The Underground Railroad in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

May 15, 2018 Maryam rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction

.When Mabel was pregnant with Cora, she would apologize to the unborn child for bringing her into the world, just as she apologized to Cora for making her a stray

This book was highly praised last year and that is the reason I picked it up and I can't deny its message but still it was neither full fiction not a history book. It dangled in between and that is the reason I didn't give it a better rate.

Cora, the protagonist, is very well developed and believable. She moves through all brutality of ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Mar 04, 2020 Renata rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, grownup

This book was challenging to read, but very compelling--I was so invested in Cora's story that I found it hard to put down. The challenges were: of course it's hard to read about the brutal (fictionalized) realities of slavery, but I'd already read several slave narratives and the like, so I mean...horrible to read but not shocking, I guess? But I really struggled to understand what was going on with the alternate history and I really struggled to understand what the point of it was. Would Cora' ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 20, 2016 Melle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, dakota-county-library-book, historical-fiction, slavery, african-american, audio, speculative-fiction, adult, underground-railroad, read-in-2016

This is one of those already really, really, really well-written, well-crafted, and well-executed novels that somehow gets even better in the hands of a skilled reader. (Bahni Turpin is tops. Seriously.) I wanted more of the Underground-Railroad-as-actual-railroad concept (which seems like the only criticism of this novel for readers), but, really, that speculative fiction is totally insignificant compared to the level of historical detail and period recreation and character development. A wonde ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 04, 2019 Cheryl rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-group, black-authors

3.5 stars rounded to 4.
I wanted to like this 2016 National Book Award and 2017 Pulitzer more than I did, but having said that, I’m glad our book group chose this book and will look forward to talking about it at the end of this month. It has a place in the novels of slavery narratives and not surprisingly is a heartbreaking, violent and a thrilling read as a runaway slave Cora is hunted throughout the book with the slave catcher Ridgeway ever at her heels.

The writing has been described as deta ...more

Like · see review

May 11, 2018 Shayla rated it liked it

Shelves: library-book-club

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Like · see review

Feb 15, 2017 Talia rated it really liked it

Shelves: readharder2017, adult-fiction

It's been a really long time since I've read a slave narrative, and this one was difficult to read at times. There were parts where I had to close the book and give myself a moment before I could continue. So content-wise, very powerful. The writing style left me a touch cold, as it was a little too detached at times, and I was really hoping for some more character development, especially with Cora. I think the book not being in 1st person didn't help either.
Just based on the story, this was an ...more

Like · see review

Sep 11, 2017 LT rated it really liked it

This was powerful, challenging and reminds me a bit of Octavia Butler. There were some slow portions that made me lose the momentum to finish the story. These parts were usually an effort to close the loop with some characters, but I did not find this necessary in all cases. Generally, I did enjoy reading it.

Like · see review