Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Underground Railroad

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

92 reviews

ashleyri11's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I am truly at a loss of words to describe this book. It described the brutality of slavery in horrific detail and didn’t let up when detailing the lives of black men and women who were no longer in the physical bondage of slavery, but forever in its grasp.

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stevie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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feodora_isabella's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I started reading this book because of the current protests against racism in the United States (June 2020) and think it is a must read. As I white person I fully support the Black Lives Matter movement and I want to educate myself about racism and white privilege. I chose the right book to start with, because it shows America's true face and can help us better understand both its past and present. The books tells the story of Cora, a slave girl who flees the cotton plantation she has lived on her whole life. She is hunted down by a slave catcher called Ridgeway. On the way, she travels far and meets many people. The Underground Railroad exists for real in this book, and serves as metaphor for the country itself. 'Every state is different," Lumbly was saying. "Each one a state of possibility, with its own customs and ways of doing things. Moving through them, you'll see the breadth of the country before you reach your final stop. (...) Following Lumbly's final instructions, Cora looked through the slats. There was only darkness, mile after mile.' I personally think this metaphor is intriguing and works very well. You almost forget this is a work of fiction, because it could have been real. The railroad also has a mysterious element to it: nobody directly answers Cora when she asks who built it. 'All the railroad men, from Lumbly to Royal, countered with a variation of "Who do you think made it? Who makes everything?" She would get him to tell her one day, she decided.' The answer is, of course, the black people. The book is brutally honest, showing the horrors of slavery and the hardships faced by those born with a dark skin in America. Even when they had escaped their masters, they were (and are to this day) never free of the white people. It is heartbreaking to see that since those times so little has changed, that black people still have to deal with racism and discrimination in 2020, that they cannot feel safe. Please read this book. The subject matter is heavy, but so important.

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lena_and_her_books's review against another edition

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emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

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emmaslibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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karingforbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Overall, it was a great story with poignant quotes and virtual reality throughout. It lost a star because the chronology wasn’t clear a lot and I had to go back sometimes and figure out what year we were in or if it was a flashback. That took me out of the story. It’s a great book about the Underground Railroad, actual railroad though it wasn’t, and the effort, fear, courage and strength it took conductors and runaways both to operate and use it.

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nora__reads's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

An amazing slave narrative tracking one woman’s escape from slavery via the Underground Railroad.

Cora is a wonderful heroine and as an audience all you want is for her escape attempts to succeed.

Colson also makes some very important points about slavery, race and the idea of America. A powerful book.

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