A review by nycsquirrel
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

Whitehead mixes truth and fiction by creating a world with a physical underground railroad, which establishes the tweak on reality to allow the story to pull together true horrors from various points in American history as inflicted by the white populations
(e.g., slavery, Trail of Tears, the Tuskegee experiment, stop and frisk)
. Each state crossing presents a different demonstration of race relations, though the hierarchy is clear no matter the presentation. Whitehead's language is beautiful yet cutting, and the story is justifiably jarring.  An excellent and important read. 
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