Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

El ferrocarril subterráneo by Colson Whitehead

38 reviews

travisppe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Death, Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Kidnapping, Rape, War, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Racial slurs, and Self harm

gilroi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I don't go for most media about slavery, for the same reason I don't touch the Holocaust. When I was little, as one of the only Jewish children in my elementary and middle school, atrocity was shoved down my throat. I was expected to be okay with it. It was my history, after all. When I watched narratives about slavery (inevitably written and directed by white people), I saw the same lurid fascination with martyrdom and pain that I saw in Holocaust movies, in Holocaust books. Atrocity was entertainment for people, and I didn't want to see its implications: that to be as good and worthy as WASPs, people had to come from a legacy of torture. The torture needed to be replayed endlessly. See the bad go down again.

This book dispenses with those themes quickly and easily. People are not 'good' for their suffering. There is horror, and that is never shied away from. But its depiction is not the point. What cruelty does to someone, how it twists them inside, that's far more important. Cora is not a smiling martyr, she does not exist to make us all feel better about the present moment. She has her moments of selfishness, of unsmiling wrath, of twisted bitterness and uncharitableness. And who could blame her? Certainly not me. 

This book asks: Who built America? We know who stole it, but who built it? Who put their labor into it? We know who stole the labor, but <i>who made America</i>? 

People like Cora, who were never perfect, who never had any responsibility to serve as a model, whose existence is not to educate. She-- and by extension, this book-- is not here to make anyone feel better about themselves. And for that, the book made me feel, just slightly, at peace with history. Pain is not a model, so we should not rely on it to teach. 

Finally among other free blacks, Cora learns to enjoy living, to fight against fear. Pain taught her nothing.

Cora's kindness is not for the benefit of white people, so they can be forgiven by the dead. Her kindness is hard-won, something she fought for, something she had to make room for within herself. Her kindness for herself.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Racial slurs, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Racism, Trafficking, and Colonisation

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, and Abandonment

Minor: Animal cruelty, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Rape

whitneyonline's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Wow... the ending took an unexpected turn that was rather bleak and sad. After all Cora went through she deserved happiness, so to watch her run fight struggle only to have such an ambiguous ending leaves one feeling down trodden. 
I am fully aware that the realities of slavery were completely bleak, and Cora's journey and ending with so much loss and loose ends runs very accurate to real-life accounts. But the one-two punch of the revelation about her mother's fate paired with the ending of the book shortly after is just utterly depressing. Cora deserved a resolute happy ending and we readers deserved to see it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Racism, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Rape, Physical abuse, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, and Torture

charlotteih's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

heart wrenching, tragic, sad, disgusting, humorous, beautiful. an epic portrait of the black american experience, and the complex, nuanced machine driven by white oppression. whitehead’s characters are vivid and consuming, his reflections and storytelling just the same. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Misogyny, Mass/school shootings, Racism, Slavery, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Medical trauma, Confinement, Gore, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Hate crime, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Trafficking, Torture, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Violence, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Racial slurs, Abortion, Murder, Kidnapping, Colonisation, Body horror, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

greatexpectations77's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Whew. This one is a really rough read, but the writing is so excellent. It's extremely distressing, but it's an important read. Absolutely will read this author again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Kidnapping, Torture, Death, Gore, Grief, Xenophobia, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Stalking, Trafficking, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Genocide, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Infidelity, Abandonment, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Excrement, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Animal death, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Medical content

itsbumley's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Sexism, Blood, Death of parent, Grief, Hate crime, Medical trauma, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide attempt, Torture, Xenophobia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Trafficking

mads_reads_books's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Genocide, Slavery, Violence, Stalking, and Racism

Moderate: Incest, Colonisation, Infertility, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Blood, Classism, Confinement, Grief, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Murder, Death, Suicide, and Trafficking

unboxedjack's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Grief, Suicide, Kidnapping, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Murder, Racism, Torture, Hate crime, and Suicide attempt

nytephoenyx's review against another edition

dark emotional informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 The Underground Railroad was a good story, but it's more than that. It's a good reminder. Colson Whitehead uses the narrative to talk about Cora's escape and journey on a literal underground railroad and reminds us of the many injustices against Black folks in historical America. He even pays tribute to the local Native American tribes and discusses land theft and murder.

The story itself was good - it lulled a bit in the middle from a narrative perspective, but that part was so important because it illustrated the persistence of hate. So while the middle exhibited less exciting storytelling, the pause left room for Colson Whitehead to share things like racial eugenics and the emergence of the Klu Klux Klan, which are important, horrifying aspects of our history.

Overall a very powerful book and highly recommended. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Murder, Racism, Colonisation, Trafficking, Forced institutionalization, Hate crime, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Torture, Abandonment, and Body horror

Moderate: Medical content, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Blood, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Excrement

There are many Black characters and multiracial characters. There are a couple Native American characters (tribes not always shared). The book discusses racial eugenics in detail. There is a character who wears human remains as jewelry.

awnutts's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

It won the Pulitzer Prize, and deservedly so. But it is a dark, difficult, unrelenting read. I was captivated by the writing, but also felt relieved when I finished and could leave this world. It's important for non-black folks to sit with.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Kidnapping, Slavery, Misogyny, Rape, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Racism, Torture, Racial slurs, and Violence