Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Underground Railroad

Context: Going into this book I knew that it dealt with slavery in the American south. I have read some histories regarding southern chattel slavery and American abolitionist theories. I also had the idea that the underground railroad in this book delivered people to some sort of dark amusement parks. The dark was correct, the amusement park was not. People were delivered to actual or proposed alternatives to slavery.

Mr Whitehead guided me through the horrors of chattel slavery without breaking me. He then details possible outcomes for solutions that some Americans had posed for the “slave problem”. By the time I reached Indiana I was grasping for a life line, so deep had my dread and my investment in Cora’s future become. The author delivered one just in the nick of time.

I don’t think I was so close to heartbreak reading a book since Beloved.

During Cora’s journey she learns of the displacement and genocide of indigenous peoples by the European coloniser’s greed for land. We forget all to often in the Americas that all land is stolen land and the oldest and most prized buildings were built by the blood sweat and tears of stolen people.

I wish every American (not just USains) would read this book. Then think before they speak about the “black problem”.

Content Warnings

parenthesis_enjoyer's review

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dark emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

Content Warnings

bigolscrewup's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.0

Freedom was a community laboring for something lovely and rare.

Sometimes a useful delusion is better than a useless truth.

Truth was a changing display in a shop window, manipulated by hands when you weren't looking, alluring and ever out of reach.

4/5 ✨

This book's been sitting on my shelves for years and I always knew I would enjoy reading this book, but I never thought it would leave me shaken by it's searing portrayal of suffering of the enslaved people and resilience. As someone who wasn't aware of the term "Underground Railroad" before, I was captivated by the author's reimagining of it as a literal railroad that lies underground that transports runaway people from place to place under the safety of darkness. It was uncomfortable at times to read about the experiences of enslaved people and the punishments they endured under plantation owners. And also there were certain parts of book, where I struggled to understand the prose, due to the writing style, which I felt wasn't constant throughout the book. I don't know if it's just me, but the main characters were little flat to my liking

Content Warnings