'The Underground Railroad' by Colson Whitehead is a novel that reimagines the historical underground network that helped slaves escape the South as a literal underground railroad. The story follows Cora, a young slave who embarks on a dangerous journey for freedom, while being pursued by a relentless slave catcher. The book blends elements of fantasy and harsh reality, highlighting the horrors of slavery and the resilience of those who fought against it. Whitehead's writing style weaves historical facts with fictional elements, creating a compelling narrative that delves into themes of freedom, humanity, and survival.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers/content warnings for The Underground Railroad include violence, sexual assault, torture, racism, and historical brutality inherent in the story of slavery.
From The Publisher:
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this #1 New York Times bestseller chronicles a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. The basis for the acclaimed original Amazon Prime Video series directed by Barry Jenkins.
Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood-where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him.
In Colson Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop.
As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the terrors of the antebellum era, he weaves in the saga of our nation, from the brutal abduction of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman's will to escape the horrors of bondage-and a powerful meditation on the history we all share.
Look for Colson Whitehead's new novel, Harlem Shuffle, coming this September!
Ratings (70)
Incredible (20) | |
Loved It (14) | |
Liked It (19) | |
It Was OK (11) | |
Did Not Like (4) | |
Hated It (2) |
Reader Stats (135):
Read It (70) | |
Currently Reading (2) | |
Want To Read (51) | |
Did Not Finish (3) | |
Not Interested (9) |
4 comment(s)
3.5*
briefly scanning the other reviews of this book, i saw one that called the narration "cold"
i think what that person saw as cold, i saw as matter-of-factness
in one scene, a slave who attempted escape gets castrated and burned alive in front of all the other slaves, while their owner gives an announcement about something totally unrelated
the fact that this brutal murder isn't the focus of the scene is what makes it all the more horrific, though
it's a warning to the slaves, but also just a fact of life
you can be destroyed in ways that human beings shouldn't be able to imagine and no one will object
that's the core of whitehead's story, the chilling normalcy of violence against black people, both outright as in the example above, and "well-meaning," as in the white doctors giving runaway slaves and free black women hysterectomies against their wishes
cora is the heart of the book, the one who bridges between the unthinking brutality of the plantation and the warmth of a community of runaways and freed slaves
her determination to survive, her unflinching honesty about the violence and hatred that underscores america's economic rise, is what keeps this book from being cold
Colson Whitehead, in his new novel "The Underground Railroad" takes us on a escape journey taken by a slave Cora, along with her friend Ceaser from her Georgia cotton plantation. Underground Railroad is not a metaphor but an actual railroad with stations and a running trains which are used to free the slaves, an escape route to freedom. Cora, is chased by a slave catcher named Ridgeway who had failed to catch Cora's mother Mabel, who had run away years ago. With the help of some whites and other blacks, Cora tries to escape through the underground railroad.
Whitehead has narrated the story through Cora, who is born in a plantation and grown there. She has to fight her place even among the blacks, when her mother runs away. Daily whipping , rape, burning alive , cutting limbs are the things that Cora has seen on a daily basis. Even then, knowing her fate if she's is caught, her mind yearns for freedom.
Whitehead has successfully communicates the horrors of slavery and the dreams of freedom to the readers. Slavery, even though is narrated through different novels like "Beloved" by Toni Morrison or "The Invention of Wings" by Sue Monk Kidd, leaves a mark on the reader each and every time.
Oprah Winfrey’s book club selection winner "The Underground Railroad" is a masterpiece that will live in the reader's heart.
Fascinating, creative, one of my favorite books of the year!
What can you read after
The Underground Railroad?
About the Author:
Colson Whitehead is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Underground Railroad, which in 2016 won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and the National Book Award and was named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year…
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