Point of View

Damnation Spring is written from a third person omniscient point of view in order to grant the reader access to the inner thoughts and emotions of each member of the Gunderson family. Davidson oscillates between the experiences of Colleen, Chub, and Rich throughout the narrative to build an emotional connection between the reader and each character. While each family member has a different experience living in the insular logging community, Colleen is a mother and midwife, Rich is a logger, and Chub is child, their lives each carry equal narrative weight. The point of view allows the author to explore the impact of industrial logging on a family; Colleen’s miscarriages, Rich’s struggle to find a more lucrative way to support his family, and Chub’s coming of age are each informed by their relationship to the redwood forests and the community that works...