From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

Start date: February 1, 2017

Finish date: February 28, 2017

Discussion: 2017 Monthly challenge

Why we're reading this: The prompt for February's monthly challenge is "written by a person of color." We've chosen The Undergrou…more
[close] The prompt for February's monthly challenge is "written by a person of color." We've chosen The Underground Railroad as our group read. Participation is optional.

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2017 Monthly challenge

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* 2017 monthly challenge: The final list
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What Members Thought

Sep 04, 2017 Megan rated it really liked it

Shelves: tea-and-tomes-book-club-books, historical-fiction, american-stories, library-loans

To be rated/reviewed after this month's book club meeting

While this was a difficult read, I'm so glad that my book club picked it and that I had a chance to read and discuss this thought-provoking novel. I must admit that I set the book aside several times when I first began reading it because the story was so intense. However, the writing was exquisite and the author so deftly incorporated historical facts that the novel was imminently readable, even when delving into the most difficult aspects To be rated/reviewed after this month's book club meeting

While this was a difficult read, I'm so glad that my book club picked it and that I had a chance to read and discuss this thought-provoking novel. I must admit that I set the book aside several times when I first began reading it because the story was so intense. However, the writing was exquisite and the author so deftly incorporated historical facts that the novel was imminently readable, even when delving into the most difficult aspects of the narrative. The overly simplified plot is Cora, a slave, learns of an actual physical underground railroad from another slave, Caeser. Cora and Caeser escape from a plantation in Georgia, but it does not go smoothly. Cora's pursuit of freedom takes her to several states, each presenting different racial realities and challenges. She is pursued by a notorious and relentless slave catcher, Ridgeway, who is haunted by the fact that he never caught Cora's mother and is determined not to allow Cora to elude him as well.

One of the things that I liked most was the structure. Chapters alternate between the stops along the railroad's route and the backgrounds of certain characters who are tied to Cora's journey. Each can be read as an independent, but connected, short story. In the location-based chapters, the author presents the American race reality for that particular state, but takes liberties with certain fact-based historical elements that are woven into the chapter. I found that effective and felt that it added to the story overall. While I agreed with other reviews that some characters were not as three-dimensional as others, I still found myself fully connected to Cora and felt my heart race while hoping that the each stop on her journey would lead her to freedom once and for all.

In addition to being a book club pick, this book was also selected as a monthly group read for the 2017 Popsugar Ultimate Reading Challenge back in February. At the time, the waitlist at my library was too long, so I wasn't able to actively participate in the discussion. Even though the discussion thread was closed by the time I read it, I enjoyed reading the comments and thinking about the ending in a different way. I kept thinking about this book after I finished it, which is always a good sign of an excellent read to me. ...more

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Aug 09, 2018 Marcella rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, 2018-50-book-challenge

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is going to be one of those reviews where I’m going to spend half of it responding to other reviewers. Some readers said that Cora would be more sympathetic in the first person; I have no idea why they feel this way. I had no problems empathizing with her in the third person. I think the third person actually serves a useful narrative tool at points, such as when she goes to South Carolina and you’re not even aware the character being described is Cora, a moment that proves how much she has ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Sara rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017-reads

I liked this book, but I didn't love this book. Like many others have said, it was hard to develop an emotional connection to any of the characters. I felt for Cora throughout all of her situations, but I never felt connected to Cora (or anyone else). This didn't make the story less interesting, just a little harder to get into and stick with at times. For me there were also some points where skips in the timeline made me lose interest. For example there was Tennessee, then Indiana, but no conne ...more

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Mar 14, 2018 Celeste rated it liked it

The whole time I was reading this I kept thinking of other books I liked more about this time period-Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Kitchen House. I liked this book well enough I just wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.

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Mar 30, 2018 Gina rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, book-group, pulitzer

I am late to the game on this one, but wow, this is a pretty incredible book deserving of the accolades and awards it has received. In this creative story, the Underground Railroad is a literal railroad and the journey of an escaped slave, Cora - her escape, her progressions and regressions along the way. Disturbingly hunted by “slave hunters” and continually surviving and learning and enduring.

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Jul 14, 2019 Julie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: to-read-own

This book is powerful, heart wrenching, and riveting. It should be required reading of all American adults; we are all made better having read it. I suspect I’ll be thinking about for a long time. Colson Whitehead is a national treasure.

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