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

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 429 topics — 16,909 comments total

Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 43 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart Spoilers/Discussion
By Barbara · 17 posts · 18 views

last updated 1 hour, 32 min ago

showing 8 of 8 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Jan 30, 2019 Ken rated it really liked it

Shelves: finished-in-2019, contemporary

Low expectations are an author's best friend. Bring them in, and there's nowhere to go but up. And up it went, despite the theme of being underground, as in a railroad meant to be figurative but destined --- in this book, anyway --- to be literal.

Yes. The "magical realism" aspect of this book is an underground railroad that really does have coal-driven trains. Neat trick, that, and don't ask any questions, because the railroad scenes, fleeting as they are, prove to be some of the sweetest in the ...more

34 likes · Like · see review

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

2 likes · Like · see review

Apr 03, 2017 Curious Squid rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction

3.0
This book was a hard read for me. The idea that slavery even existed and people were able to normalize it and treat other humans in such a way makes me ill. Reading books about this part of history is both depressing and infuriating for me. The book itself was a bit choppy in the telling, and the characters could have used a bit more depth, but it really was the disturbing subject matter that got to me.
This book also highlighted the practice of using propaganda, fear-mongering, and lies abou ...more

1 like · Like · see review