Author: Colson Whitehead
Genre: Historical Fiction
Blurb: From prize-winning, bestselling author Colson Whitehead, a magnificent tour de force chronicling a young slave's adventures as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South.
In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor- engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.
Me: Winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, this book has become a part of every list of essential books to read from the past few years. I was really excited and intrigued by the premise and had very high expectations going in - perhaps too high, because it felt mostly underwhelming and not entirely memorable.
The Ups: I think what I appreciated most about the novel was the refreshingly real portrayal of slavery in the South. Whitehead explored different representations and responses to slavery and the changes between cities and plantations, between different states, and more. I for one had never known that South Carolina had once had "colonies" and set-up clusters for freed slaves to congregate and "educate" themselves while North Carolina decided they needed to exterminate the entire race. It was heartbreaking, but seeing the different responses only illuminated how oppression and deep racism manifest in lots of ways in this country.
I also liked that Whitehead paired these realistic portrayals with the fantasy of having an actual Underground Railroad with train tracks and stations. It was fascinating to imagine how powerful that could have been to have a technologically supported way to escape. The imagery and descriptions of each setting and the trains themselves were incredible - I could just imagine seeing the tunnels as Cora did.
The Downs: Unfortunately, that was kind of where the complexity ended for me with this book. I think I might have just missed something, but the characters felt a little flat to me and I didn't feel myself entirely understanding their complexity. Mostly Cora, the main character, was interesting because of her determination and her palpable anger, but other than that didn't really propel the story along. Her relationships with other characters were talked about as important, but it didn't really show in the story itself.
I also wasn't really sure what the railroad was doing other than to be a very cool conception that offered a new, fantastical element to the history. I wished that more had been done with it- would it have changed history? Was slavery and its horrors more heartbreaking when seeing the incredible freedom and innovation of something like a train built for escape? I was just unsure what its purpose was, and the initial wonder went away after a while.
I think overall, it was really clear that Whitehead poured so much research and energy into this book. To be honest, that on its own makes it extraordinary and so important. However, I thought the aspects that make a book truly come alive and stay with you weren't present. Disappointing.
Rating: 3 kisses!
In another country they would have been criminals, but this was America.
Here was the true Great Spirit, the divine thread connecting all human endeavor—if you can keep it, it is yours. Your property, slave or continent. The American imperative.
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