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Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral
Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral
Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral
Audiobook19 hours

Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral

Written by Mary Doria Russell

Narrated by Hillary Huber

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

Mary Doria Russell, the bestselling, award-winning author of The Sparrow, returns with Epitaph. An American Iliad, this richly detailed and meticulously researched historical novel continues the story she began in Doc, following Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday to Tombstone, Arizona, and to the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

A deeply divided nation. Vicious politics. A shamelessly partisan media. A president loathed by half the populace. Smuggling and gang warfare along the Mexican border. Armed citizens willing to stand their ground and take law into their own hands. . . . 

That was America in 1881.

All those forces came to bear on the afternoon of October 26 when Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers faced off against the Clantons and the McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona. It should have been a simple misdemeanor arrest. Thirty seconds and thirty bullets later, three officers were wounded and three citizens lay dead in the dirt.

Wyatt Earp was the last man standing, the only one unscathed. The lies began before the smoke cleared, but the gunfight at the O.K. Corral would soon become central to American beliefs about the Old West.

Epitaph tells Wyatt’s real story, unearthing the Homeric tragedy buried under 130 years of mythology, misrepresentation, and sheer indifference to fact. Epic and intimate, this novel gives voice to the real men and women whose lives were changed forever by those fatal thirty seconds in Tombstone. At its heart is the woman behind the myth: Josephine Sarah Marcus, who loved Wyatt Earp for forty-nine years and who carefully chipped away at the truth until she had crafted the heroic legend that would become the epitaph her husband deserved.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateMar 3, 2015
ISBN9780062373960
Author

Mary Doria Russell

Mary Doria Russell is the author of five previous books, The Sparrow, Children of God, A Thread of Grace, Dreamers of the Day, and Doc, all critically acclaimed commercial successes. Dr. Russell holds a PhD in biological anthropology. She lives in Lyndhurst, Ohio.

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Reviews for Epitaph

Rating: 4.316489285106383 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

188 ratings39 reviews

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  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I am afraid that if asked I would have to cut this rather dramatically.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A meticulously researched and lovingly evoked portrait of an infamous town and a storied feud. The author brings the wild west to life and does an astonishing job of separating legend from reality. The pop culture figures of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp appear as fully formed men complete with flaws, quirks, and moral codes. Beginning with the Earp family's arrival in Tombstone, the author follows them through the intricacies of politics and personal vendettas that will eventually lead them to the fateful shootout. From there, she follows them through the aftermath, concluding with Wyatt and Sadie's life together and his immortalization in the media. An amazing story, strikingly written in a way that will haunt the reader.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Wow!! I so thoroughly enjoyed this book! The first book in this two book series, “Doc” was great, but this one was really fantastic! I highly recommend them both, best to be listened to in order. Having spent so much time with these people in my two listens, I became very, very attached and invested in their lives and what happened to them. Keep in mind these books are not the “true” story of what actually happened during this period but, rather, what is known as “historical fiction”. Either way, this author writes a very captivating story. I really fell in love with so many of these characters, in particular, Doc Holiday.

    Regarding the narration, Hilary Huber is one of my favorite narrators. I love listening to her voice in general and was impressed by her versatility and the speed which she is able to slide between characters and their individual personalities.

    Overall, this is a really exceptionally well written and well read book, and I heartily recommend it! ??
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Well read. Story line was good. Although a female voice was good. A masculine voice might have been more in tune with the story. I like male and female readers alike. But the characters in this book were rough western types that were mean as hell. In parts I would be thinking how strange it was hearing Wyatt Earp sounding feminine. It may be just me being straight forward, but if a book has a bunch of rough tough hard core western guys in it, they probably would try to sound as much an authoritarian type as they could.
    I did like the book and the reader. It was put together as well as could be under the circumstances. It's kind of like an art piece my art teacher was talking about a certain ink piece a student did. He said, " To fit the subject of the work, it may well have been better to use sepia ink rather than black." I hope others know and understand my point without being offended somehow. My opinion is definitely not intended to be offensive toward anyone. ?

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Completely different from, and yet equally as impressive as, Doc by the same author. This book is sad, gritty, realistic, and absorbing. The Wild West may be different from what you thought it was. Corrupt, violent, greedy, cruel, and stupid, it was a miserable place for lots of people. Russell didn’t shy away from showing some folk hero’s in a realistic and depressing light. Doc Holliday is the only character who retains even a hint of the old glow. Best quote: Raise your sights, Sugar. If you aim low, all you’ll hit are rats, snakes, and rock bottom. Highly recommended if you don’t mind popular myths being well and truly punctured.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral lasted a matter of seconds, yet the buildup to it took months to develop and the memory haunted survivors for the rest of their lives. Mary Doria Russell tells the whole story in “Epitaph,” her 2015 novel that may hold more truth than fiction, perhaps even more truth than most historical accounts of the gunfight.The book might be seen as a sequel to “Doc,” her outstanding earlier novel about Doc Holliday in Dodge City. Now Doc and the Earp brothers have moved to Tombstone, hoping some of the bountiful silver mine money will wind up in their pockets. Instead they get nothing but trouble.This time Russell's focus is on Wyatt Earp and she writes quite a different sort of novel, hardly seeming like a sequel at all. This one is longer, full of more characters and more story threads, all weaving their way toward the O.K. Corral.Much of the story involves a runaway Jewish girl from San Francisco named Sadie Marcuse, who now calls herself Josie. An actress passing through Tombstone, she becomes attached to Johnny Behan, an up-and-coming politician who will become sheriff. Later she becomes drawn to Wyatt, whom she realizes is a much better man, more likely to remain faithful to her and less likely to beat her. Her desire for a faithful man does not keep her from turning, briefly, to prostitution, however.The Josie factor is one that leads to the gunfight. Another is Kate, the woman Doc loves when she is away yet can't get along with when she is around. Her actions, too, cause trouble. Doc, despite his frailty from tuberculosis, has a reputation as a troublemaker, another factor. Then there are the Cow Boys. a group of cattle rustlers, robbers and troublemakers who always seem to have solid alibis when the law closes in. And when Johnny becomes sheriff, he becomes their ally rather than their foe. All these factors and others lead to that gunfight.After the gunfight and the subsequent shooting death of Morgan Earp, Wyatt, who formerly had been the most quiet, devout and civil of the Earps, becomes a killing machine, determined to wipe out the Cow Boys singlehandedly, if necessaryRussell follows Wyatt all the way to his death, Sadie still at his side, years later, the gunfight at the O.K. Corral still the source of both his fame and his infamy.Russell's novel probably will not be the last word on the gunfight, but anything else will have to be very, very good to top it.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a tale that’s been told many times before in fiction, films and facts. It’s become part of a national mythology that started with the contemporary newspaper reportage in 1881 and blossomed and grew after the first book lengths accounts appeared in the early decades of the twentieth century. No small part of its fascination is how many ways the story can be told.Russell’s novel of this revenge drama stands out as one of the best for its characterizations and for her insight that the suppressed rage adversaries Ike Clanton and Wyatt Earp had inherited as abused children led up to the showdown and engendered the vendetta that followed.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Many years ago, I’m not sure exactly how many, but it was before 2007 I read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, it was chosen as a group read by FantasyFavourites Yahoo Group. And I love it. So much. I bought and read the sequel The Children of God. Loved it too, although not quite so much as The Sparrow. And ever since those books I’ve taken it for granted that if Russell has a book out I should give it a go. But for some reason after I bought Doc it sat on my shelves waiting to be read. And waiting. But then I rewatched Open Range and all of a sudden I was in the mood for westerns1. So I picked up Doc, and really loved it, and then had to buy the sequel, Epitaph, which follows the Earps, Wyatt in particular, as he becomes the legend of Tombstone.

    I just love the way Russell tells the story. She knows that her reader is probably familiar with some version of the history. So there is no need to avoid spoilers, instead she uses the readers own knowlesde to build up this horrible, wonderful, tension and expectation as the Earps’ head towards that fateful, fatal day and the shootout at the O.K. Corral. The inexorable march towards doom.

    It is awfully sad.

    It is also so very beautiful. It tells as balanced a story as may be possible after all this time, and after so much has been written about those events. Even at the time the facts were in dispute. Aren’t they always? And nothing is ever black and white when you are dealing with human interactions. If you are looking for a “bad guys wear black hats” sort of a western then this is not the book for you. Instead it is a book all about how broken people can be, how they can try so very hard to do the right thing and yet still come out doing the exact opposite of that.

    Epitaph is also a book that deals with the women of the story, how they dealt with that society, with their lack of power and agency. And then of course with the aftermath, and how people’s lives don’t just end after some big historical event2 but instead have to continue living, earning money, paying their way and dealing with whatever fall-out may result from their actions.

    Oh, just go read it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An excellent portrayal of characters and the lawless west in describing Wyatt Earps life and legend from Tombstone till his death.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Mary Doria Russell returns to the American West in the late 19th century. The Earp brothers have left Dodge and are now in Tombstone, in the Arizona Territory. Doc Holliday was running a saloon with Kate, and then in a sanatorium for his tuberculosis, and has been trying to raise the money to go back for the full year he's told he needs there. But Wyatt Earp has a tooth he needs pulled, and he doesn't really trust anyone but Doc to do it.So Doc Holliday is in Tombstone, too, with the Earps again. And in Tombstone, the tensions and conflicts are at work that will lead to the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the aftermath.This is not an easy story to describe briefly, because Russell isn't giving us just the Hollywood myth. She's done the work to recover the real story and the real characters, and the complexity of the social and political forces at work--as well as the aftermath for the survivors of the clash. The result is a rich, detailed, absorbing novel, filled with real characters of depth and complexity. It's a fascinating look at the American West in the 1870s and 1880s, Included in this story are not just the Earps themselves and the Clanton gang, but also the Earp women, one of whom is Josephine Sarah Marcus, who loved Wyatt Earp for nearly fifty years, and worked hard to promote the myth about him and the famous gunfight, rather than a fuller and more complicated version of both the man and the events.It's long, it's deep, it's not always an easy read, but it is worth your time and attention. Recommended.I borrowed this audiobook from my public library.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Thank you, thank you, thank you to Linda and her positive review which prompted me to read this excellent book.

    This novel is a testament to what a talented, dedicated, experienced writer can bring to a topic a reader might expect to feel worn or condensed or rehashed . None of that here !

    Instead what happens here is a real treasure for the reader - years of research, multiple perspectives, difficult terrain, conflicting historical and dramatic accounts all coalesced into a page turner.

    If all topics were written up like this people like me would do nothing but read !

    If I could give this writer and this book six stars I would .
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The further adventures of Doc Holliday and the Earps (begun by Russell in her novel, "Doc") leading up to those fateful 30 seconds on Fremont Street in Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881. More grand story-telling, and I have to keep reminding myself that I have never met Doc, or Wyatt, or Josie Marcus...they are so utterly real. My only quibble is that Russell goes on after the shootout to the end of Wyatt Earp's life--he lived until 1929, traveling all over the country, and died in poverty in Los Angeles--giving nearly 200 pages to that period, but making it feel a bit like a biographical summation. Doc was a 5 star read; this one gets 4 1/2.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This brilliant novel starts by asking the reader to look at a clock for 30 seconds and “…imagine one half of a single minute so terrible it will pursue you all your life and far beyond the grave.” The most famous gunfight of the Wild West was fought in an alley near Tombstone’s O.K. Corral and took half a minute.

    This novel is much more than simply retelling a familiar story. It kicks up the layers of dust around Tombstone. The dusty streets and rugged stagecoach rides, the silver mining, the holdups, and the wooden building so easily burned by fire and rebuilt by an involved rich community. Most of the bad guys were not that bad and most of the good guys were not that good. All were caught up in a series of slights, political maneuverings, and vengeance for perceived wrongs, and all had stories to tell and versions of events they believed to be the truth. Epitaph is as much the story of the Earp women, especially Sarah Marcus, as it is Wyatt’s or Doc’s.

    Interestingly, and befitting the debate in our modern times, while gunfight itself boiled down to a personal vendetta, the fuse that lit the dynamite was the legal issue of gun control. By law, guns were not allowed in Tombstone, and Marshal Virgil Earp was attempting to enforce the law on those who refused to disarm, with the help of his deputized brothers and Doc Holliday. This law was also in effect in Dodge City when the Earps were the law there, as well. Additional tinder to this conflagration included the Earps being Yankee Republicans, while most of the population in Southern Arizona was Confederate Democrats. Federal, state/territorial, and local politics played a huge role in the background of the gunfight, too. Federal soldiers had no jurisdiction in certain areas, state marshals had limited jurisdiction, and local sheriffs were also limited in what they could enforce. And none of them were willing to work together unless it benefitted them politically. Even the Cow Boys, a gang of rustlers that rode into Mexico and stole cattle to fatten and sell in Arizona, exploited these limitations.

    Mary Doria Russell extensively researched the events surrounding the gunfight, detailing decades leading up to and following this legendary event. This is a brilliant epilogue for Wyatt Earp and Sarah Marcus.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Epitaph is out of the sci-fi genre I usually read, but when I finished Russell’s The Sparrow it was automatically recommended to me. Russell’s excellent writing style, and my having seen the live re-enactment of the gunfight from the hot metal bleachers in Tombstone, compelled me to give it a try. Wow! She breathes a fascinatingly believable life into the legend. The historical facts and the details of life at that time, in that place, make the necessarily fictional thoughts and feelings of the good guys and the bad guys real as well. For a historical novel, the topic is surprisingly pertinent to the present day turmoil surrounding police involved shootings. Both sides of that issue should take a look at the corrupt politics, the raw emotions of the Democrats and the Republicans of that day, and the complex web of personal events that lead up to the gunfight at the OK Corral.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Well done, Ms. Russell! I read The Sparrow and Children of God some time ago. This is a totally different type of book. Based on fact, a good look into the enigma that was Wyatt Earp.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Except for the last section, dealing with Wyatt Earp's later years, I thoroughly enjoyed Epitaph, the sequel to Doc. This writer has a marvelous way of writing so that you feel you are in the midst of things. The narrative is superior to much historical fiction I've read. The tragic outcomes for most of the participants in the Gunfight at O.K.Corral underscore the violent lives these men led. We also get a glimpse into the lives of their womenfolk and the hardships they had to endure, physically and emotionally. I didn't care for being jolted out of the Old West and into the twilight of Earp's life.shared with the increasingly disturbed Sadie. Perhaps my antipathy for her biased my opinion. Logically, I know the author had to wrap the story up somehow and this ending is appropriate, even if I didn't enjoy it. Overall, a fascinating and worthwhile read that kept me turning pages almost to the end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Audiobook performed by Hillary HuberFrom the book jacket: A deeply divided nation. Vicious politics. A shamelessly partisan media. A president scorned by half the populace. Smuggling and gang warfare along the Mexican border. Armed citizens willing to stand their ground and take law into their own hands … That was America in 1881. My reactionsIn a sequel to her earlier novel, Doc, Russell explores what REALLY happened at the OK Corral. The events and circumstances leading up to that fateful battle are disturbingly familiar. The gunfight itself lasted a mere 30 seconds, but the ramifications affected the survivors’ lives for the remainder of their days. I love Russell’s writing. She does extensive research and is not content to give us only one side of the issues, or one facet of the characters involved: the three Earp brothers, Wyatt, Morgan, and Virgil, and their steadfast friend Doc Holliday. I particularly liked how she focused on the women who loved these men: Josephine, Alvira (Allie), Mattie, Bessie, Louisa, and Kate. The chief characters in this novel are Josie Marcus and Wyatt Earp, and the last sixty pages, or so, relate Wyatt’s last years and Josie’s efforts to immortalize his role in the history of the American West. I found their story compelling, and it is made richer by Russell’s attention to all the other characters. From the blustering Johnny Behan to the drunken Ike Clanton, every character fairly leaps off the page. Yet, I must confess that what I really wanted was more of Doc. Hillary Huber does a fine job performing the audio version. Her skill as a voice artist is put to the test with the many characters, but she is up to the task.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A sequel to the author's book about Doc Holliday, this novel discusses the politics and people leading up to the gunfight at the OK Corral. I knew nothing except that there would be a famous and tragic gunfight, so it was all new. Honest, simple Wyatt Earp is somewhat tricked by wily, ambitious sheriff Johnny Behan. This is complicated by the attraction between Johnny's girlfriend Josie and Wyatt; they do not act on this for a long time, until after Josie has left Johnny due to his infidelity and abuse. Finally, the Earp brothers, serving as lawmen, confront some known criminals and the gunfight ensues. Later, after the brothers barely survive, some friends of the dead criminals murder Wyatt's beloved little brother, and he leads a rampage of revenge, despite his friends trying to hold him back. The group of friends and Doc rather fall apart over all this tragedy. Eventually, Wyatt tracks down Josie, but he is bitter and no longer tries to be "good"; they stay together for the rest of their lives, however. Although just the last few chapters of the book, the story of how the "real" story came to be publicized is also fascinating. Once again, this author delves deep into historical research and makes the characters real, complicated, and interesting. It was hard to continue the book, though, knowing that it would end badly for everyone.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Whatever it is you think you know about what happened at the O.K. Corral, you're probably wrong. Here's what happened for sure: On October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona, nine men came together in the street, armed and agitated. Thirty seconds later, five of them walked or ran away. One other was carried. Three lay dead in the dirt. Wyatt Earp was the last man standing, the only one unhurt. The lies began before the smoke cleared, but the gunfight at the O.K. Corral would soon become central to American beliefs about the Old West.

    Epitaph shifts from one character's perspective to the next, from Doc Holliday to Wyatt Earp to less-remembered figures such as Josie Marcus, John Behan, Johnny Ringo, John Clum (the editor of Tombstone's newspaper the Epitaph, who, as mayor, sends Earp and friends on their fateful mission) and Tom McLaury, a shy farmer who, in love with Morgan Earp's wife, finds himself pulled into his brother Frank's plans for revenge against the Earps. As each character's journey moves closer to that October day in Tombstone, their lives are built on decision after decision that lead them to the event that will change them all forever.

    Epitaph is a richly detailed story set in the West involving vicious politics, cattle rustling, gang warfare and armed citizens willing to stand their ground and take the law into their own hands. Characters are well-developed and believable. The time period and location are well-researched and historically accurate, and the story is imaginative and compelling. It’s also filled with foul politics and dirty dealing. In addition to exhaustive research the author even signed up for a 58-mile ride along the same trail Wyatt Earp and his company took on their notorious Vendetta Ride not long after the O.K. Corral shootout. She continues the story after the O.K. Corral but she does give you fair warning before proceeding: "If you want a storybook ending, stop — now...But know this as well: If their story ends here, no one would remember them at all."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I don't think I actually knew what happened at the O.K. Corral. Other than my exposure to the Wyatt Earp series on TV when I was a child, I knew nothing about the wild west. Russell paints a clear and easy to read picture of this era and area of US history. Each character is so well developed that we feel we are really there along for the ride as rivalries and loyalties wax and wane.Not only does the author lead the reader up to the fatal shooting, she takes us past the occasion to follow the characters to the end of their lives. A well-developed and thoroughly enjoyable read, even for those who are fans of westerns. This belongs much more to the historical fiction genre and should appeal to a wide range of readers.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another awesome western by Russell. I love how honestly she writes and how she doesn't sugar up the heroes in the story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The number one criticism one hears against history books is that they aren’t timely; that they don’t relate to events that are happening today. When it comes to Mary Doria Russell’s latest book, Epitaph, though, nothing could be farther from the truth. Granted, a book about a shootout that happened in a vacant lot in Arizona over 130 years ago hardly seems relevant but when you boil it down to its essentials, a closely-knit biased clan of law enforcement officials gun down innocent members of an underprivileged segment of the population, the story begins to sound very familiar. When three of the Earp brothers and their friend, John ‘Doc’ Holliday, shot and killed three men in the vacant lot adjacent to Fly’s photo studio (later shortened to at the O.K. Corral), they ripped a hole in the fabric of the community every bit as damaging as what happened last year in Ferguson, MO. In both cases everybody had an opinion even though few people actually witnessed the events. In both cases the events touched off further unrest and violence. In both cases, a judicial response was requested the law enforcement officials involved were not indicted. In both cases, law enforcement officials were subsequently ambushed and killed. In both cases, opinions across the country were sharply divided and in both cases, the community suffered. In addition, a key element of Epitaph is the subject of gun control. The Earps were reportedly attempting to disarm the Clantons and Mclaurys, parties who were well known for proclaiming ‘I know my rights!’.I have read several accounts of what happened in Tombstone and watched several shows and movies about it. I even cut my teeth listening to Johnny Cash’s ‘Ballad of Boot Hill’. One would think, with over 50 books and a dozen or more movies covering the subject, that enough has been said about the subject. The truth is that even though Russell’s book is described as a novel, it impresses me with its veracity far more than any of the so-called true accounts written over the years by those with agendas of their own or axes to grind. Although the year isn’t yet over, I feel pretty confident that Mary Doria Russell will have written my favorite book of the year for the second year in a row. Last year I finally succumbed to sound advice from friends and read her first book, The Sparrow. It was magnificent. Russell has now joined the small group of authors whose books I will buy, sight unseen, as soon as it is possible to do so.FYI: On a 5-point scale I assign stars based on my assessment of what the book needs in the way of improvements:•5 Stars – Nothing at all. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.•4 Stars – It could stand for a few tweaks here and there but it’s pretty good as it is.•3 Stars – A solid C grade. Some serious rewriting would be needed in order for this book to be considered great or memorable.•2 Stars – This book needs a lot of work. A good start would be to change the plot, the character development, the writing style and the ending. •1 Star - The only thing that would improve this book is a good bonfire.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I always love Russell's books, but didn't love this one quite as much as it's predecessor, Doc. Russell's writing style took a big shift about three quarters of the way into the narrative and the last quarter was an odd summation of "what happened to everyone" after the events in Tombstone, instead of carrying on in the same manner as the first part of the book. Nevertheless, the book is well researched and fair and provides something I think is quite new to the tale of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and their pals: a balanced, nuanced look at what happened and the realities of politics in the "Wild "West."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mary Doria Russell is such a good writer that she could imbue a shopping list with character, humor, pathos, and grace. So it is not surprising that she tackles the life of Wyatt Earp with aplomb. This is a much-needed follow-up to her wonderful novel Doc, about Doc Holliday. It focuses more on Wyatt Earp, especially on the complex events leading up to the gunfight at the OK Corral and Wyatt's vengeance afterward. It portrays Wyatt as a very complex, but believable character. Russell has a gift for writing interesting and believable characters, and bringing them to life in just a few sentences - she demonstrates that skill here too.Russell is also good at creating interesting secondary characters. Although this is a story all about the actions of men, the women are some of the most interesting characters in the book, and it is clear how they drive much of the story.Biographical novels are tricky, because normal people's lives don't have the same trajectory that we expect in a novel. Russell manages to give Wyatt an interesting trajectory. The end is a little bit sentimental, but not overly so.I listened to the audiobook, and enjoyed it thoroughly.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Although I cannot speak for the last generation or two, I think that it is still safe to say that most Americans have been, at the very least, exposed to the idea of the mythic "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." Most probably even think that they understand what happened in Tombstone, Arizona, on that fateful day and believe that it was all a well-planned conflict by the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday to take down a bunch of local bad guys. Well, boys and girls, Mary Doria Russell has written just the book to show you just how wrong you are about why that thirty-second gunfight really happened - and just how tragic the whole affair was for everyone involved.Russell's Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral, which begins approximately two years before October 26, 1881, is a well-researched historical novel that digs deeply into the character and past of the main players in the brief drama. The book explains, though, not just who these dozen or so people were; it delves into why they were in Tombstone in the first place and how their paths crossed many, many times before the afternoon that suddenly left three drunks dead and three lawmen severely wounded. The short-lived violence was so devastating, in fact, that other than the unarmed man who was allowed to run away from the fight, Wyatt Earp was the only man still on his feet when the shooting stopped. So what caused the confrontation? Why were the Earps and Doc Holliday so ready to rush into a fight that could so easily cost them their lives? Did the immediate "crime" (their insistence in wearing their pistols inside Tombstone city limits) of those they being confronted justify such a violent clash? Who fired the first shot and why? Epitaph is both an edifying and entertaining look into the single gunfight that would come to represent the "frontier justice" of the 1880s for decades to come. The whole O.K. Corral myth soon took on a life of its own, in fact, that had very little to do with the reality of the situation. The fight was much more a tragedy than an arrest gone badly with the "good guys" coming out on top. As Russell puts it in her two-page introduction to Epitaph, it changed the lives of the survivors forever because, for the participants:"Whether you live another five minutes or another fifty years, those awful thirty seconds will become a private eclipse of the sun, darkening every moment left to you. You will be cursed with a kind of immortality. Year after year, everything that did and did not happen during those thirty seconds of confusion and noise, smoke and pain, will be analyzed and described and disputed.A century will pass, and decades more. Still, the living will haunt the dead as that half-minute becomes entertainment for hundreds of millions around the world. Long after you die, you will be judged by those who cannot imagine six paces from armed and angry men."Sadly enough, there was nothing particularly heroic about the Earps, Doc Holliday, or anyone who played even a minor role in what happened in Tombstone on October 26, 1881. The Earps were, in reality, little more than a product of their times: a close family trying to make its way in the aftermath of the Civil War. Wyatt was the presumed leader of the pack, and his brothers were perfectly willing to follow his lead when it came to moneymaking schemes that could possibly put the family in the black for good. Their wives (and mistresses) went along for the ride. The Earps ended up in Tombstone simply because, as usual, Wyatt was looking to make a quick buck. And, as a man with no real family of his own, Doc Holliday, ever loyal to the Earp brothers, joined them in Tombstone for no other reason than to fix an aching tooth in Wyatt Earp's mouth. But circumstances (and politics) combined to keep the Earps in Tombstone longer than they had planned to be there. Wyatt, still hoping to cash in on his lawman experience, kept the clan there long enough for the world as they knew it to end in a storm of bullets. As it did.Epitaph is everything that historical fiction should be. It is detailed, it is well written, and it tells the real story behind the myth - and at 577 pages, it is thorough. I highly recommend it both to fans of serious westerns and to those who simply want to know "the rest of the story" about what really happened near the O.K. Corral that day.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Holy cow, Andy! Six hundred pages about a five-minute shoot-out?! Let me tell you, dear reader, these six hundred pages are well-spent. You will read all about the various and different Earp brothers, their various and VERY different women, those who chose to shoot it out with them, their politics, their motives, all mixed up and sometimes admirable, sometimes definitely not. If you are interested in American frontier history, you'll love this novel. I mean LOVE it!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Entertaining look back at Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the cast of characters who had roles in the famous gun battle. This is not the Wyatt Earp we saw in the 1960s television series. And while the book didn't quite attain the level of "Doc," it was still a very fun read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very good follow-up to Doc. This book details the events surrounding the infamous shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, focusing more on the Earps and other people than on Doc Holliday.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Normally, can’t-put-it-down books are thrillers. So I am surprised to say that a novel about the men who were in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral turned out to be unputdownable. This from a person who never liked watching or reading westerns. But I've liked everything else written by Mary Doria Russell, so I read EPITAPH, expecting only that it would be as engaging and as well researched as her other books. Now the trick will be convincing you that EPITAPH is more than a western, that this is literature. I began unconvinced. Then it sucked me in.EPITAPH is a historical novel. All the characters (including Wyatt Earp; his brothers James, Virgil, and Morgan; their friend John (Doc) Holliday; and their “wives”) really existed. And, as Russell says in her “Author's Note,” the main elements of the story are based on real events. All but the last chapters take place in Tombstone, Arizona. The city is full of dirty politics, unethical politicians, and criminal Cow Boys (as this term is spelled in the book) who steal cattle, drink, and stir up trouble. Here is the really true story of how the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday, but particularly Wyatt Earp, try to maintain order there and deal with lawlessness that led to their gunfight at the O.K Corral.If you do not like westerns, here is one you will.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Mary Doria Russell tells the story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. If you've read Doc, that may be all that I need to say to entice you to read this book. Once again, Russell paints the picture of the Old West beautifully, transporting us to Tombstone, Arizona in the 1880s. We learn what's happening with Doc Holliday, the Earp brothers, the women who live with them, and the other characters. The tension builds in Tombstone as the gunfight nears. But Russell doesn't leave the story there. She follows the characters after the event, showing the long-term implications of those few minutes of conflict at the O.K Corral. Although tales of the Old West are often peopled by those wearing white hats and those wearing black ones, Russell draws her characters with more complexity. It is because of this that the story rises from the page. A wonderful read!