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impla77's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Pedophilia, Rape, Kidnapping, and Murder
Minor: Vomit
2treads's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Serpell takes her readers through time and place using characters and dialogue skillfully to build out her world and create an addictive atmosphere.
I enjoy the slow building of the connectedness that Serpell uses to create the shared world of her characters. Using social strata and familial dynamics that parallel the delineation of the societal make-up and renders a portrait that blends science, science-fiction, a hint of the fantastical and the rich historical tapestry.
I love how Serpell uses the voices of mosquitoes to signify and draw deeper meaning to the changing landscape of Zambia, to their philosophical musings on their role and the role of man in a newly formed nation.
The humour gets me, the social commentary is on point, the selfish and self-serving actions, emotional blackmail and dysfunction that ensues, kept me listening and turning the pages.
The control of prose and dialogue, the wit that is infused into interactions and existences was so enjoyable. This is exactly the kind of novel I like to read, simple and complex with a multiplicity of characters and characteristics that all culminate in shared experiences in and ever changing scape.
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, and Police brutality
aegagrus's review against another edition
4.75
Serpell takes us in many directions with this book. Some readers will not connect as readily to some of its themes. This is hardly a disadvantage. In the end, The Old Drift has one key virtue: for a book which could spawn endless rumination and analysis, its most essential lesson is laid out clearly, elegantly, and even explicitly. In some ways, this is a book which demands a great deal from its reader. In other ways, it is shockingly direct. The reader can -- and should -- approach the book on both levels.
Narratives about the global south, and about Africa in particular, are often strikingly deterministic. Places are the way they are for Reasons, many of those reasons located in intentional acts -- of colonialists, politicians, soldiers. The Old Drift has quite a lot to say about such people, their actions, and their reasons. But at its most essential, this book is a rejoinder to such a determinism. It is a vehicle for imaginative reinvention and critical analysis, both evoked through Serpell's beautiful and painstaking writing.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, and Medical content
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Confinement, Drug use, Infidelity, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
the_literarylinguist's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Sexual content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Pedophilia