From the Bookshelf of Nothing But Reading Challenges…

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

Start date: January 22, 2017

Finish date: January 31, 2017

Discussion: Books of the Month

Why we're reading this: January 2017 Anything Goes Book of the Month
[close] January 2017 Anything Goes Book of the Month

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What Members Thought

Jan 07, 2019 Kirsten rated it liked it · review of another edition

I really did expect to like this book much more than I did.

Part of it was that I did not engage with the characters as much as I would have liked. Also, the format was a little haphazard and I had trouble following the narrative trail. It was well structured and well written and must've been well researched.

The book won many literary awards and I have to say I was disappointed. ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Sep 08, 2020 Avigail rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, 2020, audible, physical-book

The Underground Railroad is a book that I found out through BookTube, as well as some book podcasts. I decided to pick it up because of the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Cora is not your typical heroine; she is an accurate representation of how far would you go to chase a dream, which in her case is freedom. The depth of Cora’s strength felt because we can watch her matched against the best and the most brutal.
Colson Whitehead did a beautiful job with the idea of taking a secret organization and ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Jan 14, 2017 Joyce rated it really liked it

Shelves: 100-nyt-books, book-club-choice, audible

I listened to this and probably should have read it instead because there are no clear chapter changes that come across in audio. It caused some confusion in the listening experience. That said, it was an extraordinary book. Well worth another read. The story of Cora's efforts to escape slavery is shocking in its inhumanity. Plantation life is horrifying in its rendering of what being treated as property really looks like. In her journey, she also experiences other variations on this theme. It g ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

May 11, 2018 Jessica rated it liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, fiction, civil-war

I wanted to like this one more, but even though the subject matter was interesting and important, I found the writing to be disjointed with lots of characters and only a couple that I really cared about. Maybe this is a book that’s easier to read than listen to (I listened) because there were multiple times where I thought flipping back to verify the story line would have helped, but that’s almost impossible to do with an audiobook.

1 like · Like · see review

Jan 28, 2017 Jen Ifer's Inklings rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-books, library, read-in-2017, 5-star-reads

This book should be required reading. There are a lot of good discussion points that would benefit us all to talk about and remember. My only complaint was the way the book ended. It was very abrupt and I didn't feel it fully wrapped the story up.

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2017, prompt #51: A book about a difficult topic. ...more

1 like · Like · see review