 October - December 2003
The Drift
by John Ridley
It's as if the author, John Ridley wanted to leave the impression that The Drift, his current book is an abbreviation of sorts for the term drifter. It depicts the life of Charles Harmon, a psychologically complex man who will invoke empathy and disdain at any cost. Charles possessed all of the right ingredients and was living the American dream, but << his>> psychotic unstableness managed to destroy whatever levels of euphoria needed to define his persona. Living the life of a tramp riding the rails, hiding from a bureaucratic life and digging through trash to find his next meal adds much credence to his plight. Being an astute man, who is well versed in the legal system, added to his aura and earned him the rail name 'Brain Nigger Charlie' among his peers. But Charlie is barely surviving on the railroads, and is leaning on drugs to keep him from thinking about everything his growing dementia has forced him to flee from.
Only when he agrees to help a fellow tramp locate his teenaged niece, does he begin to elicit some semblance of sanity to his existence. Added to the plot for dramatic effect is a serial murderer that is shadowing the railways, which makes for much intrigue concerning Charlie's dogged determination to help. The search for the girl is a twisted one and allows the author to be as graphic as needed to illustrate how life on the rails can have an affect on, and give contrast to a normal life. The tortured kind of freedom and power through the violence he inflicts with his cudgel, surprises Charlie enough to eventually lead him back to what he thought no longer existed -- his own humanity. Ridley is an excellent writer depicting an unglamorized life of rail traveling, and the people that adhere to it. He manages to add traces of humor, which buffer the resonant honesty and ugliness of this life.
Even with the maladjustment in realism with which this story reverberates, the electricity and lucidity capture the subculture of hobo life in the millennium and resounds with eye-opening appeal. The Drift is an issue away from humanity and threatens to be Ridley's most ambitious, most provoking novel yet. It is truly a book well worth reading.
Reviewed by aNN Brown c/o Rawsistaz Reviewers
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