Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

9 reviews

keenanmaree's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This is a really hard one to rate. It was such a deeply personal reading experience in so many ways, not all of them super comfortable. 

5 stars for setting, absolutely. It’s set in Klamath, which is about 45 minutes from where I grew up, and every mention of a familiar place and description of the environment was like a warm blanket over my homesick heart. 

Everything beyond that, though, was just so heavy. I know that it’s all pretty accurate to the history of the area, but that didn’t make it less of a tough read. I knew a story set in that area around that time period was gonna be at best bittersweet, but it got to the point where it started to feel like misery porn. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Abortion, and Alcohol

trumpeta19's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

2.0

The plot was all over the place and the characters were poorly developed. There were way too many secondary characters thrown in the mix so it became hard to keep track of who was who. The book could have ended about 100 pages sooner but ironically rushed the finale. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny

beccaj11's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

The writing is beautiful, but the book moves slowly for a while. It’s a heavy story with a lot of loss and grief, but the magnified look at a marriage under hardship and a town deeply rooted in its history was incredibly well done. What stopped me from giving this 4.5 or 5 stars? A truly devastating ending that I found completely unnecessary. This book has so much heaviness baked into it and just as the sun starts to shine through, it is torn apart again and honestly, it made me so mad. This writer is an incredibly talented storyteller and scene painter, but I will never forgive them for that ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Violence, Car accident, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Terminal illness and War

katesbooknook's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Grief, Car accident, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Ableism, Misogyny, Sexism, Abortion, and Murder

Minor: Cancer

adriso's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

The way that this story brought the reader along the entire journey through all the twists and turns of life was nearly cinematic. The pace gave me a lot of time to warm up to the characters and inevitably love them all even through their flaws and challenges. It was an entirely emotional and vivid experience to read this novel and I loved almost every second of it.

It was relatable, funny, and heartbreaking till the end, and I completely unraveled towards the end. It felt like I came crashing down with the characters durring their greif and heartache.<spoiler/> This is the type of book I would spend months on and appreciate all the time I invest in it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny and Abortion

Minor: Animal death and Fire/Fire injury

prof_pelon's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Terminal illness, Violence, Car accident, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

rivbug27's review against another edition

dark informative sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Car accident, Pregnancy, and Colonisation

Minor: Cursing, Death, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexism, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Gaslighting

layoversandliterature's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Miscarriage, and Misogyny

davidrb's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

Man, I'm leaving this unrated for the moment because I just don't know.

Richly written, with excellent character building, but didn't stick the landing. I really need to highlight the work Davidson puts into writing realistic characters: it's easy to slip into stereotypes and caricature with rural people and their lives, but they feel so human. I don't like most of them, but that's fine. Colleen, Enid, and Daniel stand out as my favorites. 

But man, that ending. For a book that's all buildup, that's where it goes? Maybe I'll get it better on a reread.

The main reason I'm withholding a rating is the portrayal of the Yurok characters. I'm non Native myself, so I can't speak to it, but I'll be looking for Native reviewers' thoughts on the story. I liked Daniel personally, but something about the way he was written struck me as off, especially with the modern day climate where water protectors are still fighting his same battle.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Alcohol