Reviews tagging 'Slavery'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

180 reviews

tigerkind's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

4.0

„A plantation was a plantation; one might think one’s misfortunes distinct, but the true horror lay in their universality.“

A capitivating read, especially interesting if you’re familiar with other (neo) slave narratives. Focusing purely on the reading experience I found the book a bit predictable and the style alienating from the character’s emotions and suffering - but I think it fits the narrative. The story is not indulgent in recounting the emotional and physical horrors of slavery (though they’re there, no doubt about it) but focuses more on perseverance and persistence.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Sexism, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Confinement, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexual violence, Slavery, Religious bigotry, Blood, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Pedophilia, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual harassment, Xenophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Racial slurs, Racism, Torture, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Classism, Death, Excrement, Hate crime, Misogyny, Trafficking, Genocide, and Violence

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

bek67's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

2.0

There were elements of the writing I really enjoyed. But still, I was so bored with this book. I fell asleep multiple times while reading it (atypical for me). Slavery is disgusting and repulsive. Over the years while reading books about this heavy subject (primarily historical fiction), I experienced strong emotions about the plight of the characters in the books. I did not have that reaction with this telling. I really enjoyed the idea of how the Underground Railroad functioned, but I did not feel anything toward the characters. Yes, there were many things that happened to Cora, but I never felt like I got to know Cora. The book didn't flow well for me. And that could just be my preference. Caesar I think is suppose to be one of the main characters, but then he disappears-with a follow up chapter devoted to him at a later time BEFORE they ran. There was a random chapter on Dr. Stevens and anatomy-it added nothing to the story. It did not move me like I hoped it would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Slavery, Violence, and Racism

impla77's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

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

3.25

I really liked the prose, character and thought the start of the book was very strong. HOWEVER, the almost episodic nature of the chapters with quite clumsy transitions didn’t tie the book satisfactorily together for me. A chilling and visceral series of vignettes, but doesn’t all come together as a story

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Gore, Rape, Racial slurs, Racism, Suicide, 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

helen's review against another edition

4.0

The book is divided into sections that show different aspects of slavery and anti-Black racism in the US. It’s set around the 1850s but the author messes around with reality and time (the underground railroad assumes a physical form, and he draws on the eugenics movements of the early 20th century) as we follow the protagonist, Cora, on her journey to freedom.

The first section on the Georgia plantation is brutal. The matter-of-fact way that Cora describes the horrific experiences makes it even more harrowing and I probably wouldn’t have carried on beyond that chapter if I wasn’t reading it for a bookclub. I’m really glad I did though because Cora is a really engaging protagonist - daring, despairing, hopeful, traumatised, defiant and funny - and it’s given me a greater understanding of the human cost and legacy of slavery.

Four stars rather than five because I questioned the author’s choice to devote word count to the slave catcher, Ridgeway, at the expense of other characters, like Caesar, the man Cora escapes with.

Content notes:

racism, slavery, violence, torture, rape, murder, lynching, forced sterilisation, medical experimentation, eugenics, suicide, child death

 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Child death, and Medical trauma

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

samanthamurk's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense

• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

read for english class, 11th grade. I really liked this book, it’s a powerful story and i enjoyed the writing style.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Colonisation