Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

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

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

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

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

Minor: Cancer

hollybearhouck's review

emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

A slow burn, one that brought me to tears multiple times.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and Miscarriage

Minor: Animal death, Car accident, Infertility, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Cancer, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Cursing

ssternle's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Abortion, and Medical content

sarah2438's review against another edition

I just don't think this is going anywhere for me. It's heavy on the visuals, lots of names, and not a whole lot is happening with the plot. It reminds me of character studies, which I'm not the biggest fan of. We keep hearing about graphic miscarriages, birth defects, and animal deformities, yet the characters continue to use and drink the things that are obviously poisoning them and everything around them. Of course it's not obvious to the characters (partially because of the time period) but that sort of makes me want to scream.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer and Infidelity

maregred's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Miscarriage, Abortion, Infertility, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Cancer, and Death

Moderate: Animal death, Car accident, Child death, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Alcoholism, and Racism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Racism, and Xenophobia

dwager's review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Miscarriage, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal death, Abortion, Infidelity, Racism, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, and Pregnancy

Minor: Cancer, Car accident, and Suicide

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

emily_madcharo's review

challenging dark emotional informative 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Bullying, Cancer, Car accident, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Violence

davidrb's review

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