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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

Apr 27, 2017 Kevin rated it really liked it

All of the horrors of slavery are shown here. These people were pulled from their homes in Africa, transported on slaver ships, in chains, whipped, raped, tortured, abused and treated like objects instead of human beings. I’m appalled, outraged, sick inside at the true history of this denigration and abuse.

This story largely revolves around Cora who while working as a slave in Georgia is approached by Caesar to try to convince her to go north on the underground railroad. Initially she says no bu ...more

40 likes · Like · see review

Nov 17, 2017 Roy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: african-american-fiction, slavery, literary-fiction

This novel is a grand literary achievement, well deserving of its accolades and the Pulitzer Prize. It is a story of American slavery, and of daring to dream of freedom. It depicts the shackles that physically held people in bondage as well as mentally chaining them to the inescapable past. Slaves who did not have their spirits broken by enforced servitude had one chance to claim a life worth living. They could run and hope to make it to the underground railroad. Colson Whitehead makes the inter This novel is a grand literary achievement, well deserving of its accolades and the Pulitzer Prize. It is a story of American slavery, and of daring to dream of freedom. It depicts the shackles that physically held people in bondage as well as mentally chaining them to the inescapable past. Slaves who did not have their spirits broken by enforced servitude had one chance to claim a life worth living. They could run and hope to make it to the underground railroad. Colson Whitehead makes the interesting choice of depicting it as an actual railroad running beneath the ground, giving the story somewhat of a science fiction feel. But for the most part the narrative is a gritty, realistic one. A woman named Cora is at its center. She escapes bondage much as her mother, who was never heard from again, did before her. Freedom is fleeting. Just as Cora has grown comfortable and believes she has found a permanent place for herself, she ends up imprisoned in an attic, hiding until found and recaptured. Once again she escapes and this time she finds a utopia, a community of black people living prosperously and independently. But paradise found is only a sweet respite until it is lost. A slave catcher named Ridgeway relentlessly pursues Cora even after the man who hired him to find her has died. His determination to return Cora to bondage is a match for her desire to live on her own terms rather than those dictated by a barbaric society. Yet Ridgeway can hold Cora captive to no greater degree than one can grasp the wind. Once again she escapes and goes on the run, riding the subterranean rails towards a future that is beyond the reach of slavery. The story is told at a pulse quickening pace, with quiet moments interspersed that resemble freedom and present the possibility of Cora choosing a lifelong home, until she finds herself being hunted again. We hope for Cora's fate to be merciful, knowing that the railroad's journey to a better tomorrow is mighty long, continuing in certain ways to this very day. ...more

23 likes · Like · see review

Feb 24, 2017 Laura rated it liked it

Shelves: american-fiction, historical-fiction, read-2017, audio-books, racism

From BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime:
Clarke Peters (The Wire, Treme) reads The Underground Railroad, the new novel by Colson Whitehead. This brilliant and at times brutal novel about the history of slavery and racism in America won the US National Book Award for Fiction in 2016.

"What if the underground railroad was a literal railroad? And what if each state, as a runaway slave was going north, was a different state of American possibility, an alternative America?"

Whitehead's inventive novel follow ...more

10 likes · Like · see review

Aug 11, 2017 Tensy (bookdoyen) rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, historical-fiction

I have to admit I was surprised by my reaction to this novel. I expected to love this from the reviews and the fact that it had won the Pulitzer Prize. My ambivalence is due to the fact that while I admired the often staggeringly beautiful writing, I was left unaffected by the characters. The disconnect for me was due to the structure of the novel. Just when you would become engaged in the story and it's often harrowing plot, the author would stop the action and insert a chapter detailing the ba ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2016 Happyreader rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

Both harshly realistic and surreal. The true horrors of slavery escaped through the fantasy of a literal underground railroad. Terror is always lurking. Some stops feel safe but danger is lurking beneath the surface; other stops are blatantly perilous. Whites so afraid of the enslaved blacks who outnumber them that they put even themselves under a police state to keep the imaginary menace of murderous black hordes at bay. Not surprised that the author has also written a zombie novel since the ov ...more

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Nov 21, 2016 Pang rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2021, historical-fiction, nyt-recommended, 2016

Another award-winning book that I didn't get...

There were some beautiful sentences, and the author did a good job of painting the experiences of black slaves. They were cruel, and they were horrifying. The thought of one human race think they could own and threat another human race in such manner is appalling and disgust to me. And I got all of those feelings from the book. But there was something lacking. Something deeper.

It didn't pull me in. And there was dissatisfaction and many remaining qu ...more

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Oct 30, 2016 Linda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Powerful story

Powerful story of magical realism and a terrible history that remains in us and with us today. I'm not sure that young people could follow this story but Cora's experiences and her drive and desperation convey a strong message. ...more

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