Doc in WACKY READING CHALLENGES

Sep 09, 2012 Book Concierge rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio, historical-fiction, texas, 19th-century, concierge, library, western, kansas

Audio book performed by Mark Bramhall

John Henry “Doc” Holliday was educated, a Southern gentleman, an accomplished pianist, a compassionate dentist, a gambler, and tubercular. Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Morgan and James, were the proof that sons raised by a bully will either follow in his footsteps or rebel by becoming champions of the downtrodden. These iconic figures of the American West are forever linked by the events of one afternoon in Tombstone Arizona. But this book introduces us to th ...more

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Aug 02, 2014 Olivermagnus rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, historical-mystery, 2020

Doc primarily takes place in Dodge City, Kansas in 1878 where John Henry “Doc” Holliday is hoping to make enough money gambling to open a dentistry practice with his cousin. The majority of the story is true, but the book is a historical fiction novel about the life and times of Holliday, known in history for his association with the Earp brothers. He and the Earps are famous for the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, but that is not the focus of "Doc." Russell begins and ends her book wi Doc primarily takes place in Dodge City, Kansas in 1878 where John Henry “Doc” Holliday is hoping to make enough money gambling to open a dentistry practice with his cousin. The majority of the story is true, but the book is a historical fiction novel about the life and times of Holliday, known in history for his association with the Earp brothers. He and the Earps are famous for the shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, but that is not the focus of "Doc." Russell begins and ends her book with single chapters that give the highlights of Doc's life before and after her story's setting in Dodge City, Kansas.

Doc, a Georgia native suffering from tuberculosis, moves west for his health, making his way to Dodge City to play poker and work as a faro dealer. There he takes up with the Earps, a prostitute named Kate, and a mixed race boy named Johnny Sanders, whose death in a suspicious barn fire lead both Doc and Wyatt to investigate why everyone else was able to escape the fire in the Famous Elephant Barn but this young man died.

The author fills her story with a wealth of both fictional and historical characters to create a riveting look into some of the most interesting personalities in the Old West, including the Earps and Bat Masterson. There is plenty of rich historical data included with the fictional portions of this story and the two meld together to make the story very real.

Doc Holliday was a very complex person. In this novel we get a detailed picture of a loquacious, tubercular man who seems always just a step away from death. He was a highly educated and cultured Southern gentleman with a weakness for sartorial affectations and a love of fine literature, beautiful music, and foreign languages. He also knows that he is a dying man. At one point he meets a young woman who doesn't yet know she has tuberculosis but Doc recognizes her symptoms. He discourages her visits to him while he is ill because he feels he is “the ghost of Christmases yet to come.” Doc's tuberculosis is almost a character of its own.

The interaction between the characters and the beautiful turns of phrase makes this book a wonderful reading experience. The old west and Doc Holliday vividly come to life as do all of the characters. Kate, who was also known as Katie Elder and “Big Nose” Kate, worked as a prostitute even as she was living with him. She maintained a complex relationship with Doc who considered her his intellectual equal.

I loved this book and would highly recommend it for a fascinating look at the complicated man behind his legend. ...more

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