Reviews tagging 'Blood'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

38 reviews

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

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: Racism, Racial slurs, and Slavery

Moderate: Rape, Death, Blood, and Torture

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

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

chattie_the_mad_chatter's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.25

A hard, but inspirational read. The horrors, moments of hope, consyant fear and very real danger are evident throughoyt. Our ptotagonists physical and mental strength to endure and live is astounding. The truth and reality of her story is what hurts the most refected across this time for so many. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Death, Kidnapping, Racism, Slavery, and Torture

Moderate: Medical trauma, Grief, Murder, Rape, and Sexual assault

sprucy2427's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Xenophobia, Violence, Trafficking, Torture, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Grief, Genocide, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Colonisation, Confinement, Child death, and Bullying

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Suicide attempt, and Suicide

carisamarie's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Abandonment, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Colonisation, Confinement, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, War, Vomit, and Xenophobia

lectrixnoctis's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

2.0

Arch Colson Chipp Whitehead is an American author. He is the author of eight novels, including his 1999 debut work, "The Intuitionist", and "The Underground Railroad",  for which he acquired the 2016 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction; he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction again in 2020 for "The Nickel Boys". He has further published two works of non-fiction. In 2002, he won a MacArthur Genius Grant.

"The Underground Railroad" starts on an evil Georgia plantation, where all anyone wants to do is escape. "Every slave reasons about it, in the morning tide and the afternoon and the nighttime. Dreaming of it. Each dreams a dream of freedom, yet when it didn't look like it." We meet Ajarry, stolen from her West African village and across the ocean on a slave boat. Her daughter, Mabel, flees the plantation and its disgusting owner, Randall, prompting a wild and empty search, and Cora, Mabel's daughter, our protagonist.
Cora and another slave Caesar are led down to a platform where rails extend into darkness and the North.

The novel is written in the third person singular and the past. The story is set during the 19th century.

The central theme of the book is slavery, and it affects people, predominantly black and natives. Although it was fascinating to read about it, it would have been better to read it in the first person since sometimes it felt a bit too objective and even a bit dry to read about the Experience of the people. 

Freedom is another motive of the book. It is explained by which I live version of the railroad; however, since this is the only fantasy element in this book, it was pretty tricky sometimes to grasp everything else could've happened in real life then.

It is hard to rate this book. However, I did not feel connected with the characters at all and even felt like they didn't have any human features of the world as a personality; however, I do have to say that this book is insane research, and I would still recommend reading it just because of that however I do think if you want to learn about American history, it is better to read a novel written by people who have left during bedtime or even hysterical non-fiction books. Overall the story felt a bit lacklustre, And I would have wished to like this book more, but sadly I cannot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Xenophobia, War, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Rape, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Death of parent, Death, Colonisation, and Child death

jkiranjot's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Violence

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

Minor: Religious bigotry

whatannikareads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative 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? No

4.5

reading others' reviews helped me verbalize some of the weaker points of the book i didn't have time to verbalize bc i was so hooked on seeing how this all panned out. thus, i dropped my official rating to a 4/5 (but on storygraph i'm giving it a 4.5/5).

i'm rating this book higher than a 4 bc i can't deny that this was the first time in a while i've been absorbed into a fictional narrative. for the most part, i enjoyed the pacing, and when things became stagnant, i enjoyed the flashbacks to other characters' plots; i think it helped me to care about the characters other than in Cora and to tie up loose ends.

i agree with others in that there could've been more done with the actual railroad, as it's the title of the book. i also personally got lost a bit in the wording as well as the names of the side characters; i couldn't remember if someone was white or black as slaves obviously were given anglo names, but the author would name drop people from the past and i'd just gloss over it bc i couldn't remember their storyline.

i think it's overall a really captivating, well-researched book. you can tell the author took a lot of time with this story. it's hard to read as any slave narrative would be, so it requires a lot of attention, but i'm glad i read it!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Murder, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and Xenophobia

vash_e's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-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? N/A

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Slavery, and Sexual assault