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The Shayne-Train's Reviews > Doc
Doc
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by
I will preface by saying: I expected this to just be a cowboy story.
I should not have. I have read The Sparrow by the same author, and found it to be a deep, touching story about faith and aliens and atrocities and recovery. But still, Doc is the story of Doc Holliday, so I simply expected a cowboy story; a rough-ridden, yee-haw, get along little dogie, bang bang, lookee here pardner cowboy story.
And what I got was a beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and deeply touching portrait of a man who spent most of his short life dying. The characters, some familiar and some not, were memorable, nuanced, and written so well it amazed me.
This IS a cowboy story. There are whores and whiskey, drovers and poker, flat Kansas horizons and hard-faced farmers. And this will be the by-God prettiest cowboy story you'll ever read.
I should not have. I have read The Sparrow by the same author, and found it to be a deep, touching story about faith and aliens and atrocities and recovery. But still, Doc is the story of Doc Holliday, so I simply expected a cowboy story; a rough-ridden, yee-haw, get along little dogie, bang bang, lookee here pardner cowboy story.
And what I got was a beautifully written, thoroughly researched, and deeply touching portrait of a man who spent most of his short life dying. The characters, some familiar and some not, were memorable, nuanced, and written so well it amazed me.
This IS a cowboy story. There are whores and whiskey, drovers and poker, flat Kansas horizons and hard-faced farmers. And this will be the by-God prettiest cowboy story you'll ever read.
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Reading Progress
January 9, 2014
– Shelved as:
to-read
January 9, 2014
– Shelved
January 10, 2014
–
Started Reading
January 11, 2014
–
18.0%
"Front Street was alive with young men. Sauntering, staggering. Laughing, puking. Shouting in fierce strife or striking lewd whispered bargains with girls in bright dresses."
January 11, 2014
–
23.0%
"The average priest would rarely hear in all his days what Alexander did in a single memorable afternoon. Everything but sloth, he realized afterward. Dodge City was diligent in sin."
January 12, 2014
–
46.0%
"The sheer shameless duplicity drove Bessie to fury, but there’s no one more pragmatic than a whore."
January 12, 2014
–
52.0%
"The people in the book were all familiar. Drunks, prostitutes, politicians, policemen. Rich and poor, side by side. Men who beat horses and men who beat women. Good women gone bad. Bad women who weren’t so terrible when you got to know them."
January 12, 2014
–
67.0%
"“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?""
January 13, 2014
–
91.0%
"He hadn’t had a drink in years, and it should have hit him hard, but in a stand-up contest, remorse and self-loathing can battle whiskey to a draw."
January 13, 2014
–
Finished Reading
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Laura
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Oct 07, 2014 04:10PM
Ok, I'm sold!
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So glad to hear it! Doc has been sitting on the shelf neglected for a decade because Sparrow was amazing, but gunslingers just don't ever seem like the right mood. Thank you for this review.
Kaethe wrote: "So glad to hear it! Doc has been sitting on the shelf neglected for a decade because Sparrow was amazing, but gunslingers just don't ever seem like the right mood. Thank you for this review."Be careful! This might just MAKE gunslingers your mood!
