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A review by libbyraebelle
Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson
5.0
A truly beautiful story, unique subject matter, gorgeous descriptive writing that transports the reader to 1970s rural northern California. My dad was a "tree guy" for 30 years - line clearance, not logging - very different, but it still made the tree-work scenes meaningful and fascinating for me.
It took me 100 pages to get used to one quirk of the writing, which is that the narrative would jump rapidly from line to line (i.e. in one line, two characters would be together in car, in the next sentence they'd be in their kitchen, maybe hours later - I's often think "wait, weren't we just..." and go back to be sure that I hadn't missed anything). Characters also talk about other characters without you first learning who those folks are - sort of like if you were overhearing a conversation in a small-town where you're an outsider (which we are). Once I got used to these methods though, and instead put myself in the mindset of being an insider instead, I found these conventions added to the story - these characters are all people who have known each other and each other's families/histories for decades. The writing assumes the reader is either an outsider, and therefore deserves no further explanations, or is in on this knowledge too, and therefore doesn't require further explanation. The writing reveals information in a conversationally-appropriate way, rather than with narration that takes you out of the story itself. It's difficult for me to accurately explain what I mean here, I'm not a writer, but if you read it, you'll understand what I'm talking about. The reader feels part of the community, truly living within these people's experiences as we switch POV between the 3 main characters.
Small gripe - I wish we had had Daniel's narrative POV as well, to give us more insight into his goals/experiences/emotions about being back in his hometown, fighting an uphill battle.
It took me 100 pages to get used to one quirk of the writing, which is that the narrative would jump rapidly from line to line (i.e. in one line, two characters would be together in car, in the next sentence they'd be in their kitchen, maybe hours later - I's often think "wait, weren't we just..." and go back to be sure that I hadn't missed anything). Characters also talk about other characters without you first learning who those folks are - sort of like if you were overhearing a conversation in a small-town where you're an outsider (which we are). Once I got used to these methods though, and instead put myself in the mindset of being an insider instead, I found these conventions added to the story - these characters are all people who have known each other and each other's families/histories for decades. The writing assumes the reader is either an outsider, and therefore deserves no further explanations, or is in on this knowledge too, and therefore doesn't require further explanation. The writing reveals information in a conversationally-appropriate way, rather than with narration that takes you out of the story itself. It's difficult for me to accurately explain what I mean here, I'm not a writer, but if you read it, you'll understand what I'm talking about. The reader feels part of the community, truly living within these people's experiences as we switch POV between the 3 main characters.
Small gripe - I wish we had had Daniel's narrative POV as well, to give us more insight into his goals/experiences/emotions about being back in his hometown, fighting an uphill battle.