Sunday, October 16, 2016

EPITAPH





Shop Indie Bookstores



Epitaph, Mary Doria Russell, Ecco, 2015, 577 pp


This is the sequel to Doc and my reading group were unanimous on it being a great read, even though it is a Western, a genre we have never read in all the 15 years I have been a member of the group! No one even complained about the length.

Mary Doria Russell set out to tell the truest story she could about the shoot-out at the O K Corral in Tombstone, AZ. Her goal was to dispel the myths that have grown up about Wyatt Earp. She accomplished both, including taking the tale all the way to Earp's death many years later, delineating how those myths came about. One member of the group felt sad to learn that this hero of hers was not the wonderful man she had always revered. A peril of reading good literature, I guess.

The novel packs a lot of history and I felt I had learned more than I ever knew before about that time period in America. Somehow, though I grew up with Wyatt Earp as one of my heroes, I had never realized that the O K Corral incident occurred in 1881, just twenty years after the Civil War began. Though the Eastern part of the country was quite civilized at that time, the West was still wild, violent, and only slightly lawful.

Life for women in those Western towns was especially brutal. Most single women who found themselves there were forced to turn to prostitution to survive. Only one of the Earp brothers was married to his woman, though they were mostly faithful. But mining of gold, copper, and other minerals brought businessmen from the East and made them rich and influential. The enmity between the North and the South was still a driving social and political force with deep divisions between the two. In fact, it was politics and money that created the conditions leading up to the massacre that lasted only thirty seconds and left everyone involved either dead or scarred for life.

It is truly a monumental read and gives much food for thought. In light of our current Presidential campaign, please read and ponder the Author's Note found at the beginning of the novel:

"The poles of American politics have been stable since the presidential election of 1800. A federalist party proclaiming, 'We are a nation of laws' has always been opposed by a 'Don't tread on me' party that resists regulation in the name of personal liberty. Since the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, they've been called the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. Please note that in the 1880s, those labels were reversed."


(Epitaph is available in various formats by order from Once Upon A Time Bookstore.)

9 comments:

  1. This covers a turbulent time in our nation's history. But then, has there ever been a time in our history when things were not turbulent? There's certainly much to relate to in the story told by Russell.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I believe turbulence is the correct term to describe human life.

      Delete
  2. This one sounds very good, but what moved your club to choose it? Is it nonfiction? Because you said it was a Western but sounds like nonfiction from your analysis.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is fiction but based on plenty of research. My club picked it from a list of suggestions I made. Each book on the list was set in or near the hometowns of the members. I was surprised they picked this one and overjoyed that they all liked it so much.

      Delete
  3. Wow it does sound almost like nonfiction but as you say it is a novel. Does it read like a novel? Is it better than Doc? I am intrigued by both -- the early days of the American West -- how can you beat it?! I will add both to my (long) list.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I liked Doc so much and this one almost as much but for different reasons. I think it is best if you read Doc first.

      Delete
  4. I am intrigued by this one, sounds very good :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you would like it. Have you ever visited the American West?

      Delete
  5. No, I haven't :) I have only been to NY :)

    ReplyDelete