The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell Review

 Title: The Old Drift 

Author: Namwali Serpell 

Age Group: Adult 

Genre: Historical Fiction 

Series: Standalone 

Star Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars 

I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads program, and it was sent to me by the publisher, Hograth—thank you so much! 

This book—I'm not going to lie; at times the density and the huge cast of characters was intimidating. It took me almost a week and a half to finish this book entirely. Nonetheless, despite my issues with it, it was beautifully written, richly detailed, dense, but a feast for the senses nonetheless. It just wasn’t my kind of book. Regardless, I wanted to finish it! Told from the point of view of three generations of three different Zambian and Zimbabwean families, this book examines Africa through a distinctly Black lens, and honestly for that reason alone, this book should be lauded. I wanted to love it, but there were so many times when the prose was super dense that it was hurting my brain. This portrait of Africa, though, from the first World War into the near future, was darkly beautiful. I enjoyed some of the characters, while others went completely over my head. This book was difficult to understand, if only because the threads of the characters tangled together so much it was difficult to keep straight. 

Three generations of families living in Zambia are on display in this book, Italian, Zambian, and Zimbawean. There were so many different characters it was hard to keep track of them; I almost wish there had been a dramatis personae guide in the front, to help me keep all the generations straight. Regardless, this book travels from the first World War to the near future, where technology dominates all in the form of beads, little tiny nanobot computers within the human body. There were definitely parts that I enjoyed, but overall, I was left feeling rather confused. I really enjoyed the ending; it really wrapped everything up. One of my favorite characters in the book was the mosquito chorus (I know, isn’t that strange?), narrating every transition from one character to the next. This book was rich, vivid with detail, immersive and gorgeous, but at times it was extremely hard to follow. Nonetheless, I’m very happy that I read it! The bottom line: Rich with detail and brimming with larger than life characters, I wanted to love The Old Drift, but at times I felt it was very hard to follow and understand. Next on deck: One Great Lie by Deb Caletti!