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The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad
Author: Colson Whitehead
Cora is a young 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 W...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780525435709
ISBN-10: 0525435700
Publication Date: 7/2017
Pages: 306
Rating:
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1

3 stars, based on 1 rating
Publisher: Berkley Books
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 9
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

darkcoffeeclouds avatar reviewed The Underground Railroad on + 114 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This book was horribly sad, it tore my heart open repeatedly. I don't usually read books like this but it was chosen for a book club I wanted to attend. I couldn't even get through the first page without crying. I had to put it down to rest my heart. I never made it to that book club meeting.

I know it is fiction and one major detail was changed but that didn't take away from the story. I know that the majority of the book was close enough to the real thing and the terror that people endured was just as real. I have read about the horrible things that humans did to other humans because of the color of their skin and it is heart-rending. I wish it all could be considered fiction but the sad truth is that this horrible story was a reality for too many souls. There is language that I like to avoid but in this book, it is part of the reality.
kcrouth avatar reviewed The Underground Railroad on
Helpful Score: 1
The Underground Railroad is a tragic and heartbreaking story that is beautifully written. Colson Whitehead's prose are among the best i've read. The story told is the damning truth of slavery, and the history, philosophy and culture of the American nation and people - how this nation was built, and the brokenness and systemic evil so key to its building. Through imagination and creativity, this story communicates not hard facts, but the undeniable truth about America. Sadly the truth illustrated here in a 19th century context have survived into the 21st century today, and must still be confronted and fought.

One quote that seems key to the story, and the truth it communicates is:

"We can't save everyone. But that doesn't mean we can't try. Sometimes a useful delusion is better than a useless truth."

Sometimes delusion, rather than the cold hard facts, is what we hang on to in order to be saved. But just below the above passage we find this:

"And America, too, is a delusion, the grandest one of all. The white race believes - believes with all its heart - that it is their right to take the land. To kill Indians. Make war. Enslave their brothers. This nation shouldn't exist, it can't exist. This place must be a delusion, too. Yet here we are."

To whom does the useful delusion of America belong? Here we are indeed. Looking no further than the current occupant of the White House and his rabid followers, ranging from the factory and farm all the way to the halls of Congress, we see that the delusion that is America is alive today, and must still be confronted and fought, for the sake of every person. Everyone. FOR ALL.

interview with the author:

https://www.npr.org/2016/08/06/488969873/new-novel-takes-the-underground-railroad-beyond-the-metaphor
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Yoni avatar reviewed The Underground Railroad on + 327 more book reviews
This is a beautiful read. A great deal of it is difficult but the story is told in a mythical way; part real, part fantasy. It is a story that needs to be told again and again. Beautifully written, tragic and yet uplifting in the end.
reviewed The Underground Railroad on + 344 more book reviews
Tough read but interesting story. Kinda jumps around but follows the same characters. Couple of slaves escape and become free in a time when blacks were treated worse than animals.


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