is great with the omniscient point of vie So, yes, I cried, and yes, it happened in similar circumstances to the time when I cried reading Mary Doria Russell's debut novel, The Sparrow. The most happy scene in the book, where the protagonist is practically lit up with joy and peace and seems to be touching that sacred thread of home and belonging and is shot through with transcendent love radiating back from the universe, THAT, that's the scene that reduced me to tears.

The thing is this: Russell is great with the omniscient point of view. She writes stories that truly need it, stories where the unseen forces of fate or otherwise are an active presence, stories you want to read despite knowing the ending (spoiler alert: lots of tragedy, both ordinary and extraordinary). Doc is no exception to Russell's oeuvre. I enjoyed her prior two historical fiction novels, but oh man, Doc was a far more personal story, and you could tell how much patient love and appreciation Russell had for, in particular, Doc and Wyatt. They're multi-dimensional characters, and even if their Old West legends hang overhead for the reader, the characters are simply living their lives as best as they can.

By choice, I read this book a few pages at a time over the course of two months. I'm a huge fan of Russell's writing, and so I knew I wanted to savor this novel and enjoy it for as long as possible. Doc didn't disappoint as a slow read. There's a little bit of a mystery to the plot, and there are quite a few gunshots fired, but for the most part, this is a book guided by its characters, and delving into their lives is the real treat. It's not a plot-driven page-turner. It's a slow-burn character study, a tribute to a sickly young gentleman gambler/gunslinger/dentist/pianist and all his other compatriots struggling to thrive in the Old West. Everyone has a story, and most of them are sad, and these "ghost lives" of what-might-have-been haunt each page. There are a lot of characters, but with the help of the list at the beginning of the book, I was able to remember who everyone was. (I was, however, often just as confused as Wyatt about Dodge's rocky political landscape, but I think that was intentional.)

It's not all sad. Just mostly. I was laughing out loud at the scene where Doc and Morgan are teasing a clueless Wyatt on the name of his horse (Dick Nailor). Russell's great with teasing out character-based humor. And the push-and-pull relationship between Doc and Kate was awful and heart-rending and frustrating and heart-breaking.

The ultimate emotional place the book to me to, though, wasn't depressing. It was just honest and a little raw. The world's a cruel place, but sometimes, we find home in the love offered by other people: open-heartedly or guardedly, in the form of companionship, in the form of books, in the form of service, in the form of a ghost-lives-waltz in a crowded Dodge saloon over Christmas while a dying, deadly dentist pounds the piano keys and prays. ...more

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Dec 08, 2014 Juniper rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library-borrow, historical-fiction, 2018-books, audiobook

i wish we could rate books on different criteria, and not just have it as one overall rating. anyway... this was my second audiobook. the negatives i feel over this book are all down to the narrator. i may get a bit rant-y. i know i am a audiobook newbie, and that listeners will have preferences for certain narrators. but, i developed some strong opinions on narration while listening to doc, even though my experience with audiobooks is very limited.

first, and very positively, russell's story is ...more

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May 11, 2012 Susan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, american-west, america

If you are looking for another version of the OK Corral this is not it. "Doc" is an interesting portrayal of the early days of Kansas and the life of John "Doc" Holliday. This was my first Mary Doria Russell read but it will not be my last. ...more

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