Colson Whitehead

The Underground Railroad (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)

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(4.33) 4.33 stars out of 18 reviews 18 reviews
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The Underground Railroad (Oprah's Book Club) (Paperback)

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4.33 out of 5stars
(18 reviews)
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Most helpful positive review

5.00 out of 5 stars review
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09/03/2016
So very good- there's so much to digest with this book. The writing makes it a fast read, but it's so full and richly written. As Cora escapes from the Georgia plantation she was born on, she travels on the Underground Railroad, literally. She stops in different southern states, with varying degrees of racism that almost make the plantation look good. And that's all I can say without spoilers. Whitehead takes a topic that has been much discussed, and categorizes the history of racism, pointing out our ignorances and prejudices, while at the same time telling a great story. It really makes you think.
tstan

Most helpful negative review

3.00 out of 5 stars review
Verified Purchaser
01/09/2017
My feelings on The Underground Railroad are so mixed that I've changed my rating several times, first from a mere three, then up to a four, and back to just three stars. With much to think about and, yet, much that felt lacking, I think I've settled on a rating that perhaps underrates Colson Whitehead's alternate history. Oh, yes. If you weren't aware, The Underground Railroad is an alternate history with something of a taste of magical realism, to boot. Cora is a slave on a Georgia plantation undergoing the transition from a benevolent master to his two less stable sons. After a visit to a slave gathering leaves Cora beaten by one of the sons, Cora jumps at an opportunity to escape the plantation and joins Caesar, a slave from Virginia more recently purchased by her master, as he escapes the plantation and with the help of a local white man escapes on the Underground Railroad. Which just happens to be a real railroad. Underground. It's around this point that I did a double take and realized that something was off. I'm no scholar of the slave-owning south, or even of the American Civil War (though I've enjoyed a few good books about the period, including Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels and the excellent Civil War anthology With My Face to the Enemy edited by Robert Cowley), but I am pretty sure that the Underground Railroad was more of a symbolic name for the network of safe houses and secret routes to the north to help escaping slaves than a real railroad, let alone an underground railroad. Colson's conceit is an America just a bit off from our own, with a railroad that is real, is underground, and where each stop is a new state with new parameters. As Cora moves north, each trip on the Underground Railroad takes her to a new state, and each state has its own version of what might have happened if history had taken a slightly--or significantly--different turn. I won't give spoilers, but each stop on Cora's journey seems calculated to flesh out another piece of the American story of slaves and the journey they faced, not just in antebellum America, but in the post-war world. Colson integrates some of the particularly pernicious repressions that only arose after slavery ended (including lynchings and disease testing on blacks) in a way that makes it as sinister as it was, reminding us that America's history with race is anything but blameless. Indeed, here's where I lean towards wanting to rate The Underground Railroad higher: we read the book as part of a book club and while we spent very little time discussing the actual book we did spend significant time discussing the issues of race in modern America. (The irony of a group of white men discussing race from the comfort of quiet and relatively homogenous Utah does not escape me. At one point, someone asked me a direct question about how I thought we could improve how we deal with race in our country and I was forced to admit that I had no idea. All I could offer is that we could probably start off with individual attitudes of humility and acceptance of others' differences, but otherwise--who am I to tell others how to solve their problems?) Brittany, my wife, read The Underground Railroad at the same time I did, and we found lots of opportunity to discuss the issues it raised, as well. (The book she next read was Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, which she insists I should read, as well, so I guess we're on a streak?) Any book that provokes discussion and reevaluation of perspectives is, in my humble opinion, worthy of some repute. But why only three stars and not four? I think the way the book fell short was in Whitehead's development of characters, especially Cora. Despite lots of opportunity for building sympathy and depth, Whitehead leaves her just out of reach, almost disconnected from the sometimes more sympathetic characters around her, a woman who often seems unwilling to allow herself to feel, and thereby gain a color that might endear her to the reader. Would I recommend The Underground Railroad? Probably, though not without reservation. It is not for everyone, but probably the right kind of literary fiction that will meet the guidelines of the bookclub-type reader.
publiusdb
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    10/28/2021
    This brand new book has gotten a lot…
    This brand new book has gotten a lot of buzz and deservedly so. [The Underground Railroad] follows Cora, a slave who runs away from a particularly cruel master, on her journey away from enslavement. She uses a literal underground railroad that takes her to several different stops. Each stop shows a different aspect of slavery and race relations, all ending in cruelty and suppression. Cora's journey is gruesome, particularly because there is nothing in this book that hasn't happened in one form or another. While I thought the format was interesting and the mixing of true history with this sort of science fiction-y element of a literal train and places that had real names (for example South Carolina) but that didn't reflect a true moment in time was ingenious, at the same time it held me at arms length from the book. I thought it would have been stronger if Whitehead could also have made Cora and some of the other characters into stronger, more whole characters. Instead, I felt that they were all vehicles for his point. I wanted to know Cora more deeply and I think almost got there, but not quite. Definitely worth a read, but maybe not as great as some of the talk around it has made it seem.
    japaul22
  • 3.00 out of 5 stars review
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    10/04/2021
    I had to sit and ponder on this one.…
    I had to sit and ponder on this one. I truly didn't know how to feel after reading it. The subject matter was intriguing and tough yet the execution struggled a tad bit for me. This was my first book by Colson Whitehead. The premise of the book was a good one. It explored the harsh realities of not just slavery but of life for any black American during the colonial times. I will start off by saying that I loved me some Cora. She was a whippersnapper. So inspiring and so strong. No matter what happened to her (which was a lot) she never lost her drive. The book did a great job delving into the racial and class issues. I liked the interesting spin that he put on the railroad: in this novel, it was an actual train. Although I can say that may have taken some of the reality from the novel. My two qualms with this book were: the choppy chronology and the diction. As far as the chronology, the author would just jump to a different time and a different person all within a few sentences. I found myself having to re read and re listen to several passages because I was like "wait, what?" . Next, the diction. Let me preface by saying, I can tell that Mr. Whitehead is a very intelligent man. However, sometimes his word choice and descriptions would throw off the storytelling as the words that he chose or descriptions that he used were a bit too formal for the purpose of this text. For example, "The noxious air of the hold, the gloom of confinement, and the screams of those shackled to her contrived to drive Ajarry to madness." I just felt this was a moment that he could elaborate and really bring us into the world but instead it felt glossed over. And this happened often throughout the novel. Maybe it's a matter of personal preference but I felt that it minimized the story. Lastly, some people brought up the point of view and I would have to agree. I think that this novel would have much better been told from Cora's point of view rather than the 3rd person. It really didn't allow for much connection with the characters or development. He tried to develop the characters through back stories but they often interrupted the main plot and made the chronology even more choppy. Anywho..I say give it a try because it brought it some great discussion points. Didn't mean for it to be this long.
    1forthebooks
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
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    07/09/2021
    The Underground Railroad is a brutal…
    The Underground Railroad is a brutal and graphic account of slavery set before the Civil War. Cora is a runaway slave who leaves behind a miserable life on a cotton plantation in Georgia. In the book the underground railroad is a physical space where an underground train takes passengers from station to station. Cora travels by foot and by underground railroad zigzagging through South Carolina, Tennessee, Indiana and finally to Michigan to find freedom.
    KatherineGregg
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
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    07/08/2021
    Wow. Wonderful. Magnificent. I have…
    Wow. Wonderful. Magnificent. I have never read an Oprah book club "assignment" that wasn't marvelous so I'm not surprised by the emotions this book gave me. Everyone should read this. Everyone Everybody. Will move the heart, spirit, soul and fill it with shame and wonder.
    Alphawoman
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    07/08/2021
    I don't know how to review this book.…
    I don't know how to review this book. It's the kind of story that makes you feel kicked in the gut, like someone threw you up in the air and pummeled you as if you were a pillow that needed to be shook, beat and thrown about. It's a story, a novel, but it's also not. There are thousands of Corys who were slaves and who are now buried underground, in swamps, in mass graves, with ropes around their necks and shackles around their ankles. Thousands of masters who were Randall, who carried around cat-o-nine tails and whips, who incessantly indulged their sadistic side, and are also buried underground. And thousands of slave catchers who were Ridgeway, with their haughty grins, full bellies and greedy appetites. Their names might have been different, their physical attributes may have been dissimilar, but their truths resound. This novel felt like nonfiction to me. Written starkly and without restraint. 5 stars for its impact and writing.
    homeschoolmimzi
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
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    07/08/2021
    Oof. Tough read, but very good.…
    Oof. Tough read, but very good. Listened to it on a road trip with my sister, who is very concerned that the book (and Amazon show) will make people think the Underground Railroad was an actual train underground. I...don't know what to make of this concern.
    ssperson
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/22/2021
    The Underground Railroad imagines a…
    The Underground Railroad imagines a world in which the Underground Railroad, the system used to smuggle slaves from the Southern slave states to the Northern free states, is an actual railroad. It follows a slave named Cora on her journey out of Georgia on the Underground Railroad. Colson Whitehead has made each stop a real-life location with fictional attributes. For instance, South Carolina appears to be a virtual utopia for former slaves integrating into white society. However, something sinister lurks behind the scenes. Even though some things about the stops are fictional, they are still realistic and based in fact. Whitehead does not shy away from writing about the horrors of slavery and how slaves were treated. All of the primary characters in this book are richly developed and multi-faceted. There are no white savior or happy house-slave stereotypes. The Underground Railroad was my book club's November selection. We found much to discuss, including whether or not we would have had the courage to escape slavery. There's a lot of symbolism in this book and we talked about what our interpretations of it are. Since symbolism can go over my head at times, (it's my accountant brain!), I appreciated being able to hear what others thought of it. Colson Whitehead and this book have won many awards. It also made President Obama's 2016 Summer Reading List. Ah, to have a president who reads…But I digress…Whitehead has written several other books and they are each supposed to be quite different from one another. I plan on reading them at some point – I'm sure they're wonderful too. At any rate, I highly recommend The Underground Railroad for everyone.
    mcelhra
  • 3.00 out of 5 stars review
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    05/12/2021
    I think Colson Whitehead is a great…
    I think Colson Whitehead is a great writer and I'd certainly read another book by this author. I had some issues with the whole set up of "The Underground Railroad" -- the idea that there was an actual underground railroad was kind of problematic to me.... and the book's more "imaginative" elements made it more difficult to accept the elements that aren't actually divorced from reality. That said Whitehead's characters are strong, varied and interesting. His depiction of the horrors of slavery are no doubt accurate and absolutely heart-wrenching.
    amerynth
  • 4.00 out of 5 stars review
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    05/14/2020
    4.5 stars. Haunting, inventive, brutal. Might teach this in my AP English class one day. The story of slavery in America gets a dose of magical realism mixed with allegory, but the harsh reality of life as a slave is never far away. A powerful novel.
    ChristopherSwann
  • 5.00 out of 5 stars review
    Verified Purchaser
    05/04/2020
    One of the best books I've read in a while, and one I am positive I'll be coming back to. Whitehead's careful pacing and slow reveal of how things work in this alternate timeline are handled beautifully.
    JBD1
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