From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Underground Railroad

Colson Whitehead

Start date: June 15, 2017

Finish date: July 1, 2017

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Sherry

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Reading List

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What Members Thought

Aug 09, 2017 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobook, daytimers-book-club, 19th-century, alternate-history, pulitzer-prize, slavery, themes-black-lives-matter, underground-railroad

I have to admit I was underwhelmed by this book after all the hoopla and press and a Pulitzer Prize. It's not exactly fantasy, and it's not exactly magical realism. So I've settled on alternate history. The Underground Railroad is imagined as an actual underground railroad, built in some mysterious past by unknown builders but in a time period before the railroad even existed in the United States. Likewise other events, like the section set in South Carolina with white doctors encouraging black I have to admit I was underwhelmed by this book after all the hoopla and press and a Pulitzer Prize. It's not exactly fantasy, and it's not exactly magical realism. So I've settled on alternate history. The Underground Railroad is imagined as an actual underground railroad, built in some mysterious past by unknown builders but in a time period before the railroad even existed in the United States. Likewise other events, like the section set in South Carolina with white doctors encouraging black women to have tubal ligations long before such a thing was historically available. So the "railroad" is something of a time machine as well. Those things didn't bother me. I give it 4 stars because this movement through time and space made the plot feel disjointed at times. Or it has no plot in the traditional sense. There was also no character development. What makes this a compelling book, though, is the way it removes the "black experience" from time and place, making the reader a vicarious traveler on this same journey regardless of race. In that sense, perhaps the reader is actually the main character - hopefully a character that has learned something and gained in understanding of that experience.

Book description: Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted. In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom. ...more

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May 04, 2018 Melissa rated it it was amazing

Shelves: race-class-justice, america

When has a book ever made me weep for my country, for my world? What other books tell the truths of American history and our 'original sin' with such power, insight, and compassion? This is the book -- a masterpiece of gripping narrative, a story of 'the grand delusion' that carries many stories within it.

Warning: this review contains minor spoilers and some disturbing images.

Cora's journey in the face of unrelenting hatred and cruel violence made me slow my reading down to a crawl so many times ...more

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Jun 30, 2017 Mary Ellen rated it liked it

I read this book for an online discussion group, and forced myself to finish it in a rapid-skimming fashion. And worse yet, I feel guilty for not having, if not liked it (I think "like" would be a wholly inappropriate response to this novel), then not having appreciated it; not having been awed by it; not, as a white woman, having felt duly chastised by it.

Instead, I was sometimes horrified (the gruesome slow death of a captured escaped slave, taking place in close proximity to a luncheon atten I read this book for an online discussion group, and forced myself to finish it in a rapid-skimming fashion. And worse yet, I feel guilty for not having, if not liked it (I think "like" would be a wholly inappropriate response to this novel), then not having appreciated it; not having been awed by it; not, as a white woman, having felt duly chastised by it.

Instead, I was sometimes horrified (the gruesome slow death of a captured escaped slave, taking place in close proximity to a luncheon attended by guests of the plantation owner, really did me in), at times confused (view spoiler) at times - sorry - just not caring what happened next, because I knew it would be awful.

When I picked the book up, I expected to learn; I knew that entering into the experience of an enslaved woman on the run for her life would be daunting. Had I not studied the American experience of slavery way-back-when in college, had I not seen Twelve Years a Slave (which I now am more motivated to read) nor Amistad nor read and seen Beloved, I might have appreciated this book more. Obviously it has a number of influential fans, having garnered the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize. I guess I just did not take the time to see what their judges saw in this difficult and ultimately off-putting novel.

A couple of people have compared this to THE ODYSSEY. To me it was an anti-Odyssey. Odysseus has a destination that is the driving force of his actions. Cora, instead, has no destination - she is journeying away from, not journeying toward. (view spoiler) ...more

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