The Drift (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: John Ridley
- First Published: 2002
- Type of Work: Novel
- Time of Work: The present
- Setting: Los Angeles; Spokane, Washington
- Principal Characters: Charles Harmon, Chocolate Walt, Corina, Haxton Boole, Kessler, Hester, Felix, Mathias Smikle, Stupid Bitch Dumbass, Guillermo
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: African Americans, Freedom, United States or Americans, Homelessness or homeless people, Traveling or travelers, Blacks, Twenty-first century, Guilt, Poverty or poor people, California, Los Angeles, Substance abuse, Violence, Fear, Drug addiction or addicts, Drugs, Trains, Tramps or hoboes, Pacific Northwest, Hunger, 2000’s, Washington
- Locales: Los Angeles, CA, Spokane, WA
No doubt, to most Americans the subculture of tramps and hoboes who spend their lives “riding the rails,” is a complete unknown. Perhaps some people might have a vague, romanticized view of the “happy hobo,” a man not weighed down by responsibility and cares, who is free to travel where he wills, carrying all that he owns on his back. However, if the happy hobo ever existed, he is not to be found in the pages of John Ridley’s The Drift, which shows the dark reality of the lives of those who choose, or who are forced into, riding the rails. It is not a life to be envied....
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