Mary Doria Russell

a novel

Eight to five, against

altlovesbooks

"'The Emperor' is pure, virile beauty. It is everything I want you to be, Sugar. Elegant and strong and full of fire."

I was not expecting this to be as good as it was. Goodreads suggested it to me based on a single western I had read, and I am glad for it. While this book does take place in "The West", I don't consider it a western. I don't even consider it full of action, because it doesn't have that either. Why, then, the 5-star rating? Because I loved every bit of it, in all of its slow, lyrical, deliberate glory. This is a very personal 5-star rating, but I hope you get enjoyment out of reading this book too.

The book focuses on John Henry "Doc" Holliday, first as a boy growing up in Georgia, then as a very young man facing a very mortal tuberculosis sentence. A prescription of dry air and the drive to open up a dentistry practice leads Doc to Dodge City, Kansas, where we meet the cast and crew that makes up the bulk of the book. 

In order to manage expectations, the book does not touch, except in passing, on anything that happens in Tombstone or at the OK Corral. Nor does a whole lot happen in the book. There's a rather flat murder mystery with a dull conclusion, but the real joy and pleasure in this book comes from the various character profiles you get from everyone living in Dodge City. I greatly enjoyed reading about things from the different points of view; everyone from the larger-than-life Earps all the way down to the town's tailor. I especially loved the piano scene near the end of the story in Dodge City. It very nearly made me cry at work.

I usually take a break between books in a series to read something else before coming back. This will be a very rare exception, as I have already checked out Epitaph from my library.

Eight to five, against a novel

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