Doc

A Novel

By: Mary Doria Russell

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The year is 1878, peak of the Texas cattle trade. The place is Dodge City, Kansas, a saloon-filled cow town jammed with liquored-up adolescent cowboys and young Irish hookers. Violence is random and routine, but when the burned body of a mixed-blood boy named Johnnie Sanders is discovered, his death shocks a part-time policeman named Wyatt Earp. And it is a matter of strangely personal importance to Doc Holliday, the frail 26-year-old dentist who has just opened an office at No. 24, Dodge House.

Beautifully educated, born to the life of a Southern gentleman, Dr. John Henry Holliday is given an awful choice at the age of 22: die within months in Atlanta or leave everyone and everything he loves in the hope that the dry air and sunshine of the West will restore him to health. Young, scared, lonely, and sick, he arrives on the rawest edge of the Texas frontier just as an economic crash wrecks the dreams of a nation. Soon, with few alternatives open to him, Doc Holliday is gambling professionally; he is also living with Mária Katarina Harony, a high-strung Hungarian whore with dazzling turquoise eyes, who can quote Latin classics right back at him. Kate makes it her business to find Doc the high-stakes poker games that will support them both in high style. It is Kate who insists that the couple travel to Dodge City, because “That’s where the money is.”

And that is where the unlikely friendship of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp really begins - before Wyatt Earp is the prototype of the square-jawed, fearless lawman; before Doc Holliday is the quintessential frontier gambler; before the gunfight at the O.K. Corral links their names forever in American frontier mythology - when neither man wanted fame or deserved notoriety.

Authentic, moving, and witty, Mary Doria Russell’s fifth novel redefines these two towering figures of the American West and brings to life an extraordinary cast of historical characters, including Holliday’s unforgettable companion, Kate. First and last, however, Doc is John Henry Holliday’s story, written with compassion, humor, and respect by one of our greatest contemporary storytellers.

©2011 Mary Doria Russell (P)2011 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Fact and mythmaking converge as Russell creates a Dodge City filled with nuggets of surprising history, a city so alive readers can smell the sawdust and hear the tinkling of saloon pianos....Filled with action and humor yet philosophically rich and deeply moving - a magnificent read." ( Kirkus)

Fascinating!

Having grown up in Montana in the 40s and 50s, on a steady diet of Hollywood Westerns, I knew that version of Doc. This much more factual and detailed version is infinitely more interesting. My only complaint is that Ms. Russell did not treat us to her version of the fights with the Clantons.

a wonderful highly entertaining performance

this book brings the life of dr. holiday and his associates into full color. The reading of this text is entertaining, complete with fabulous accents from the south. each character has own voice. if I had to knock one star off, it was simply because the final closing of the book which has obviously been covered in other novels and historical accounts was quite lacking. However the first 22 chapters were delightful.

Fell in love with Doc!

Great story and great narration! I felt like I would know Doc Holliday if I walked down an old western town. I loved that the story was all about the real Doc and his friends. It isn't a gunslinger cowboy macho story.

Great book a little long winded

I did enjoy the book and the history behind it. I did find myself wanting to skip some of the over embellished back stories. Otherwise, it was what I looked for in the book.

Excellent character study of Doc Holliday

Many of the reader's voices are cartoons or just don't fit the character. In particular, I kept imagining a 65 year old "gypsy" instead of a young seductive Kate. But I liked this beautifully written character study of Doc Holliday.

Best book I've listened to

Content and narration are on point. I've enjoyed many books on Audible but this is by far the best. I have 4 credits available and I'm listening to Doc: A Novel for the third time.

One of the best Audible experiences

Russell's book has wonderful characters, and she deftly weaves different themes into the world of 1870s Dodge City giving it good depth. Bramhall did a wonderful job with accents and voicings - I would prefer to listen to this one over reading it.

Wonderful book and Audible edition

Russell's writing is fantastic and the Audible narration brings it to life. There are a few accent stumbles but nothing overly distracting.

Tombstone Prequel

Western lore has made Doc Holliday an important but secondary figure to Wyatt Earp in the narrow context of a single 30-second gun battle. Readers looking for a shoot-‘em-up retelling of the OK Corral need to look elsewhere. The action takes place almost exclusively in Dodge City before any of the principles ever move to Tombstone for that nearly mythological encounter.

In the hands of author Russell, Doc is a tragic but dashing hero of his own story - generous, humorous, ironic and proud. This wonderful character study explores the substance behind the dime store novel legends, fleshing out the cardboard heroes into wonderfully flawed human beings of depth and dimension. By taking the time to explain the back stories of all the major players, historical and psychological context make sense of the complicated personalities of Doc, Kate and the Earps, clarifying their interconnected relationships. This is historic fiction at its best – atmospherically descriptive, transporting the reader into time and place with her characters.

Mark Bramhall is one of my favorite readers, which is how I came upon this book. In the most ambitious project I have heard from him, he successfully tackles multiple accents, (Southern, Texan, Gypsy, German, Irish) and languages (French, German and Latin) with astonishing ease. Most eloquently, he gives Doc his beautifully melodic Georgia drawl, punctuated by spasms of consumptive coughing and weary breathlessness, conveying both the burden of his disease and the bravery of the fight against it. This is a performance that any author would wish for to bring life to a well written story.

WOW

Initially I thought that the narrator was a little slow and stilted but as the story moved into its own rhythm... my goodness! This was a tale that is beautifully and compassionately written and the narrator fits it perfectly. It really is a story for everyone. And I don't really like Westerns so it was a stretch for me to buy this. I am so glad I did.