- Library User
Damnation Spring
Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson
Reviewed by L. Bennett
Rich is a third generation logger, good at his job, but lives paycheck to paycheck. Colleen, his wife and a midwife, has suffered a miscarriage and Rich decides he can't risk his wife's health again so he begins to distance himself. The novel swings back and forth between Rich and Colleen as they live through a marriage that is little more than a piece of paper, but they rally strongly to protect their son and provide him with a safe home. The tedium of their lives, their secrets from one another, and their friends and family were not very engaging. I was about two-thirds into the book and ready to quit but decided to read just a few more pages instead. Finally, the story came together.
The novel is a romance with lots of bumps in the road, set against the backdrop of environmental degradation. It is peopled with good-hearted small town folks, self-serving company workers, and a few people with utterly nasty behaviors. Can't say that I enjoyed the book, although the prose was well constructed, and I can't say that I wasted time in reading it. I guess it was not my cuppa and it may be a while before I pick up another book by Ash Davidson.