A review by ege
The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

challenging emotional sad slow-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book describes the lives of three generations of women in Zambia. We start in the perspective of a European colonizer, and I found his characterization refreshingly believable, but I'd avoid this book if you don't like reading from the perspective of racist characters. This book feels very gritty and real, but as a result, it is exhausting to read. For example, starting at about a quarter of the way through the book, I started feeling dread in the pit of my stomach every time a new male character is introduced, for fear of what sexual/domestic violence is going to happen this time. I'm pretty sure basically every way that a man can mistreat a woman or girl happens in the course of this book. In summary, I think this is one of those times where the star system does the author a disservice; this book is very well written, and is effective in what the author's goal was, but boy, was it just a lot to read. 
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