Customer Reviews

Ok: The Corral The Earps And Doc Holliday A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I saw a very positive review of this novel and being an avid reader of books about the West, and Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp in particular, I had to pick it up. I was sorely disappointed. So what if the author is considered a great writer and novelist -- the book is neither insightful nor realistic. Worse it is simply really, really boring.

The "novel" takes us through the adult life of Doc Holliday, mostly from his point of view, and attempts to dig very deeply into his psyche. For the life of me I cannot figure out why West wrote the novel in the third person. Given the deepness and detail he tries to convey about the introspective thinking of Holliday, it would have worked better written in the first person. Writing it in the third person made the style and substance seem distant.

Second, the novel just does not feel realistic. It's hard to believe anyone thinks so constantly upon their life in such an abstract fashion. And the conjectures about Holiday's personality don't feel right either -- based on what I've read of his life. Sure, West can conjecture whatever he wants about someone's inner self, but this just didn't "fit" Doc in my opinion.

After begrudgingly finishing the novel, the question I had of the whole exercise was so what?

I knew what I was getting into when I bought the book because I had read a prior review. I feel sorry for those who bought the book on impulse looking for a Western and the story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Those who did so I'm sure were even more disappointed than I.

I just cannot recommend this novel.

According to the fly-leaf, the Chicago Tribune considers Mr. West "possibly our finest living stylist in English." Well, that may be but buddy he was way out of his genre with this book. The only reason I struggled through the entire book is that I finish what I start. Verbose, convuluted, complex and dry are some of the words I can muster up to describe this book. Reading one of the Greek tragedies that West continually refered to would be easier than getting through this horrid work of historical fiction.

West is a second-rate Faukner. At least Faukner lived in Mississippi. I got money that says West has never even BEEN to Arizona. I will say that this book had a LOT in common with Doc Holliday. Reading it was about as much fun as going to a dentist -- and did you about as much good as a dentist with a consumptive cough and a shaky hand.

Bottom Line: Don't waste your time.

This novel is the most boring one I have read on Doc Holliday. Not sure where the author is going with it.

Paul West is an accomplished writer whose best work--The Tent of Orange Mist, Ratman of Paris--may, judging by this abortive, muddled misfire of a novel,regrettably be behind him. Aside from any nits re: historical accuracy, "O.K." simply fails to cohere as a fully-realized work of mature fiction. Intended to evoke the psychic life of the the tubercular frontier dentist Doc Holliday, "O.K." is a badly fumbled, badly jumbled and, for West, disappointingly shallow exercise in logorrhea. Lifeless, pointless, clumsily executed, it is a novel bereft of West's customary grace, wit, insight or energy. The author so clearly failed to connect with or inhabit his subject that "O.K." can only be judged his least successful work to date. Too bad. Holliday is an infinitely fascinating figure deserving of better.

The fact that Paul West, "with so little research" (?), could put together such a fascinating look into the life of Doc Holliday is extraordinary. With typical Westian flair he reconstructs Holliday as Holliday himself wishes he had been. This "fictional" account has permanently altered my idea of who Doc Holliday was. Bravo Mr. West. As for genre, I believe this is a literary book, rather than a pulpy one. It reminds me of Robert Kroetsch's The Studhorse Man and Coover's Ghost Town. For any generous reader, this book is sure to be a pleasure.

I enjoyed this novel, as I have all of West's historical fictions. As a reader, you have to have a sense of humor, an inkling when someone is pulling your leg for dramatic effect. When reading West, this is doubly important. He's a master at this sort of thing. In other novels, he's made mention of Shakespeare during Milton's time, of Tourette's syndrome in WW2 China, and the conceit of having Lord Byron's doctor narrate his autobiography from the grave. Take it with a grain of salt, enjoy it. I suspect most readers prefer his spin on the fate of Big Nose Kate. It's fiction. It's wondeful.

Besides, West has moved on to bigger and better things. Can you imagine someone staking their whole lives, their entire imagination, their reputation and everything that consumes the soul on Doc Holliday? Life's too short, live a little.

Another glorious Paul West novel, with an array of fascinating characters and prose that's so much fun to read. It really humanized the heroes of the Old West for me. I loved it!

In response to readers who've bemoaned a lack of historical accuracy-- Paul West, as I perceive him, is an interpreter of culture, an artistic revisionist and a master of mapping out the psyches of some of our most iconic figures in social history. I think he remains true to form with "O.K," and that those readers who are expecting an action-packed, factual treatment of the Old West would be better served by somebody else's novel. If you are interested in careful psychological portraits, however, this is a good read even for those who, like me, haven't the faintest interest in the goings-on of the wild, wild West!

As an avid reader of the Old West and the Earp story in particular, I found this book a major dissapointment. A different type of story to say the least. The central charater is of course John Henry Holliday the "Fighting" Dentist. I found the work as presented by Paul West hard to swallow when he has the main charaters talking as if they were dolts and that they treated the towns people as if they were the same. Eg. "We could be racin dogs," Wyatt told him. "They does that in some countries." Wyatt Earp never spoke like that. It made the novel that much harder to read. It was a shame that such a great story as the Tombstone Gun fight is ruined by useless verbage as the above. Better luck next time for Mr. West

I believe that this is the poorest historical writing on the market for this genre. There was little or no research into the lives of the characters whatsoever.

I wouldn't buy this one!