A review by sashmcgash
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

This is an incredibly tense and heartbreaking novel. Whitehead is absolutely unflinching in his portrayal of the main character’s experiences first as an enslaved woman and then as a runaway. I wish we had gotten more interiority from Cora but I read an interpretation that the distance we have from her is reflective of her dissociation as she goes through one brutal thing after another, and I do find that framing compelling. I liked the inclusion of chapters from different characters’ perspectives, especially Mabel. I expected the literal Underground Railroad to be more at the forefront of the story, but regardless I liked how it was employed in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Abandonment