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caseythereader's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Abandonment, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, and Colonisation
Moderate: Cancer and Sexual violence
aegagrus's review
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, Medical content, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death of parent, Drug use, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, and Pregnancy
kelseyland's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Pedophilia, and Medical trauma
ege's review
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Infidelity, and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape and Pedophilia