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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Heart breaking
This fictionalized version of the tales of The Underground Railroad blends fact with some wild flights of fancy. I found myself disturbed that such a tragic part of our nation’s history has become fodder for selling a book. Hopefully readers will be incentivised to learn the true stories of the Underground Railroad.
We read this in book club and most everyone enjoyed it.
Some mystical realism. Very good book; I enjoyed reading it even though some scenes have graphic cruelty.
Must read
I’m not really interested in distopian fantasies. This one was greatly inconsistent over the various stories of the so-called “underground railroad”. It started well – was very interesting and somewhat moving. But it got worse and worse. Eventually it seemed less about slavery and the Underground Railroad and more about current times and indirect, unclear, and unknowledgeable about various other subjects such as issues about the economy and modernity.
Wasn’t really impressed
I hated this book. Many people assume books such as this use fictional characters but expect the historical facts to be accurate which is most certainly not the case in this book. Implying that the underground railroad was an actual railroad with train stations is a horrible distortion of the truth. No wonder people don’t know anything about history. Books such as these certainly lead them astray.
I did not enjoy this book for the most part. The idea of a physical Underground Railroad soured my reading of the book. This was the choice of my book club and most people did not like the book.
The best book i have read in 10 years
Too gory and I really did not like the magical realism. I had hoped to learn something
I hated this book! Historically inaccurate – a quick google search will confirm. I did enjoy the story line but the inaccuracies of the book ruined it for me.
I had a hard time with the “railroad” analogy. The depiction confused me – perhaps I’m too literal about this era of history? Fascinating book. Made me think.
A book that reminds us in this country that land of the free is not an accurate description of how it was.
This book was both horrifying to read the acts people can carry out on another human & that the human spirit is tougher than we think.
I cheered for the bravery of Cora the main character throughout the book & prayed for the demise of other characters who were depraved.
This was an excellent read, graphic in some places but worth the journey.
A true original. Could not put it down. Highly recommended
Fantasy
Very well written with a vivid portrayal of the cruelty in slavery
Interesting idea of an actual railroad serving as the way slaves escape.
Amazing magical realistic take on the Underground Railroad.
Whitehead used a completely fresh twist to tell an old and familiar legend bringing it to new and sparkling life. Outstanding!