Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

192 reviews

atleon96's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

stellamcvey's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-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

3.0

Never has so much happened in a book and I’ve felt no big reaction. I guess the issue for me is that it was so intensely episodic that it was really difficult to get attached to any of the side characters, so when they died I didn’t really care. As an exploration of the horrors of slavery it was extremely effective however and that was when the emotional stuff hit hard.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

jayecard's review against another edition

dark informative reflective medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Trafficking

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Genocide, Medical trauma, and Colonisation

hannah_cau's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Sexual assault

ms_gouldbourne's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad 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? No

3.75

I generally enjoyed Colson Whitehead's ethereal flight into magical realism with The Underground Railroad, a novel covering protagonist Cora's escape from a plantation in the 19th Century Southern states. In it, the network of safe houses and supporters that helped slaves escape during this period is reimagined as an actual train system that Cora uses to travel from state to state in her quest to free herself.

The Underground Railroad was a fascinating examination of this period of American history, and it is unflinching in its depiction of the cruelty and horror of the slave trade. I enjoyed Cora's voice as she travelled from state to state, and Whitehead's narrative was descriptive, intelligent, and easy to follow. At every stop along the way Cora is forced to face new challenges and difficulties, dogged by the almost obsessive slave catcher Ridgeway who tracks her down at every turn.

There was really only one major stumbling block for me, and that was the underground railroad itself. I just did not understand the point of turning a complex network of people who really existed into a literal railroad which did not, other than possibly to make it easier for Cora to travel great distances quickly. It felt lazy on the part of the author, and also somewhat disrespectful to the true history of the Underground Railroad. I'm aware it was used as a metaphor, but given the realism of the rest of the book, it felt blurry and indistinct, and I just didn't understand why Whitehead didn't represent the railroad as it actually existed. This choice also left me unclear about which parts of the book represented reality and which were fiction, and there was no helpful author's note to explain. 

In the grand scheme of things, however, this wasn't a huge issue - I'm definitely glad I read The Underground Railroad simply for the insight and poignance it brought to an incredibly painful period in history, and I would look out for more by the author.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, and Slavery

Moderate: Death, Rape, Torture, and Blood

the_readingfox's review against another edition

challenging dark 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

thedisabledreader's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Sexual assault, and Slavery

lucinotlucy's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad 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? No

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Suicide, Grief, Medical trauma, and Fire/Fire injury

blessing_aj's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense 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? No

4.0

A solid book and one for keeps, reminding the world of the horrors of slavery.

It’s wider in scope than some of the works of historical fiction I have read in the past, as it goes beyond the plantation and successful escape trajectory to highlight the use of black bodies for experiments and the targeted sterilization of purportedly free Black people in North Carolina.  

The storytelling is great and I appreciated the multiple POVs even if I didn’t necessarily like the fact that some of these POVs kept popping up after the fact.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Sexual assault, and Slavery

skbgfd's review against another edition

dark reflective tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery

Moderate: Violence and Grief