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A review by motherhorror
Cascade by Craig Davidson
5.0
Review originally published in the October/November 2020 issue of Rue Morgue
..
It’s been fifteen years since Craig Davidson blessed readers with his short story collection Rust and Bone, but who’s counting? The answer is Davidson’s fanbase. We’re counting.
We know that whatever stories Davidson decides to set in the fictional town of Cataract City (the nickname given to Niagra Falls, Ontario) is something special. It’s no surprise Cascade is garnering early buzz since the first collection went on to inspire a movie of the same title. The storyline combined two of the tales from the collection, the titular story Rust and Bone fused with Rocket Ride. The movie was nominated for a host of awards, including a SAG and a Golden Globe.
After finishing Cascade, I wondered which of the six stories would also get that silver screen treatment. They all possess that magical, cinematic quality; vivid word pictures coming to life in the reader’s mind so effortlessly given that Davidson’s command of words and descriptions are brilliantly lush and colorful.
But take caution. Davidson has never been known to be easy one’s emotions. In the acknowledgments, he remarks that these stories are
“...those of a husband and father with dreams and hopes and disillusionments and fears implicitly linked to this, my current stage of life.”
And they are. All six tales share the common bond of family relationships as well as an underlying tension or foreboding.
The intimate, instinctual moments after a car crash. The all-encompassing love and protection between fraternal twins. A pregnant social worker’s love for children not her own. A firefighter wrestling with a generational fascination with fire. All of these characters will capture your heart and cause you concern; their broken bits and pieces, their flaws will leave splinters in your soul. An arresting, memorable collection. Please may we not have to wait another fifteen years for more.
..
It’s been fifteen years since Craig Davidson blessed readers with his short story collection Rust and Bone, but who’s counting? The answer is Davidson’s fanbase. We’re counting.
We know that whatever stories Davidson decides to set in the fictional town of Cataract City (the nickname given to Niagra Falls, Ontario) is something special. It’s no surprise Cascade is garnering early buzz since the first collection went on to inspire a movie of the same title. The storyline combined two of the tales from the collection, the titular story Rust and Bone fused with Rocket Ride. The movie was nominated for a host of awards, including a SAG and a Golden Globe.
After finishing Cascade, I wondered which of the six stories would also get that silver screen treatment. They all possess that magical, cinematic quality; vivid word pictures coming to life in the reader’s mind so effortlessly given that Davidson’s command of words and descriptions are brilliantly lush and colorful.
But take caution. Davidson has never been known to be easy one’s emotions. In the acknowledgments, he remarks that these stories are
“...those of a husband and father with dreams and hopes and disillusionments and fears implicitly linked to this, my current stage of life.”
And they are. All six tales share the common bond of family relationships as well as an underlying tension or foreboding.
The intimate, instinctual moments after a car crash. The all-encompassing love and protection between fraternal twins. A pregnant social worker’s love for children not her own. A firefighter wrestling with a generational fascination with fire. All of these characters will capture your heart and cause you concern; their broken bits and pieces, their flaws will leave splinters in your soul. An arresting, memorable collection. Please may we not have to wait another fifteen years for more.