Reviews with content warning for Child death - Damnation Spring

I’d like to start off by saying that this book would probably be most enjoyable for people who enjoy 1970s US historical fiction, as well those that are into environmental-themed reads. The novel’s concept is interesting, and you really get to know each of the characters involved. Although I found myself frequently getting distracted and could barely focus on this read; I spent months trying to read this chunks at a time so I could review this as fairly as possible Dr spite my apparent disinterest. I snagged this as a ARC from @netgalley, as I had heard great things about it. I found that I learned quite a bit about how the logging process goes, and it inspired a variety of conversations with my relatives about their memories of the time. As someone who has seen the environmental changes to my Southern California town over a few years, I felt for those residents of Damnation Springs that represented everyone who was tired of our forests being destroyed. I’ve seen my town get drier, hotter, and a whole lot less green. Even if I did not really care for the writing style, I will agree that it was covering some very important issues. I think what really made this a 3/5 for me though was the ending; it felt too cliche after the originality of the rest of the story.

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kdowli01's review against another edition

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emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is slow, and took awhile to get into, but had really great writing and ended up being a really emotional story by the end.

Synopsis: Rich and Colleen Gunderson live in a redwood logging town in 1977 California with their toddler son Chub. Colleen's high-school boyfriend returns, now involved in studying the impact of pesticides, and causes a huge rift in the town between those who are worried about the environmental impact of the chemicals and the timber industry, and those who rely on that industry to survive.

This was just heartbreaking. It's easy to connect to the environmental side of the story, especially from a historical fiction perspective, because we know where this is going, but you can't help falling in love with Rich and wanting his work to succeed as well, and feel for him with the very real threats he faced. It's also impossible not to compare the red flags they saw at the time--the impact of pesticides in water--with the climate change evidence we're seeing now, which is just terrifying.

Rich and Colleen are really well-developed, and I loved how unique their voices were. I didn't love the chapters told from Chub's perspective as much. They were cute, and at least were short, but didn't add a whole lot.

*
If you liked Migrations or Once There Were Wolves, you definitely have to check this out!

CW: miscarriage, infant death, pet death

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maregred's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

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nordstina's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Damnation Spring highlights a close knit logging community in California who have to come to terms with both the increasing regulations around the industry and the environmental consequences of it. Colleen, a makeshift midwife and her husband Rick, a career logger live with their son Chub. Colleen has experience several miscarriages and has been at the births of multiple children with severe birth defects. Some important events propel the narrative forward. Rick purchases a plot of land where he could potentially make a windfall set up his family financially without telling Colleen. A man from Colleen's past returns to the town in order to research the fishing and water in the area, measuring the deleterious effects of the constant spraying. Davidson is able to color in a community and lifestyle for the reader, and provided context for different characters' motivations. There were a couple of characters who were sort of comically evil, but overall I enjoyed this one. It provided a nice balance of the effects of destruction of the environment while also highlighting the consequences for a community built on a single industry.

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