A review by mitskacir
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

4.0

This book took me a bit to get into, but once I did it really hooked me. The story was exciting, revealing just enough information to be suspenseful but not confusing or tedious. However, besides the excellent story telling and writing, I'm not sure how this book stands out form other books about slavery besides the "the underground railroad is really a railroad" gimmick. I'm not sure how much it really added to the book, or what the significance was. The literal railroad does add a tall-tale vibe to the story, which didn't necessarily play out in any other part of the book. Perhaps Whitehead is commenting that the experiences of enslaved people were so extreme that it is hard to believe that they were real and not the work of fiction? That, by juxtaposing the hardships of slavery and escape with the fantasy of a literal underground railroad, the horrors of the time are placed more firmly in reality in the minds of the reader?