Continental Drift is a powerful book dealing that shows how some of the worst and most exploitive experiences that humans have are born from the trivial failures of imperfect people. Many of the people in this book are hugely flawed and only partly evil. Yet their actions and desperation when magnified by the relentless drive for profit on all things that is capitalism generate absolute horrors and destroy lives and spirits. A book like this should is so important especially now when so many advocates of social justice imagine that people can just "envision the good they want to be" and that that will be enough. ( )

Continental drift is beautifully written, but a seriously depressing book to read. It's the tale of an average Joe kind of a man who makes one bad decision after another in his life and consequently, we the reader, watch his life spiral further and further down a very slippery slope. And what makes the book even sadder is that while Bob made these decisions and is therefore responsible for the consequences, his unfortunate wife and children deserved better. ( )

I love Russell Banks and am working being a completist but this book is very, very dark. ( )

Everyman Bob chases his dreams to Florida with disastrous results. The Haitan refugee chases her dream to Florida only to be foiled by Bob. ( )

This is my first Russell Banks and it won't be my last. Banks is a great writer and keen observer of the human condition. I'm already planning to read Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter sometime in 2021. Glad I ended 2020 strong with this book. ( )