The Underground Railroad (Pulitzer Prize Winner) (National Book Award Winner) (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel Hardcover – August 2, 2016

The Underground Railroad by Colsom Whitehead is a thrilling rendition of a young black girl named Cora’s escape from slavery on a Georgia Plantation by using a literal underground railroad system. Cora’s journey includes every experience an escaped slave could encounter, such as a wild capture by the slave hunter, Ridgeway, who holds a grudge against her mother. She sees and experiences the harsh realities of white supremacy at every station and comes to her own conclusions on the meaning of freedom and how to achieve it. Furthermore, through various backstories, Whitehead illustrates the discourse between warring ideologies of the antebellum south that led to the Civil War and abolitionist movement.This book was very thought-provoking on the power that groups of people have over one another, and how ideologies can be so pervasive as to cloud out rationality in a crowd-mentality. Though there were not characters that I could personally identify with in this novel, it is still quite emotional and gut-wrenching to read about some of the realities that black people had to experience and how hard they had to fight to be heard. This novel touches on topics like politics and race discussion that is still pertinent in the modern era, where racism and bigotry can still make a come-back. Cora’s plight is very compelling and keeps your attention, waiting to see what the conclusion of the story will be. This is a section of American history that, while formative, is nothing to be proud of and is not covered enough in public schooling. It is startling how Whitehead makes the story so fantastical, but also very real. I will most certainly be recommending this book to a few people. If you’re interested in emotionally charged historical fiction, then this is the perfect story for you.“The world may be mean, but people don't have to be, not if they refuse.”― Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad – Colson WhiteheadThe most compelling part of Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad is the discussion of survival of a beautiful mind through terrible adversity. Cora’s matter-of-fact description of the trials she suffers—histrionics would do no good—and her understanding that to survive is to win against the forces of darkness is a commentary of the brutality of slavery no screed could better.I am an old white male. Slavery has always been a repulsive condition … but a “condition.” I can’t know how close Whitehead’s imagined reality is to the individual human reality of keeping hope alive when there is no reason to, but Cora has put a human face on the horrible condition I have imagined since childhood.The writing is economical, clear and sometimes just beautiful. The villain is as much cotton—“an engine that did not stop, its hungry boiler fed with blood”—as it is the enslavers and the Ridgeways. Colson says, “At the auction block they tallied the souls purchased at each auction, and on the plantations the overseers preserved the names of workers in rows of tight cursive. Every name an asset, breathing capital, profit made flesh. The peculiar institution made Cora into a maker of lists as well. In her inventory of loss people were not reduced to sums but multiplied by their kindnesses. People she had loved, people who had helped her.” A whole new take on the concept of human capital.There are aspects of the book that are either problems the writer and editors didn’t correct or are quite possibly an instance of a brilliant writer deciding to ignore the rules. In main line reviews, there is much mention made of the physical underground railroad. I found that helpful, because it loosed the bonds of history to remind me that the story is essentially science fiction. Tempting to call it historical fiction, but historical fiction almost always weaves fictional material around the true historical timeline. Whitehead did not do this, and it occasionally caused unnecessary trouble. I don’t think South Carolina had an especially paternalistic view of slaves and former slaves, but Colson’s imagining of it set the stage for what really happened at Tuskegee starting in the 1930’s. I’m sure there were some folks worried about an exploding Black population, but that seemed a weak pretext to base an (imaginary) doctrine on. But the railroad was always in the background, reminding us of the fictive basis of the novel. Other throwaway time disjunctures don’t work so well, e.g., Cora speaks of “the rags that made everyone happy.” While Joplin said the ‘ragged’ playing style had been around for a while, nobody called it ragtime until about 1895. So, why take our train of thought onto that side track when we are being regularly jolted between historical events, back and forward movement (e.g., Caesar’s backstory reappears for no particular reason ¾ through the book)? Also, there never was a credible reason Randall was so fixated on Cora, except to keep the indefatigable Ridgeway on her trail.Finally, I thought Whitehead was enslaved by his structure. Cora is pragmatic, always looking forward despite terrible loss. We don’t get inside her head to see her thoughts much, because to be true to his character must let her have her barricades against the outside world. I wish he’d let us in a bit more.Ah, well. The book is an often beautifully written, jumping, jarring, jolting ride very much like Cora’s ride under ground. A fine book all in all.

I stopped reading this book 3 times. I could not bare the cruelty, pain, torture and suffering. But, after some time I would return to the story because, while I have read perhaps 100's of books about the civil war, I was missing the slave story in its complete essence.This is a must read for all - especially the ignorant. The terrible book banning and hiding history that is taking place right now is a crime if injustice. I will do my part and ask my friends and colleagues to read this vital and important story.