Doc: A Novel Review

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Doc: A Novel ReviewI'm a huge Mary Doria Russell fan, BUT not so much a fan of "westerns"...so it was with a bit of trepidation that I approached reading and reviewing Russell's latest novel, "Doc", which takes place in Dodge City, Kansas in the late 1870s and with the legendary (and largely mythical) characters of Doc Holliday, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, etc. The eventual events in Arizona at the O.K. Corral are alluded to, but not the focus of this novel.
I needn't have worried, it is Russell's wonderful writing and thorough research that makes any subject interesting and accessible. She clearly revels in the research because hers is meticulous; she makes the "wild west" come alive in surprisingly non-stereotypical ways. Clearly she made an effort to separate the myth and legend of Doc Holliday from the truer (and more interesting) tale.
Set primarily in the summer of 1878, the story begins with Doc and his lady-love/prostitute, Kate, who are in Dodge City so that Doc can make enough money gambling to open a legitimate dentistry practice. Descriptions are vivid and fascinating of the riotous activity and carnival atmosphere in a town full of gambling houses and brothels and ignorant but newly rich cowboys. Russell paints a vivid picture of the burgeoning civilization coming to the "wild west" and I found her descriptions of the various denizens of Dodge at the cusp between wildness and civility to be fascinating. She provides the point of view for farmers, cowboys, lawmen, prostitutes and businessmen. Scenes in Doc's dentistry office are illuminating of early dentistry.
A young mixed race man, Johnnie Sanders, friend to both Doc and Wyatt Earp is killed. In an example of early crime forensics, Doc quickly ascertains that Johnnie was murdered and enlists lawman Earp (who feels somewhat guilty about what Johnnie was doing when he died) to help him establish that as fact, without much hope of catching the killer. This is merely a sub-plot, however, because the real meat of the story is in the characters and their relationships to each other and to Dodge City.
The is the fifth novel I've read by Mary Doria Russell, and once again, she made her characters so real to me that several times I found myself near tears with a distinct lump in my throat. I read a LOT and this does not happen to me routinely. She has never failed to move me, and I am always sad to close the last page. To prolong my enjoyment, when I finished the novel I put on a CD of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto and closed my eyes and imagined myself in a dance hall in Dodge City in 1878.
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