You may have noticed a slight dearth of reviews around here lately, if you pay attention to that kind of thing.
I er … streamlined. Yeah. Let’s call it that because it sounds way better than “I am extremely lazy and completely distracted by games on my new iPhone and things like Avengers legos”.
Streamlined.
Anyway. Doc.
Doc, by Mary Doria Russell is a historical novel. It’s sort of about the famous shoot-out at OK Corrall but mostly, actually …not.
It’s really more of a character study of Doc Holliday and of Wyatt Earp and it’s fascinating.
I was predisposed towards Doc anyway because I absolutely loved The Sparrow and Children of God, which are incredibly beautiful, sad and haunting sci-fi novels by Doria Russell.
And while Doc is a completely different genre, it still has the same haunting touch that I remember from The Sparrow.
It’s largely a meditation on character, and on fate, and how it really is the little things that change the course of our lives, while the really big stuff goes on around us, almost without us noticing.
Not exactly a Western, but not exactly NOT a Western, either, Doc is a lovely, lovely narrative that you can’t help but be drawn into.
4 comments:
I just finished reading A Thread of Grace by Russell which is centered around WWII Italy, and I was blown away by her breadth of knowledge having only read her The Sparrow before that. Now seeing that she has a Western-but-not-Western in the mix, I am even more in awe. I'll have to give this a try!
I have to read more Russell! I really enjoyed The Sparrow (the sequel, less so), but I agree with you that she speaks of the human condition in amazing ways, and I think it would be just as fascinating in a historical novel as in a science fiction one.
I keep dancing around this one. I want it so much...why am I being coy?
She: A Thread of Grace is on my to-read list. I really want to read that one :-)
Aarti: I read The Sparrow years ago and find it still haunts me. Great book.
Bybee: Stop flirting and just reaaad it! :D
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