Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, this #1 New York Times bestseller chronicles a young slave’s adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. The basis for the acclaimed original Amazon Prime Video series directed by Barry Jenkins.Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. An outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is on the cusp … fellow Africans, she is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when Caesar, a slave who has recently arrived from Virginia, urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him.
In Colson Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor: engineers and conductors operate a secret network of actual tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora embarks on a harrowing flight from one state to the next, encountering, like Gulliver, strange yet familiar iterations of her own world at each stop.
As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the terrors of the antebellum era, he weaves in the saga of our nation, from the brutal abduction of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is both the gripping tale of one woman’s will to escape the horrors of bondage—and a powerful meditation on the history we all share.
Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Harlem Shuffle!
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Whitehead brings you into the story but never releases you—even after the ending, the characters still haunt your dreams!
This book should be in every classroom.
Even though I know the details are fictional, I will never again think of the Underground Railroad without thinking of this book. Even after finishing this book, I felt like I was living within it.
I enjoyed the book and could imagine the world in which this occurred even though I understand that it was not based on a true story. The emotions are very real and raw.
amazing
I’m of two minds with THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. I’m glad I read it but it didn’t seem like it was written by someone who was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.
On one hand, this is a remarkable account of slavery in the U.S. The book follows two slaves from Georgia who run away from their despicable master to find freedom in the North. Their experiences traveling the Underground Railroad, while on the run from slave catchers, is the essence of the story. Along the way, the reader learns about differences in the way black Americans were handled in different states in the South. And how even those whites who felt they held little or no prejudice viewed black people as something less than they were. There are references to some of the insidious ways whites tried to control black populations, including sterilization programs. And other stories of white heroism where people risked death to hide and protect runaway slaves. And of course there is the expected brutality, rape, and murder that are such a big part of the story of slavery in this country. A rich, dark and powerful story.
But I must also say I found the writing of the book flawed. There were passages where I felt the author was suddenly writing a non-fiction account, more like an academic paper, almost lecturing in tone. Yet these passages were supposed to be part of discussions by or thoughts from main characters. To me, it simply did not ring true to the characters. Instead, it felt like 19th century slaves suddenly had the wisdom and perspective of 21st century American hindsight. There were also places where the flow of the book seemed a little clunky. A few chapters felt like they were in the wrong place. Others seemed like digression. To me, the book simply didn’t hold together well in its basic construction. I still recommend it, though.
This book really touched me – the story was maddening because we know this happened!!! But inspiring that they just kept persevering – I reflect on this story and period in our history and realize we still have these issues today. We need to be better!!!
an imaginative and readable book. placing the novel and the characters on an actual underground railroad. a story that depicts the horrors of slavery with a twist in both the setting and the characters.challenging but worth the read.
Worth all the hype it got. Enjoyed every minute of it.
It is hard to call a book with magical realism realistic. However, so much of Colson Whitehead’s amazing novel is unfortunately too realistic. We listened to this on a road trip across many slave states and northern states on the real Underground Railroad. His words and characters stick with me several years later. Read this!
i could not get into this book – only read about 1/8 of the book
An insightful look at slavery and the desire of the enslaved people in the United States to be free. Descriptive story with wonderfully drawn characters that demonstrates the immensity of the human spirit. It illustrates the inconsistencies in human behavior, both by the enslaved, the owners and slave catchers, the free people of color, and the whites who worked on the underground railroad, It makes it unimaginable that we allowed this system to stay intact for almost 250 years.
Horrifying, sickening, tragic and yet hopeful, all rolled into one tale about an incredible woman named Cora fleeing the atrocities of slavery in the American south. It was so hard to read some of the story – the brutality was just laid bare – but I couldn’t put it down. I liked the small chapters on the history of some of the ancillary characters and would’ve enjoyed more of that. Whitehead’s twist on the Underground Railroad – making it an actual train with “stations” underneath homes and barns – was really interesting and I wish he would’ve explored that more.
excellent, suspenseful, hard to put down.
The Underground Railroad itself is such a phenomenal undertaking, I see no reasons to “improve” it by converting it to a real railroad. To me, the basic premise is flawed, so it got in the way of a hopeful and suspenseful story.
A blood curdling depiction of slavery existing in a nightmare world that is partly pre Civil War and partly right here, right now.
Excellent writing and very informative. I learned a great deal about the underground railroad and about American history.
Sad that the underground railroad was even necessary. Shameful time in American History. Humans do such terrible things to others making this kind of rescue effort necessary.
Material on this subject is always very difficult for me to read. This book, smoothly yet honestly, told a story that was easier for me to read as it was approached through a mainly intellectual, rather than emotional, viewpoint. As always, I greatly enjoyed Bahni Turpin’s stunning vocal performance.
A master at work.