Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson

12 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

kbcollinskai's review

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Animal death, Grief, and Miscarriage

mkhaupt's review

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Car accident, and Racism

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

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

and_opossum's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Racism, Violence, Pregnancy, Infertility, and Death

Moderate: Abortion, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Child death, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Medical content

rivbug27's review

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, Blood, Bullying, Car accident, Colonisation, Violence, Racism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Miscarriage, and Medical trauma

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

krys_kilz's review

challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book! Even though the pacing is slow, I found myself unable to put it down. I became deeply invested in the characters, which I think was heavily influenced by the pacing and amount of time spent with each character. Their stories were complex and shifting and deeply human. I also really enjoyed how much the community itself is a character that means different things to different people. It is a book deeply rooted in place.

I really appreciated the inclusion of indigenous perspectives. I found Daniel's character and his uncle's speech to be some of the strongest and most moving parts of the book. Daniel's uncle's speech was definitely influenced by the Cree proverb: "Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will you realize that you cannot eat money."

I found the critique of conservation activists and how they often use indigenous people incredibly important as well as the scalding critique of corporate interests and capitalism. This book offers an intimate portrait of how relationships with the land change through colonial contact and capitalist extraction and the devastating ecological destruction left in their wake. This book is also a stunning examination of why people do or do not act and what truly makes a community. 

I will say that I really did not like the ending. I think I understand what Davidson was trying to do, but it just did not work for me. With a different ending this would have been a 5-star book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, and Infertility

Moderate: Colonisation, Racism, Abortion, Animal death, and Car accident